Celeste - Stop This Flame

Today it's the International Women's Day (IWD), a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 to commemorate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women. It is also a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women.

So for today we add all our focus to the womans on this planet and play a "Stop This Flame", a song by British singer and songwriter Celeste. The single was released on 9 January 2020 through Both Sides and Polydor Records as the second single from her debut studio album "Not Your Muse". It was written by Celeste and Jamie Hartman, who produced the track with John Hill. The song samples Nina Simone's version of "c" and Nina Simone is credited as a co-author.

"Stop This Flame" was Celeste's first single of 2020, the year in which she was critically tipped for success by many major publications. Celeste told Dork, "In essence, 'Stop This Flame' is a song about seeing it through to the end. Whether it’s about not letting go of love, not letting go of a dream or stridently coming through some form of adversity. The song has always evoked those feelings within me.” She told Apple Music, "For me when I sing the song, it's about like never ending determination to get that point." The song is "driven by an insistent minor-key piano vamp."

Today's tune "Stop This Flame", taken from "Not Your Muse". The song's music video was directed by Leonn Ward and shot in New Orleans. It premiered on YouTube on 7 February 2020, and was later nominated for Best British R&B/Soul Video at the 2020 UK Music Video Awards. Enjoy!



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#celeste
#stopthisflame
#ninasimone
#Sinnerman
#iwd
#Internationalwomensday

Nina Simone - I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel To Be Free)

Sunday, time for a classic.

"I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" is a jazz song written by Billy Taylor and Dick Dallas. Taylor's original version (as "I Wish I Knew") was recorded on November 12, 1963, and released on his Right Here, Right Now! album (Capitol ST-2039) the following year. His 1967 instrumental take was later used as the theme music for the Film... review programme series on BBC Television.

Taylor said: "I wrote this song, perhaps my best-known composition, for my daughter Kim. This is one of the best renditions I’ve done because it is very spiritual."

Enjoy today's tune with Nina Simone performs “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1976. This version can be found on the DVD and Album "Nina Simone Live at Montreux 1976". A widely played version was recorded by Nina Simone in 1967 on her "Silk & Soul" album.

Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.



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Black Diamond Heavies - Oh, Sinnerman

Thursday, time for a cover!

"Sinner Man" or "Sinnerman" is an African American traditional spiritual song that has been recorded by a number of performers and has been incorporated in many other of the media and arts. The lyrics describe a sinner attempting to hide from divine justice on Judgement Day. It was recorded in the 1950s by Les Baxter, the Swan Silvertones, the Weavers and others before Nina Simone recorded an extended version in 1965.

"Sinnerman" (spelled as one word) is one of Nina Simone's most famous songs and she recorded her definitive 10-minute-plus version on her 1965 album Pastel Blues. Simone learned the lyrics of this English song in her childhood when it was used at revival meetings by her mother, a Methodist minister, to help people confess their sins. In the early days of her career during the early sixties, when she was heavily involved in the Greenwich Village scene, Simone often used the long piece to end her live performances. An earlier version of the song exists recorded live at The Village Gate but was not used on the 1962 Colpix album Nina at the Village Gate.

Simone's version of Sinnerman has been sampled by Kanye West for the Talib Kweli song "Get By", by Timbaland for the song "Oh Timbaland", and by FELIX DA HOUSECAT for Verve Record's "Verve Remixed" series. It has also been covered by 16 HORSEPOWER on their album Folklore, and by ZEGOTA on their self-titled single. French rapper Abd al-Malik sampled Simone's version for the title track of his 2006 album "Gibraltar". He also sampled Simone's version of "See Line Woman" for the track "Le grand frère" from the same album.

American blues duo BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES recorded a version for their 2008 album, "A Touch of Someone Else's Class".

From "A Touch of Someone Else's Class". Off of Alive Natural Sound Records, this quote, "there's an emotional weight and an almost telepathic synergy between Leg and Campbell", sums up exactly what I was thinking watching this vid - from the curve of their backs to the shake of their heads - telepathic synergy all the way...

Today's tune is Nina Simone's "Oh Sinnerman" (cabaret hell-blues salvaging its ludicrous Waits/Cave schtick with gothic proto-psych swirl ˆ la the DOORS or ANIMALS) Enjoy!





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Nina Simone - Ain't Got No, I Got Life

Sunday, time for a classic, today we put some focus on Nina Simone, she was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music. Simone aspired to become a classical pianist while working in a broad range of styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.

Born the sixth child of a preacher's family in North Carolina, Simone aspired to be a concert pianist. Her musical path changed direction after she was denied a scholarship to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, despite a well-received audition. Simone was later told by someone working at Curtis that she was rejected because she was black. When she began playing in a small club in Philadelphia to fund her continuing musical education and become a classical pianist she was required to sing as well. She was approached for a recording by Bethlehem Records, and her rendering of "I Loves You, Porgy" was a hit in the United States in 1958. Over the length of her career Simone recorded more than 40 albums, mostly between 1958—when she made her debut with Little Girl Blue—and 1974.

Her musical style arose from a fusion of gospel and pop songs with classical music, in particular with influences from her first inspiration, Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied with her expressive jazz-like singing in her characteristic contralto. She injected as much of her classical background into her music as possible to give it more depth and quality, as she felt that pop music was inferior to classical. Her intuitive grasp on the audience–performer relationship was gained from a unique background of playing piano accompaniment for church revivals and sermons regularly from the early age of six years old.

In the early 1960s, she became involved in the civil rights movement and the direction of her life shifted once again. Simone's music was highly influential in the fight for equal rights in the United States. In later years, she lived abroad, finally settling in France in 1992. She received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2000 and was a fifteen-time Grammy Award nominee over the course of her career. 

 

Todays tune "Ain't Got No/I Got Life" is a 2:17 single by the American songwriter Nina Simone. The song also featured on Nuff Said (1968). It is a medley of two songs from the musical Hair, with lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. The song charted at #2 in the UK and at #1 in The Netherlands. The song helped Simone gain pop-popularity under a new, younger audience, and became a standard in her repertoire.

Nina Simone playing live in Harlem, 1969.



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