It’s the High Priestess of Soul’s birthday today. Nina Simone, the devilishly hard-to-categorize singer, songwriter, and arranger who died in France in 2003, would have been 80. You can read all about her on Wikipedia—and you really ought to, if only to gain a full appreciation of her musical genius—but today, I’d rather you just listened. So here she is with the definitive version of the traditional spiritual “Sinnerman” from her 1965 album Pastel Blues.
Thanks Aaron, she is awesome.
G
by G Waldman