Nina Simone
And Piano!

The voice and the piano as the only ingredients for a work that documents a traumatic period in the life of the 'High Priestess of Soul'. The information contained in the title would be enough to review this album, a cloud of emotion that manifests solely in the form of piano and voice. But as you might have already guessed, I am here to tell you something more.

First of all: I can’t understand how a work of such artistic caliber has been—and continues to be—unexplainably ignored, both by critics and the audience. The record was released the year following the assassination of Martin Luther King, in the midst of the civil rights era where the singer was a prominent figure. Perhaps it was precisely the absence of political content within the album that disoriented the audience and sparked this absurd indifference. The author herself, in an interview given a few years before her death, had indicated the work in question as her favorite creation. Far from being a bizarre or snobbish statement, Nina's words betrayed a sort of disbelief in the face of a failure that could not depend on any qualitative aspect. Indeed, with all due respect to other classics of Simone's discography like 'I Put A Spell On You' or 'Sings The Blues', this LP has a strength of its own and is a superior strength. Nevertheless, it never gained the recognition it deserved, and these lines are my humble and heartfelt attempt to do it justice.

I have already mentioned that the publication of 'Nina Simone & Piano' coincided with a turbulent phase in the artist's life. Certainly, it wasn't as if she had been doing too well before; the fundamental difference lies in the fact that, while hope for a better future had previously sustained and nourished her, now disillusionment and despondency were making their way and prevailing over her sensitivity. Arguably, the incident of Martin Luther King's assassination was the point of no return, but the fact is that from 1969, Nina decided to polemically leave her homeland to embark on years of wandering that would lead her to live in Barbados, Liberia, Switzerland, Trinidad, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. Beyond the disheartening political situation, Nina was preparing for an additional reason for personal disappointment, namely the divorce from her husband the following year. In short, in case it wasn’t already clear, we are in the midst of a large-scale crisis, a crisis that in the most classic way was set to shatter and further destabilize the existential balance of the singer.

It’s not surprising, therefore, that to survive all this, Nina Simone relied on those things that had never betrayed her, those things that had always belonged to her, those certainties that outlined the contours of her persona: the voice, which here is present at the peak of its expressive potential; and the piano, the instrument she began to play at a young age, at four years old. The result is the most intimate album the artist has ever conceived.

Let's get to the point. There is no band, no rhythm section. There is no risk that any of the present songs will be used to advertise cookies, cars, or anything else, as the spirit of the work is immediate and light but not radio-friendly. The ensemble of tracks would be heterogeneous, but the skill and authentic interpretation return it to the listener as the natural expression of the versatility of a single soul, the immense and unadorned soul of Nina Simone. Jazz, blues, soul, become the facets of a single introspective journey that the singer faces with the calmness of solitude and the aid of resulting poetry. The voice marries the lyrics to perfection, with a balance and sense of measure that are unusual, so much so that rarely does the emotional tension of the singing go hand in hand with the emotional tension of the lyrics as in this handful of songs. There are existential questions, there is passion, regret, the incoherence and inevitability of love, there is also space for irony and hope. Art is applied with simplicity to the analysis of the human soul, with such lyricism and grace as to let an inseparable amalgam filter through to the outside, which is at the same time melancholy and fulfillment. It is a classy record, the kind that doesn’t age, the kind that warms you and makes you feel less alone. Listen to it while watching an autumn rain, pair it with a night of solitude and welcome those nostalgic thoughts that you usually try to chase away. Or play it in sweet company (it's the ideal soundtrack for doing so many wonderful things...) sheltered from daily stress; listen to it with your heart and you can’t remain indifferent.

I deliberately avoid describing the tracks as it seems to me a superfluous operation for a homogeneous record like this. And then, to be honest, I would risk saying a myriad of nonsensical things and this work certainly doesn’t deserve them. Its duration is just over 35 minutes; it's not a long time, and it’s the best album of one of the greatest female voices of all time. Do you have any valid reason not to give it a listen?