Robeson to Simone

[Lat-Literal]

It is hard to bring Robeson and Simone together in a Jazz thread. But how about putting them at Free Derry Corner?

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/02/3b/9a/aa/free-derry-corner.jpg

If you were there today you would see a picture of Joe Hill on the wall and a slogan to 'Organise'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Kxq9uFDes

Nor would Nina Simone be out of place at that memorial to Civil Rights either - she has also paid her dues.

Yet both Robeson and Simone are more than these limited portraits suggest. Robeson, like John McCormack, could make an ordinary song extraordinary, and Nina's musicianship never failed to impress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6proYaAfwtM

Two magnificent clips - and an interesting commentary.

Many thanks Padraig.

[Quarky]

If the roots of Simone were in people like Robeson - I accept that both were highly individual - Simone would never sit in a folk music section. Many of her records were on Verve. Arguably some of her more vivid and mildly controversial lyricas - in "Ain't Got No" etc - which seem very liberal/sixties - refer back to Lucille Bogan. I'm just wondering how the spirituals evolved through the decades into being more closely aligned with jazz. Were they effectively absorbed into jazz because much of religion became superseded by politics?

I'm slightly mystified by this thread. Nina Simone had a strong jazz feel in her music, but she was into soul music, and was I gather disappointed that she never hit mega-big-time, like Aretha Franklin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZULpxWcUZyE

As regards civil rights, the main players were surely in the gospel and soul area, Mahalia Jackson, Franklin, etc.

The Duke did something with Mahalia Jackson - Come Sunday - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0PlS8nuceA

[Lat-Literal]

I'm slightly mystified by this thread. Nina Simone had a strong jazz feel in her music, but she was into soul music, and was I gather disappointed that she never hit mega-big-time, like Aretha Franklin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZULpxWcUZyE

As regards civil rights, the main players were surely in the gospel and soul area, Mahalia Jackson, Franklin, etc.

The Duke did something with Mahalia Jackson - Come Sunday - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0PlS8nuceA

Erm........thanks for your post Oddball and I am not sure quite how to respond to it.

First, having been a bit of a Ford Escort soul boy, along with half a dozen other things, I have a bit of a confession to make on Aretha. I like her but I have never raved about her in line with the orthodoxy. Some of this is about individual taste. I love Mahalia Jackson - great clip for which thanks - and Nina Simone even on off days could never do anything wrong in my opinion. That good - but I can't see her as a soul singer although she had plenty of soul. I'd be happy to place her in the category of "impossible to categorise" in line with what other people have said of Robeson although I think of her as jazz more than anything. I feel she was very big on civil rights - feisty - and that area of concern took in a wide range of artists. Odetta. Where would she be placed musically? Wikipedia says: "Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals".