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"What Happened Miss Simone?" documentary on Netflix


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My friend in Dallas sent me the Atlantic link about this documentary. I checked and I was able to add it to my Netflix list. I included the 2nd link because it had such a cool photo of Nina.

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/06/nina-simone-and-mississippi-goddam/396923/

 

http://www.sacurrent.com/sanantonio/troubled-gifted-and-black-new-netflix-doc-revisits-nina-simone/Content?oid=2450905

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Thanks for the Netflix tip!!! I know what I'm going to watch during dinner tonight.

 

Saw her live at her prime in Central Park, where IIRC Rheingold Beer did a "Summer in the Park" type of free concert series. She was an electrifying performer, extremely intense.

 

Sad to hear what happened to her career after landing in Paris...I would have thought Europeans and the many African expats in France would have recognized her talent and supported her.

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Have been listening to Nina in Paris. And I was just blown away by "Born Under A Bad Sign" . Right at about 12:29 mins - 5 minutes long. She begins with a piano interlude/intro that sounds Cecil Taylorish - playing abstract blues.

 

 

Some of the most brilliant music I've ever heard.

 

 

[video=youtube;i1r15h40R60]https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1675&v=i1r15h40R60

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WOW! Thanks for posting this David...Guess I'm coming late to the Nina party but My Lord! What a performance! I love the tension she creates during "Bad Sign" with her piano while delievering the vocals in such even and correct terms. Not dripping with soul but understated earnestness.

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She was a brilliant artist but, like so many brilliant artists, deeply troubled, as well.

 

She's one of the most intense singers I know of... but it's a quiet, even seething intensity.

 

One of my favorite tracks of all time is her version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood." Just amazing.

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I have become mildly fascinated with Nina Simone since watching this documentary and some concert footage. Her daughter in the documentary said something like "I think they were both nuts", talking about her mother and father. Alcohol is not mentioned in the doc (as far as I can remember), but I wonder. In incident where Nina was beat up by her husband, it sounds like he didn't remember doing it. Sounds like an alcoholic black out to me. I wonder how much substances affected her behavior.

 

Also, Nina was wrapped up in a folk singerish/gospelish/show tuneish shtick to my ears. I guess she was a product of her time - the late '50's folk/blues revival. The show tune style too. She constantly played those rolling tremolo chords for example. But when she wanted to she played some brilliant piano. Just puzzling to me how well she could play, but mostly just used it as a back drop. She could have been a great jazz pianist. And I'd say she could have nurtured the classical career she always said she wanted. Once she famous she had options. She kind of shot herself in the foot career wise by aligning with people like Stokley Carmichael and the "burn baby burn" philosophy.

 

She also created her own brand of singing. The machine gun style vibrato. Other times she used a traditional vibrato.

 

But regarding her troubled life, I'd say she was really a victim of her mental illness.

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I have become mildly fascinated with Nina Simone since watching this documentary and some concert footage. Her daughter in the documentary said something like "I think they were both nuts", talking about her mother and father. Alcohol is not mentioned in the doc (as far as I can remember), but I wonder. In incident where Nina was beat up by her husband, it sounds like he didn't remember doing it. Sounds like an alcoholic black out to me. I wonder how much substances affected her behavior.

 

Also, Nina was wrapped up in a folk singerish/gospelish/show tuneish shtick to my ears. I guess she was a product of her time - the late '50's folk/blues revival. The show tune style too. She constantly played those rolling tremolo chords for example. But when she wanted to she played some brilliant piano. Just puzzling to me how well she could play, but mostly just used it as a back drop. She could have been a great jazz pianist. And I'd say she could have nurtured the classical career she always said she wanted. Once she famous she had options. She kind of shot herself in the foot career wise by aligning with people like Stokley Carmichael and the "burn baby burn" philosophy.

 

She also created her own brand of singing. The machine gun style vibrato. Other times she used a traditional vibrato.

 

But regarding her troubled life, I'd say she was really a victim of her mental illness.

[bold added]

 

No one gets as bumpy a ride with critics across the board, seems to me, than those associated with pop who turn to the classics.

 

With regard to aligning with the black liberation movement, I suspect you had to be there -- and it probably put things in stark perspective if you were black. I know some of my friends went through some profound changes in the period that alienated them from old friends and even family. It may be a cliche that there was a 'war' between the young and old, between black and white, between just about everyone, it seemed at times, but it was true nonetheless. And, of course, that war -- those wars -- typically extended deep inside many of us...

 

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The other thing is that the "war" gave a lot of white kids who grew their hair long and had things thrown at them an understanding of what was happening to black people. The difference, of course, was that the white kids could cut their hair.

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