Jazz for aficionados
"Dr John memorably described James Booker as "the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced." Why did so many jazz genius's have to be junkies; it didn't help them to play better, no junkie would ever tell you that lie, but it's common knowledge according to the public. Even if they were not musicians, they would have still been junkies, but that's another conversation. |
I'm going to compare Nina Simone to the most beautiful and best jazz diva's of our time, and I want you to give your opinion. I have a point to make, but not until after your evaluation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Y11hwjMNs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPovfFpX56k I'm not going to make any comparison, I'll leave that to you. I just posted two versions of feeling good, for you to compare. Try to pick two versions of the same song; one by Nina, and the other by your favorite diva. I have a surprise valid point to be made after you have made comparisons and evaluations. Nina was going downhill toward the end, so picking something at a bad time is a clear foul and wont count. Lets give ourselves plenty of time for this; tomorrow afternoon sounds like a good time to conclude. |
Orpheus, I like the first link of a younger Nina Simone. Her vocals are ok on that one. Her piano playing was always good.. The second link she is older and it shows. You can hear it in her singing. Piano is still the same. Throughout her entire career Simone's vocals never really did much for me. Just never grabbed me deep in my gut like Sarah Vaughn or Julie London. I found her voice to be a little to much on the rough side. I'm not sure why but her voice does not make me feel subdued and mystified. Simone is always listed in the top 10 or 5 on any top 50 female jazz vocalists you can google online and that says a lot about her prowess as a singer. That being said, everybody hears things differently and on my list she would be higher up. It’s a voice we’re supposed to hate. Gloomy, uninviting, and hoarse. Overpowering and booming in the low register, rocky and rasping when high. It’s often unstable, fluctuating within both pitch and timbre. Yet it’s these imperfections that make a voice so beautifully Nina Simone....Prescilla Bajomo. Entire text here:http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/30957/1/nina-simone-s-complex-voice |
