Nina Simone's At the Village Gate

Nina Simone’s lively live rendition of “Just In Time” at the Village Gate in New York in 1961 is one of my favorite standards, with her recording topping the many great attempts at the ballad. As part of an album that represents Simone’s early interests in African and folk music, hearing her get down on this beautiful jazz standard is a reminder to any and everybody that Simone entered music through jazz. Her piano solo, though very simple and almost classical, given her background in classical music before singing, is quite cute. The band plays perfectly here, too, swinging appropriately while Simone tickles the ivory. She cleverly plays around the melody until playing the chorus again on her piano, leading to her conclusion of the song with vocals, showing off her amazing breath. “Oh, baby, I was lost, the losing dice were tossed, my friends had all crossed, nowhere to go, now you’re here, now I know just where I’m going…” Besides lovely jazz standards like “Just In Time,” Simone treats the audience at the Village Gate to her early forays into folk and African music, such as the cute “Zungo,” a Yoruba tune she learned from Olatunji, a Nigerian drummer whose music would also influence John Coltrane in the early 1960s. She even sings some African-American and Afrocentric-themed songs, such as the gospel-jazz of “Children, Go Where I Send You” and “Brown Baby” a sparsely arranged song featuring Simone’s strong vocals and light piano. Her androgynous, unique voice emotes hope and optimistic while she sings majestically to great heights while lulling this ‘brown baby’ to sleep.

Her take on classics such as “Bye Bye Blackbird” show off classical influences, until the drummer starts swinging and clear, clean-cut electric guitar joins. It’s funky, exciting, swinging hard, and nice to hear, as on “Just In Time,” Simone in her jazz context. Her piano solo sounds like someone playing classical fugues or practices at times, but she knows what she is doing even if she does not adhere to bop jazz soloing styles at times. Also, like Bud Powell, she hums along and scats with her soloing, another treat for attentive listeners! Moreover, jams like “He Was Too Good To Me” show another side of the contemplative, smooth balladry of Simone, who begins the song with just her voice, light accompaniment and real fervor for this man who was too good to her, “When I was mean to him, he didn’t say go away now…” I don’t know what she is doing with her piano, but things become more complex with arpeggios and accented accompaniment while a little more tempo is added before returning to the original, less triumphant, majestic chorus. Similarly, “If He Had Changed My Name” begins with just her voice and piano, singing that it would be okay if Jesus changed her name. 

She adds in some bluesy elements to her voice with her utterly sublime melisma and appropriately solemn piano accompaniment. Of course, for those who dislike Nina for ‘sounding like an old man’ or just generally dislike her voice, then songs like these will not be enjoyed. For the vast majority of us, however, Simone’s voice is achingly beautiful, solely hers, rich with emotion and deep with pain, sophistication, and character. Even on songs like the aforementioned Yoruba work song, “Zungo,” with its simple melody and “African” accompaniment from the guitarist, Simone’s piano, and the drums, showcases her unique voice singing in the beautiful Yoruba language, far better than Olatunji’s own version of “Zungo.” Of course, what album could be complete without Simone taking her audience to a revival meeting in “Children, Go Where I Send You,” my favorite song from the album. Thus, any fan of Nina Simone’s later work in the 1960s or her earlier, jazz-oriented releases from the late 1950s and early 1960s, this album is recommended. We see Simone’s political consciousness, her own singing talent, her interest in African music and folk, as well as her soulful, melancholic “House of the Rising Son," which also sounds ancient in her plaintive style.

Mississippi Goddam

Mississippi Goddam was the first Civil Rights/protest song by Nina Simone. Using the form of a showtune, the song is actually a scathing attack on the United States and a great example of black feminist nationalism. First performed live at a show with a mostly white audience, Nina urged the audience to participate, and jokes with them before the song takes a shocking twist by attacking the white establishment and the Southern states that resisted civil rights progress in every way possible. In the lyrics of the song, Nina Simones sung, Alabamas got me so upset, Tennessees made me lose my rest, but everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam, which meant that Mississippi was the toughest egg to crack in terms of ending Jim Crow and white supremacy.

What I love so much about the song are the fiercely critical lyrics and defiant tone, which demands civil rights now instead of the gradualism of white moderates. Inspired to write the song by the murder of Medgar Evers and the bombing of a black church in Alabama by white supremacists, which caused the deaths of four young girls. Throughout the song she challenges white folks, promises retribution for the injustices occurring in the South, and even rejects the integration sought by black moderate organizations. Indeed, as early as 1964, Simone was looking toward black power and nationalism before the ascent of the Black Power Movement in the late 1960s.

In addition to using her public performing to challenge white racism in concert, she also performed numerous benefit shows for civil rights organizations like SNCC. Moreover, Simone also went down South to participate in actions and play shows for civil rights demonstrators in Selma. This woman was involved in the movement on multiple levels, embracing black cultural nationalism and feminism when she performed other songs like Go Limp (a sarcastic song poking fun at nonviolent protest), Four Women, and To Be Young, Gifted and Black.

The zenith of Mississippi Goddam is the following lines, rejecting the gradual approach to civil rights the federal government and whites tried to impose on black agitators and activists:
Oh but this whole country is full of lies
You're all gonna die and die like flies
I don't trust you any more
You keep on saying "Go slow!"
"Go slow!"
But that's just the trouble
"do it slow"
Desegregation
"do it slow"
Mass participation
"do it slow"
Reunification
"do it slow"
Do things gradually
"do it slow"
But bring more tragedy
"do it slow"
Why don't you see it
Why don't you feel it
I don't know
I don't know
You don't have to live next to me
Just give me my equality
Everybody knows about Mississippi
Everybody knows about Alabama
Everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

You dont have to live next to me, just give me my equality! Preach, Sista, preach.

The Evolution of Sinner Man

I believe the folk song, "Sinner Man," is of Scottish origin. It was first sung in the Appalachians of the United States. Although it's likely of Scottish or some other Northern European origin, the song is most often associated with Nina Simone's legendary, 10 minute long version of the song which infuses it with black gospel and jazz influences. The song remains one of the best-known folk songs/spirituals in the US and one of Nina Simone's best recordings. It has also been covered by a broad array of different performers, such as Bob Marley & The Wailers, Peter Tosh, Lauryn Hill, The Weavers, and Les Baxter.

The earliest recording of the song I could find is one from the 1950s by Les Baxter. It's interesting for incorporating a large orchestra but not nearly as jazzy or soulful as Nina Simone's acclaimed version from her Pastel Blues in the 1960s.

The Weavers also recorded the song in a more folksy manner

Here is a version by Bob Marley and the Wailers (but it's really just Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer singing) that uses a ska beat. Peter Tosh would later perform the song as "Downpressor Man"

Here is Peter Tosh's reggae version

Nina Simone performed the song often at the end of her live shows in the early 1960s when she regularly performed at the clubs in Greenwich Village. I've added an early version and the epic one

Lauryn Hill

Spanish folk group's interpretation

Another version

Yoko Kanno

Strange Fruit

Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, two victims accused of killing a white man and raping his girlfriend in Marion, Indiana. There was no evidence of rape, and the woman herself said she wasn't raped. According to James Cameron, the only survivor of this lynching, and who would later found America's Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, the two men were robbing a white man but Cameron himself fled the scene before he died during the struggle. While Shipp and Smith were forced outside of the jailhouse and lynched, someone miraculously saved Cameron's life by announcing he had nothing to do with the crime. 

This powerful photograph likely influenced the writer of "Strange Fruit," a Jewish Communist. It also shows how lynchings were not a strictly southern phenomenon. It's also important to remember that his lynching occurred in 1930, only 81 years ago. 

"Strange Fruit" remains one of the most poetic anti-lynching/protest songs in American history. Though associated with Billie Holiday, the song's composer was a Jewish radical who penned it during the 1930s. Abel Meeropel would later set it to music under the name Lewis Allen and perform in New York City with is wife. Holiday only sang it for the first time at the Cafe Society, an integrated nightclub in Greenwich Village some years later. Then she recorded the song in 1939 for Commodore, a label company that was known for supporting alternative jazz.

The interesting thing about Holiday's recording is the lack of jazz or blues influences. Furthermore, many at the time only believed the record sold well because Holiday's amazing blues, "Fine and Mellow," was increasing sales. Needless to say, her record sold well and the song has forever been equated with Billie Holiday's powerful vocals (she recorded this song again for Verve and performed it live). I suppose the best way to describe her 1939 recording would be something akin to folk and hymns.

Josh White, a folk musician who had worked with Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and other early folk revivalists, would also record the song, accompanying himself on guitar. As one would expect, as a folk and blues musician, White's recording has more in common with those traditions than Holiday's version.

http://grooveshark.com/s/Strange+Fruit/3VC6TZ?src=5

Nina Simone also performed "Strange Fruit" with a very sparse arrangement (rather similar to her take on Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair).

Here is Billie Holiday's 1939 studio recording of "Fine and Mellow." This is probably her best blues.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/feb2002/frut-f08.shtml A good article on the history of the "Strange Fruit"

Forever Young, Gifted, and Black: My Favorite Nina Simone Songs

Baby Just Cares for Me

Mood Indigo

Love Me or Leave Me

I Loves You Porgy

Plain Gold Ring

You'll Never Walk Alone

Little Girl Blue

House of the Rising Son

Feeling Good

Aint Got No...I Got Life

I Put a Spell On You

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free

I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl

Do I Move You

To Be Young, Gifted, and Black

Nobody's Fault But Mine

Sinnerman

Zungo

He's Too Good to Me
http://grooveshark.com/s/He+Was+Too+Good+To+Me+live+At+The+Village+Gate+/2NR3Zw?src=5

African Mailman

Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair

Wild Is the Wind

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

Strange Fruit

Be My Husband

Pirate Jenny

Four Women

Mississippi Goddamn

See-Line Woman

Bye Bye Blackbird

Children Go Where I Send You
http://grooveshark.com/s/Children+Go+Where+I+Send+You+live+At+The+Village+Gate+/2NR3CH?src=5

Just in Time
http://grooveshark.com/s/Just+In+Time+live+At+The+Village+Gate+/2NR52I?src=5

Go Limp

Revolution

Old Jim Crow

Don't Smoke in Bed