Nina Simone is hands down one of my favorite female blues artists, though her music covers much more than just blues. Her real name is actually Eunice Kathleen Waymon, and Nina Simone was a stage name she took on, I think partially to separate her actual identity from the secular music she was singing in clubs and thus to avoid disapproval. One of the reasons I love listening to Nina sing is because she is in my eyes one of the most emotive vocalists out there. She spans the range from sultry to demure, defiant to submissive, angry to joyful ... and everything in between. Nina has a tendency to sing very fluidly, not keeping strict time, which can sometimes make her music difficult to dance to. Personally, I find it inspiring as opposed to challenging. I've been listening to her much more recently, mainly because of the amount of routines that have been performed to her songs in the last year. And the variety in these performances is another reflection of Nina's range of emotion. Here are just the ones I know about:
In the Dark: by the students at NSS (and Shawn Hershey and Julie Brown performing it at Emerald City Blues Festival)
Do I Move You: Chris Mayer and Campbell Miller
I Put a Spell On You: Amanda Gruhl and Paul Mandel
However, I want to draw your attention to one particular song I just discovered. It's gritty, bluesy, honest and moving in all the best ways. Thoughts?
Backlash Blues - Nina Simone
3 comments:
Yeah, Nina Simone is one of my favorite artists too...She's so emotional but always has that grit to her vocals. Love it :)
There's also the Zora performance to her "Feelin Good" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiKNt9ErvkQ
Thanks for linking that, Julie! It's one of the few pieces of choreography I really like and I hadn't been able to find it myself.
Also, there are so many more Nina Simone songs worth mentioning as dance music. "Blues for Mama", "I want a little sugar in my bowl", "Work Song", "Buck", just off the top of my head.
Steve, very true. She has a lot of songs I love (especially Be My Husband and Tell Me More). I only listed Backlash because it's a song I'd never heard before, whereas other songs are widely known and DJ'ed.
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