“It really gets you”: Nina Simone on the unique power of jazz piano
Nina Simone was many things: a pianist, a mother, a civil rights activist, and an incredible songwriter. At her heart, though, she was a jazz musician. Although her most recognisable compositions might have leaned more towards pop and soul, Simone was openly resentful of the music industry for pushing her in this direction. As a result, her earlier jazz-oriented work, like 1959’s Little Girl Blue, contain some of her finest musical moments. Even during her pop era, Simone never lost her deep-rooted adoration for the vibrant world of jazz, particularly jazz pianists.
The earliest roots of Simone’s musical expression came in the musician’s childhood, as she began learning the piano at a young age. As such, she became ingrained with a love and appreciation for the high-class world of classical music. However, Simone witnessed a great deal of racial prejudice and oppression during these early years, which would have likely stunted her musical development were it not for her endless dedication to music. Finding herself shunned from the world of classical music, Simone began to sing and play piano in jazz clubs around New Jersey.
It was jazz, therefore, that gave Simone her first real steps into a music career. When Little Girl Blue was released in 1959, it helped to establish the pianist as being among the most promising new jazz musicians in the country, but it would not last for long. In the years that followed, Simone was continuously pushed in the direction of pop and soul, limiting the possibility for her to share her love of either jazz or classical music.
Nevertheless, Simone was still keen to espouse the joys of jazz in interviews as well as her live performances. During a 1968 interview with Down Beat Magazine, she shed light on her favourite jazz musicians, sharing, “As far as piano players are concerned, Oscar Peterson is my very favourite. I also like McCoy Tyner”. You can’t fault Simone’s tastes here; after all, Peterson is among the greatest and most accomplished jazz pianists of all time, while Tyner’s work – particularly his work with John Coltrane – helped to establish the sounds of modern jazz piano as we know it today.
Continuing in her appreciation of jazz, Simone said, “I think that the big jazz stars, both now and in the past…how shall I say it? These guys are as great as Bach, Beethoven; all of them. People don’t know it yet,” explaining, “If jazz survives and is put on a pedestal as an art form, the same as classical music has been through the years, a hundred years from now the kids will know who they were, with that kind of respect. This may or may not happen”.
“In the meantime,” she added, “unfortunately, as they get older, some of them get bitter”. It is unclear whether Simone was, even indirectly, talking from experience there, though her bitterness over being pushed away from jazz music is well documented. Although classical music might have been her first love, it was jazz that really captured the imagination of Simone, “That music,” she shared, “it’s something else. It really gets you”.
The world of jazz has been storied by a variety of incredibly talented pianists, of which Simone is certainly a defining figure. Her appreciation for the likes of Peterson and Tyner should come as no real surprise, therefore. Her repeated testimony on the unique power of these musicians speaks to Simone’s endless dedication to the vibrant world of jazz.
