Nani Vazana Plays Nina Simone (and J.S. Bach)

Nina Simone is known as The High Priestess of Soul, but listen carefully and you will discover a Baroque enthusiast. Simone dreamt of becoming the first African-American concert pianist in the US, but financial challenges and racism necessitated her turn to R&B bars and jazz clubs. In Simone’s music and improvisations you can distinctly hear J.S. Bach’s impressions and even direct quotes from Bach fugues and preludes. Simone admired the compositions of J.S. Bach, and in her autobiography recalls how her rendition of Love Me Or Leave Me came out of an attempt to compose a Bach-like fugue.

In this tribute, Nani Vazana expands on Simone’s Bach quotations with her own classically oriented take. Seamlessly fusing pieces and songs including the 1st invention in C into My Baby Just Cares For Me, the Arioso in G into I Loves You Porgy, and others.

Nani Vazana is an acclaimed international singer, composer, pianist and trombonist. She recently won the Eurovision song contest for minority languages, and has played at the Kennedy Center USA, and jazz festivals in Germany, UK, Netherlands, India, Poland, Morocco, Israel, and was artist in residence at Amsterdam Roots Festival.