I meant to do this during February for Black History Month, but didn’t get to it, so for the rest of the month of March and part of April, I aim to share one classic album by a Black artist/group from anywhere in the world each day. I will give special attention to albums & artists that don’t receive as much attention, as well as music from women, queer folks, or folks from the Global South.

For my working understanding of the idea of “classic album”, I am considering albums that have some “musical, lyrical, or cultural significance, demonstrated by unique or memorable artistic performance, message, and lasting replay value” (my own definition here). Important point: what I consider a classic will undoubtable differ from others perspective, whether they be musicians, artists, critics, and the general public.

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Saturday March 15, 2025
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Today’s selection is:
In Concert by Nina Simone (1964)

Song highlights: I Loves You Porgy, Plain Gold Ring, Pirate Jenny, Mississippi Goddam

I am embarrassed to say I only started listening to Nina Simone in depth in the last couple of years and really digging into her catalogue as I was writing and listening in the past couple of months. Wow, was I missing out.

Despite the acclaim Nina Simone receives, she is still massively underrated. Nina Simone In Concert (1964) shows her at the top of her game as one of the best American performers of all time. This 1964 live album contains recordings from three separate live performances in March and April 1964 at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and they sit as some of the best live recordings across any genre. The songs and performances are at times plaintive (“I Loves You Porgy”) , darkly humorous (“Go Limp”), and eerie (“Plain Gold Ring”).

The main attraction is as always Nina Simone’s voice itself and how it interplays with her piano. On “Plain Gold Ring”, Simone conjures a dark, ethereal march where the richness and depth of her voice foregrounds the simple but solemn parade of piano. Put simply, you feel it when she says, "In my heart it will never be spring//Long as he wears a plain gold ring."

Further, Simone’s vocal tics and theatrics elevate the performances into their own stratosphere, allowing for unique and compelling storytelling. Most notably, “Pirate Jenny” depicts a poor, Black woman in a Southern coastal town who faces violence, harassment, and the endless domestic drudgery, only to use her unassuming position as a springboard for revenge. The song is intentionally off-putting and uncomfortable, with Simone inhabiting the restless and vengeful character with scratchy whispers and delirious shouts. All the while, the piano staccatos along like a grandfather clock ticking in a minor key. The song ends with an orgy of imprisonment, murder, and fire, a personalized sketch of colonized, Fanonian violence stemming from the lifetime of toiling with “iron pots and kettles” (Maria Stewart 1831) and long-standing ill-treatment.

The time horizons of change and challenging of discrimination is a common thread in these performances. At the opposite end of the abrupt razing of the current system depicted in “Pirate Jenny” is the piece-meal and cowardly approach of white liberals & moderates lambasted by Simone on “Mississippi Goddam”. Again, on this song the music fits the theme and becomes frenetic to emulate the confusion and speed of the time. Simone goes on to list a thousand and one grievances (picking cotton, washing windows, insults and stereotypes), while the backing vocals say "too slow".

Too slow indeed, Ms. Nina Simone.

Selection From “Pirate Jenny“:

You people can watch while I'm scrubbing these floors
And I'm scrubbin' the floors while you're gawking
Maybe once you tip me and it makes you feel swell
In this crummy Southern town
In this crummy old hotel
But you'll never guess to who you're talkin'
No, you couldn't ever guess to who you're talkin'

By noontime, the dock is a-swarmin' with men
Comin' out from the ghostly freighter
They're moving'in the shadows where no one can see
And they're chainin' up people, and they're bringin' em to me
Askin' me, "Kill them now, or later?"
Askin' me, "Kill them now, or later?"

Selection from “Mississippi Goddam“:

Don't tell me
I tell you
Me and my people just about due
I've been there so I know
They keep on saying "Go slow"
But that's just the trouble
"Do it slow"
Washing the windows
"Do it slow"
Picking the cotton
"Do it slow"
You're just plain rotten
"Do it slow"
You're too damn lazy
"Do it slow"
The thinking's crazy
"Do it slow"
Where am I going?
What am I doing?
I don't know
I don't know

*Note this video is a live performance in Antibes, France, NOT the Carnegie Hall performances