5. Nina SimoneAin
So many of her records are live and the live version on the record is great, too, but that film of her playing in Harlem and watching that band play with her and thinking about that time period after Martin Luther King was killed and all the troubles – and they were still headed for more troubles – that woman was laying down some heavy soul. She wasn’t lying. Every single word of that song… she was like, "This is what I got. I ain’t got all of these things but I’ve got me." That kind of power is so important and the power of that band is so amazing. It’s something you don’t get from DJs; it’s a totally different energy.
It was hard for her to relate to other people and her life was hard and even though she was universally accepted she doesn’t get her dues. People don’t realise how great she is in jazz music because of her attitude. As time went along she was trying to communicate how awful it was. People were trying to hit her up because she was rich and had records and she had to move to Switzerland so people could leave her alone and treat her with respect.
