1 October 2025

Inimitable jazz/blues/soul voice, sublime piano player and also poignant political activist NINA SIMONE (born named Eunice Kathleen Waymon in 1933 and passed away in 2003)
is a musical icon who influenced a lot of artists, then and now.

Big names such as Alicia Keys, Lauryn Hill, Meshell Ndegeocello, Rhiannon Giddens,
Janelle Monáe, Tracy Chapman, John Legend, Aretha Franklin, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Nick Cave,
and many others, including jazz artists like Cassandra Wilson and Dianne Reeves
claimed to be inspired by Simone.

Her final album A Single Woman came out in 1993.

Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop.
Her piano playing was strongly influenced by baroque and classical music, especially Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.

One of her most praised and cited album is PASTEL BLUES.
It was released 60 years ago today, on 1 October 1960.

Pitchfork in retrospect review: “Nina Simone was a Juilliard-trained
classical pianist and a preternaturally adroit interpreter of jazz, folk,
and pop”

The magazine placed it No. 21 on their best 60s album list (pretty impressive
in a decade where countless classics came out. From Marvin Gaye, James Brown,
CCR, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, The Stones, Frank Sinatra, The Who and
countless more).

As many among us I know her greatest hits for a long tume, but to be
honest, I discovered this diamond only a few years ago. It’s an astonishing
vocal, stripped to the bone, collection of traditionals..

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Biography – All Albums