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Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.

Nina Simone

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Nina Simone
Age: 75 †
Born: 1933
Born: February 21
Died: 2008
Died: April 21
Composer
Jazz Pianist
Recording Artist
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Tryon
North Carolina
Eunice Kathleen Waymon
High Priestess of Soul
Term
White
Black
Music
People
Classical
Define
Racism
Jazz

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Music is one of the ways by which you can know everything which is going on in the world. You can feel... through music... Whew... you can feel the vibrations of everybody in the world at any given moment.
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How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it
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I can't stand loud guitars that make me deaf.
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You have to learn to get up from the table when love is not being served.
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I love the classics but there are many new ideas to be made into reality. I'd rather be concerned with my own thing. There are many masters of classical piano so I'll leave it to them.
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I don't like to go to strange places.
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To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt, and that's not what I play. I play black classical music.
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You can't help it. An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times.
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Theory and harmony broadened my mind in music. I know what music is made of.
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The Beatles are lucky, very lucky. But what has happened to them has nothing to do with them, in a sense. They came along at the right time. Attention was focused on them. They've had the chance to grow in almost any direction they wanted. Very lucky. They are not exceptionally talented.
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I was not reluctant to become a singer. Singing has been an activity I've done my whole life, without thought.
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Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, a song that was written for Simone, she confronted the band's lead singer, Eric Burdon. So you're the honky, she said, who stole my song and got a hit out of it?
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I had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about... Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important.
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I try to swim every damn day I can, and I've learned to scuba dive and snorkel.
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I would like a man now who is rich, and who can give me a boat - a sailboat. I want to own it and let him pay for it. My first love is the sea and water, not music. Music is second.
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I only knew classical music, which to me was the only true music. The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix the classical music with popular songs, and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus the talent to mix classical music together with more popular songs, which at the time I detested.
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Everything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was part of everyday life, as automatic as breathing.
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I don't like drug addicts and she sounds like a cat.
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Since I was three I've been playing the piano. I've been onstage.
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What is love but a prelude to sorrow...with heartache ahead for your goal.
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