Why Nina Simone defined her sound as “Black classical music”
It’s hard to overstate enough how single-handedly vital Nina Simone was to the history of music. Her pioneering, transcendental approach spanned multi-faceted sounds and genres, from jazz to gospel to pop. But undeniably what was the most influential factor on the trajectory of Simone’s whole career was her own story, in which music poured from her veins, quite literally, as a means of survival.
Simone was acclaimed for speaking prolifically about the nature of her artistry, from its humble beginnings in downtown piano bars to fund her musical studies to the heights of worldwide stardom. But between these two extremes, what set her apart was that, in her eyes, essentially nothing much changed. She was just one woman who used song as a vehicle for baring her soul, and in doing so, revealed some universal truths that captivated the hearts of many.
This was especially true when Simone turned the attention towards political activism, where she wrote songs reflecting on, and in response to, the myriad racial injustices that plagued the US through the eras of segregation and the civil rights movement. Using all her vision, skill, and musical prowess, Simone created a tidal wave of her own sonic calling card, delineating her as one of the most seismic voices of the time.
In that sense, having started her musical life being classically trained at Juilliard for two years, Simone couldn’t quite so easily pigeonhole herself into one specific genre as her knowledge and technique was boundless. She told the BBC in 1991, “I wanted to be the world’s first Black concert pianist for 22 years. I certainly like the idea that I have the bearing of one because at least I can relate to that when I play these jazz songs that I have to play at my concerts all the time.”
Thus, Simone coined her own term for her genre-bending approach, branding her sound as “Black classical music”. She later expanded on this notion by saying, “For years it was known as jazz, but it isn’t that. It’s a combination of gospel, pop, love songs, political songs, so it is Black-oriented classical music, that’s what it is.” Releasing no less than 32 albums over the span of 1959 to 1993, that sense is more than clear, not just for the wide-ranging sonic pursuits, but because Simone simply moved with the times.
She herself was acutely aware of this sense pulsating throughout her body of work, whether musically or politically, when she said in 1969, “I choose to reflect the times and the situations in which I find myself. That, to me, is my duty. At this crucial time in our lives, when everything is so desperate, when every day is a matter of survival, I don’t think you can help but be involved. How can you be an artist and not reflect the times? That, for me, is the definition of an artist.”
This is the ultimate case in point as to why Simone remains so essential to all of music at large, between her own definition of Black classical music and the multitude of other genres that she mastered during her tenure. Song, for her, was not just an auditory entity for entertainment—it was a life, a soul, a power that had the ability to change the world, so long as she kept looking outwards. In all she did, there’s no denying that’s something Simone never looked away from.
