The sound of Nina Simone’s voice gives me those transcendent goosebumps that focus mainly on the back of the scalp, but then ripple down your neck & spine, spreading out at your waist, and fixing your body in a still breath of wonderment and awe; certain timbres and tones just do that to me, like Bob Ross, the uber-mellow painting guy that used to be on PBS with the big whitey-‘fro---that dude’s voice & show was like a barbiturate, and I mean that in the best possible way. Nina’s long and revered career as a jazz singer needs no introduction, though I must admit that I’ve only become a big fan recently, as I enter into the jazz world from the spacey, polar opposite direction of the standards that Nina conquered. Accompanied by only her piano and one barely-brushed hi-hat, she gently claims this Gershwin standard as her own, for all time; the adjectives commonly used to describe Nina’s voice (smoky, thick, fluid, earthy, organic) never fully do justice to how truly distinctive and inimitable it was. Known for being temperamental with both concert promoters & her audiences, her ‘take-no-shit’ attitude kept Nina from ever really becoming a pop icon; nonetheless, she built a massive and dedicated following in the years when she was most actively performing (the late‘50s to early‘70s). Inflecting her style with bits of soul, gospel, and blues influences, her songs defy specific categorization; she was also extremely active in the civil rights movement, which was reflected more and more in her work as the 1960s moved along. Though this single was her only track to ever reach the Billboard Top 40, her catalogue will forever remain one of the most highly thought of in the annals of jazz. Nina manages to sound so desperate and in-want here, but delivered it in such a velvety and mellifluous way, that it doesn’t come of like begging as such---more like someone who is resigned to their fate, but still retains glimmers of hope for a better way; “…if you can keep me, I wants to stay here, with you forever, and I’ll be glad…but when he comes I know I’ll have to go…” Relaxed and refined, when you really need to chill out, Nina gets the job done!
