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blackkudos · 5 years ago

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Ledisi

Ledisi Anibade Young (born March 28, 1972), better known simply as Ledisi, is an American R&B and jazz recording artist, songwriter, and actress. Her first name means "to bring forth" or "to come here" in Yoruba. In 1995, Ledisi formed the group Anibade. After unsuccessfully trying to get the group signed to a major label, she formed LeSun Records with Sundra Manning. Anibade and Ledisi released an album entitled "Soulsinger" (black and white cover on the LeSun Music independent label) featuring the song Take Time, which gained substantial airplay from San Francisco area radio stations. A twelve-time Grammy Award nominee, Ledisi has released eight studio albums between 2000 and 2017.

In 2000, Ledisi re-released her first major label signed album, titled Soulsinger: The Revival. Ledisi and her group toured in 2001. In 2002, Ledisi released her second album, Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue. The album won an award for "Outstanding Jazz Album" at the California Music Awards.

In 2005, Ledisi signed a record deal with Verve Forecast and released her third album, titled Lost & Found, on August 28, 2007; it sold almost 217,000 copies and earned her two Grammy nominations, including one for Best New Artist. In 2008, Ledisi released her Christmas album, It's Christmas.

In 2009, Ledisi released her fourth album Turn Me Loose, which earned her two Grammy nominations, followed by her fifth album Pieces of Me (2011) which debuted on the US Billboard 200 album chart at number eight, becoming the first top-ten album of her career and her highest-charting album to date. It also garnered three Grammy nominations at the 54th Grammy Awards including for Best R&B Album. In 2013, she received a nomination for Best R&B Performance at the 55th Grammy Awards for her collaboration with fellow R&B and jazz musician Robert Glasper for the album cut "Gonna Be Alright" from his fifth album Black Radio (2012). In 2014, she released her sixth album The Truth to critical acclaim and moderate sales. She portrayed legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in the 2014 Martin Luther King, Jr. biopic, Selma.

Early life

Ledisi was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. She grew up in a musical family; her mother, Nyra Dynese, sang in a Louisiana R&B band and her stepfather, Joseph Pierce III, (deceased) was a drummer in the New Orleans area. Her biological father is soul singer Larry Sanders, the son of blues singer Johnny Ace. He left the family when she was a baby and they did not meet again for nearly three decades.

Ledisi first began performing publicly at age eight with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra. Ledisi moved to Oakland, California, where she attended McChesney Junior High School, now Edna Brewer Middle School. She was shy about her singing abilities and would sing only upon request when students in her gym class would implore her to sing Deniece Williams's version of Black Butterfly, bringing the entire locker room audience under the spell of her very mature, melodious voice. As she sang more publicly her music career blossomed. She was nominated for a Shellie award in 1990 for her performance in a production of The Wiz and performed in an extended run with the San Francisco cabaret troupe, Beach Blanket Babylon. She studied opera and piano for five years at University of California Berkeley in their Young Musicians Program.

Musical career

1995–1999: Career beginnings

In the 1990s, Ledisi formed a group called Anibade, alongside Sundra Manning (producer, keyboards, songwriting), Phoenix (LaGerald) Normand (background vocals, songwriting), Cedrickke Dennis (guitar), Nelson Braxton (bass), Wayne Braxton (sax), and Rob Rhodes (drums), playing a jazz and hip-hop influenced kind of soul. The group won acclaim in the San Francisco Bay Area with a cult-like following of die-hard fans who referred to themselves as "Ledites" and meet her with love at every event, singing along verbatim to songs that though unrecorded at the time, were well known by their fans. The group later recorded a demo of one of the songs from their set, entitled, "Take Time" which was played on local stations and requested non-stop. Ledisi tried to get the group signed to a major label, but had no luck. Ledisi also performed often with jazz saxophonist Robert Stewart throughout the early 1990s in San Francisco.

2000–2003: Soulsinger: The Revival and Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue

In January 2000, Ledisi released her first album, Soulsinger: The Revival, independently on her label, LeSun Records. The album spun off four singles, "Soulsinger", "Take Time", "Get Outta My Kitchen", and "Good Lovin'". After the release of Soulsinger: The Revival, Ledisi toured with her group Anibade.

In 2002, Ledisi released her second album, Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue, which was also released independently. The album featured the singles "Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue" and "Autumn Leaves". During this time she also recorded commercials for the Sci Fi Channel. In 2003, Ledisi won "Outstanding Jazz Album" for Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue at the California Music Awards.

2006–2008: Lost & Found

During her five-year hiatus, Ledisi made appearances on soundtracks. In 2007, she signed with Verve and released "Blues in the Night" which featured on the tribute album, We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song.

In August 2007, Ledisi's third album, Lost & Found, was released. During her hiatus, Ledisi stated that she was unsure of wanting to stay in the music industry. In response, Ledisi wrote the song "Alright" to express her life. "Alright" became the lead single and debuted at #45 on the Billboard Hot R&B chart. The album's second single, "In The Morning", debuted at #49 on the Billboard Hot R&B chart. Other songs from the album charted but were not released as singles. "Think of You" charted at #71 on the Hot R&B charts, "Joy" charted at #103 on the Hot R&B charts and #29 on the Adult R&B Airplay.

In December 2007, the album earned her two Grammy nominations, including one for Best New Artist. In 2008, Ledisi continued her tour to promote the album, Lost & Found. By January 2009, the album had sold 216,894 copies.

In September 2008, Ledisi released her Christmas album, It's Christmas, which featured the singles "This Christmas" and "Children Go Where I Send Thee". In December 2008, Ledisi's T.V. special aired on Gospel Channel, titled "Ledisi Christmas". Ledisi performed a few songs from her Christmas album. "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and "Give Love On Christmas Day" charted on the Hot R&B charts at #113.

In 2008 Ledisi performed the song "The Man I Love" as a blues singer in the Leatherheads movie.

2009–2010: Turn Me Loose

In 2009, Ledisi's fourth studio album was announced as Turn Me Loose. The album was released on August 18, 2009. Speaking in April 2010 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis – Deputy Editor of the award-winning Blues & Soul – Ledisi explained the album's title reflected its musical diversity: "The title 'Turn Me Loose' is basically me saying 'I don't wanna be boxed in! Let me be myself as a performer and singer, because I do EVERYTHING! Not just one particular style!'." She employed production from seasoned R&B songwriter-producers such as Raphael Saadiq, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, James "Big Jim" Wright, and Carvin & Ivan. The first single from the album was "Goin' Thru Changes". The second single was "Higher Than This", produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and James "Big Jim" Wright.

On May 13, 2010, Ledisi performed at Charter Oak Cultural Center's 9th Annual Gala, a fundraiser for free after-school youth arts programming in inner-city Hartford. She performed several songs from Turn Me Loose, and also performed a duet with Anika Noni Rose, a tribute to the late Lena Horne.

2011–2012: Pieces of Me

Ledisi toured with R&B/soul singer Kem on his North American INTIMACY Tour. On March 10, 2011, during her opening act in Atlanta, Georgia, Ledisi announced that she had finished recording her fifth studio album, Pieces of Me, on March 9, 2011. It was released on June 14, 2011. It debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200 album chart, selling 38,000 copies in its first week. The album's title track served as the album's lead single.

Ledisi has performed at the White House seven times at the request of President and First Lady Obama.

Ledisi headlined her first tour to promote her album, Pieces of Me. The Pieces of Me Tour played to 22 sold out shows across North America. With this album, she received three nominations for the 2012 Grammy Awards, in the categories Best R&B Album, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song, for the album and the lead single "Pieces of Me".

Ledisi released her first book, Better Than Alright: Finding Peace, Love & Power on Time Home Entertainment, Inc. in 2012. The book, an innovative collaboration with ESSENCE, is filled with the singer's personal photos, quotes, lyrics, and richly detailed stories of her journey to acceptance of her beauty, talent, and power.

On April 6, 2012, Ledisi announced her second headlining tour, B.G.T.Y., with Eric Benet serving as an opening act. In December 2012, VH1 announced that Ledisi would perform at their 2012 VH1 Divas show, a concert benefiting the Save The Music Foundation charity. Ledisi performed a Whitney Houston tribute medley with Jordin Sparks and Melanie Fiona.

2014–2016: The Truth

On March 2014, Ledisi released her new album The Truth. She is also on tour with Robert Glasper in partnership with the magazine "Essence" (which featured her on one of their three April covers as well as Erykah Badu and Solange Knowles).

In April 2014, Ledisi was cast to play Mahalia Jackson in the American historical drama film, Selma, directed by Ava DuVernay and written by Paul Webb and DuVernay. It is based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches led by James Bevel, Hosea Williams, and Martin Luther King, Jr. In the film and on the official film soundtrack, Ledisi sings "Take My Hand, Precious Lord". Initially slated to perform at the 57th Grammy Awards as part of a tribute to the Selma March alongside Common and John Legend (who performed their Oscar-winning duet "Glory") she was ultimately snubbed by the Recording Academy and recording artist Beyoncé, who performed in her place. Ledisi's snubbing and Beyoncé's performance received mixed reaction from social media. In 2015, she received her ninth Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Performance for the single "Like This" off of her seventh album The Truth. She lost to Beyoncé and Jay Z for "Drunk in Love".

2017–present: Let Love Rule

In May 2017, Ledisi released a single titled "High" produced by Darhyl "Hey DJ" Camper and Rex Rideout. Her eighth studio album called Let Love Rule was released on September 22, 2017. In November 2017, she received three more nominations at the 60th Grammy Awards in January 2018 including Best R&B Album, Best R&B Performance and Best Traditional R&B Performance. Ledisi won a Soul Train Award 'Soul Certified Award' for the album.

Ledisi helped the BET Awards pay tribute to Anita Baker, the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient of the night on June 24, with a rendition of the singer's 1986 ode "Sweet Love".

Ledisi was then a part of the Aretha Franklin Tribute that was put together by the annual award ceremony known as Black Girls Rock. Ledisi delivered a rendition of the hit "Ain't No Way".

In October 2018, Ledisi performed with Adam Lambert in an NBC broadcast, A Very Wicked Halloween: Celebrating 15 Years on Broadway, before a live studio audience at the Marquis Theatre in New York, singing "As Long as You're Mine" from Wicked.

Discography

Studio albums

Soulsinger: The Revival (2000)

Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue (2002)

Lost & Found (2007)

Turn Me Loose (2009)

Pieces of Me (2011)

The Truth (2014)

Let Love Rule (2017)

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

Ledisi has been nominated for twelve career Grammy Awards.

BET Awards

BETJ Virtual Awards

California Music Awards

Soul Train Music Awards

2008, BET J Cool Like Dat Award (Nominated)

2008, Female Artist of the Year (Nominated)

2003, Outstanding Jazz Album, Feeling Orange But Sometimes Blue (Won)

2011, Centric Award (nominated)

2009, Best R&B/Soul Female Artist (nominated)

2014, Best R&B/Soul Female Artist (Nominated)

2017 Best R&B/Soul Female Artist (Nominated)

2017 Soul Certified Award (won)

2018 Soul Certified Award (won)

NAACP AWARDS

2012 Best Female Artist (Nominated)

2015 Best Female Artist (Nominated)

2018 Best Female Artist (Nominated)

2018 Best Traditional song - High (Nominated)

2018 Best Visual - High (Nominated)

Honors/Special Awards

2016, NAACP Awards Theatre - Spirit Award Honoree

2016, America For The Arts - Music Honoree

Tours

Pieces of Me Tour (2011)

B.G.T.Y. Tour (2012)

The Truth Tour (2014)

The Intimate Truth Tour (2015)

The Rebel The Soul The Saint Tour (2017)

Let Love Rule Tour (2018)

Ledisi Live UK Tour (2019)

Filmography

2008: Leatherheads (as the Blues Singer)

2011: Leave It on the Floor (as Princess' Mother)

2014: Selma (as Mahalia Jackson)

2016: The Tale Of Four (Short Film) (as Aunt Sara)

2020: American Soul (as Patti LaBelle) (season 2, upcoming)

#03/28

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grapevynerendezvous · 4 years ago

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The Byrds - Fifth Dimension

The album Fifth Dimension took flight following two ground-breaking albums that had melded the innovative essentials of the British Invasion with the burgeoning folk-pop music scene happening in the U.S. With the release of their first album The Byrds blended those styles into what came to be known as folk-rock. Although they may not have been the only ones to do this, nor the actual first to produce it, they became the most influential artists to do so. With Fifth Dimension, things took a left turn straight into the stratosphere of psychedelia and toward Raga as well, plus a bit of a right turn toward country music. The album contained all that, although it was perhaps not so well executed as their first record.

In March 1966 the single Eight Miles High b/w Why was released for take off. It turned people, as the saying goes, on their ears. The band and their manager Jim Dickson recorded the two songs at RCA Studios in December 1965, and those songs were a creative leap for them. According to Columbia all recording had to take place at the label’s studios and, with their house producers. The re-recording took place in January. The bulk of the song was written by band member Gene Clark, who had become the band’s primary songwriter, but Roger (Jim) McGuinn and David Crosby were co-writers. By the time the song came out Clark had departed. The “official reason given for his departure was it was due to his fear of flying which prevented “him from fulfilling his obligations with the group”, according to Johnny Rogan in his book, The Byrds: Timeless Flight Revisited. The reality was that it also had something to do with general anxiety issues. Of course, there was that little affair with a certain “Mama” in another up and coming band as the year progressed.

The remaining quartet, McGuinn, Crosby, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke were left to complete the album which was recorded over the next three months and released in July. The other single that was released, 5D (Fifth Dimension) b/w the instrumental, Captain Soul, came out one month before the album. The two singles were victims of being banned due to alleged drug references by certain stations and markets. This, in part at least, helped prevent them from going higher on the charts than they did. Eight Miles High, which topped out at No.14 on Billboard and 24 on UK Singles, was also cited for being comparably noncommercial and complex for the average listener. 5D (Fifth Dimension) was another, perhaps even more psychedelic track, that only reached 44 on Billboard and never charted in the U.K. The composer, Jim McGuinn, was being cerebral and metaphysical in his approach to the song, trying to explain Einstein’s theory of relativity while also citing Don Landis’ book 1-2-3-4 More, More, More, More as inspiration. Yet a large amount of the audience was interpreting the abstract lyrics as relating to an LSD trip. The other songs written by McGuinn for the album were also eclectic. Mr. Spaceman, which got some radio airplay in some areas, was definitely a lean into country music with by no means typical country style lyrics. 2-4-2 Fox Trot (The Lear Jet Song) was novelty song. The main characters of the song were a Lear jet and a pilot preparing to take off in it while the band sang a ten-word phrase repeatedly throughout the entire song. The next song on the album, I See You, co-written by McGuinn and David Crosby, has a jazzy feel and contains some effective 12-string guitar solos. What’s Happening!? is David Crosby’s lone solo composition on the album and presaged his hippie ethos rants to come. Crosby was also the catalyst for including his version of the garage rock song Hey Joe that The Leaves made into a Top 40 hit. The Leaves version came after hearing both The Byrds and Love play it at shows in the LA area. It is a song that is said to have been written by Billy Roberts. There are other claims to its’ authorship as well, but Roberts holds the copyright. Crosby brought it to the band in the first place and wanted to record it before they had gone into the studio. The rest of the band was not excited about it, but by the time they were in the Fifth Dimension session Crosby was was so angry because The Leaves already had a hit and Love had also recorded it, that they agreed to let him sing it on the album. Wild Mountain Thyme, credited as a traditional song, is more directly associated with the song adapted by Belfast musician Francis McPeake and first recorded by his family in the 1950s. The source was an Irish/Scottish folk song, the lyrics and melody being a variant of Robert Tannahill and Robert Archibald Smith’ The Braes of Balquhither. The McPeake basis of this was related to me by Belfast musician, and former band member with Van Morrison, Kevin Brennan, who had personally known the McPeakes. All four band members were responsible for the instrumental Captain Soul, and they are also credited for arranging the other traditional song on the album, John Riley, which is derived from Homer’s Odyssey and interpreted through 17th century English folk ballad tradition. It was recorded by Peter Seeger in 1950. I Come and Stand at Every Door is the closing song on the first side. It originated as a 1955 poem by Turkish poet Nâzım Hikmet (Ran), called Kız Çocuğu (The Girl Child). It was a plea for peace from a seven-year old girl who had died in the atomic bomb explosion in Hiroshima and has, of course, an anti-war message. The only composer in the album credits is Çocuğu, but he was only responsible for the Turkish poem he had written. The roots of the American song version emanate from a non-traditional melody composed by Jim Waters in 1954 to fit the lyrics of Child 113 ballad The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry. Pete Seeger describes the story behind his version of the song in his Where Have All the Flowers Gone: A Singer's Stories, Songs, Seeds, Robberies (A Musical Autobiography) (1993):: “Jeanette Turner did a loose English "singable translation" of the poem under a different title, I Come And Stand At Every Door, and sent a note to Seeger asking "Do you think you could make a tune for it?" in the late 1950s. After a week of trial and failure, this English translation was used by Seeger in 1962 with an adaptation of "an extraordinary melody put together by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology student James Waters, who had put a new tune to a mystical ballad The Great Silkie which he couldn't get out of his head, without permission." Seeger wrote in his Where Have All the Flowers Gone: A Singer's Stories, Songs, Seeds, Robberies (A Musical Autobiography) (1993), ”It was wrong of me. I should have gotten his permission. But it worked. The Byrds made a good recording of it, electric guitars and all.” Tom Clark, a poet who had a blog called Beyond the Pale, posted the poem with photos referencing Hiroshima and further discussion. Per his response further down in the comments 7 August 2015 at 03:32, “…… rest assured the credit situation had long since been settled up fair and square by the time Pete Seeger, at 90, did that amazing a capella version for Democracy Now. The song is now and forever copy(r)ighted c: Nazim Hikmet/James W. Waters.”

Eight Miles High was the last piece in the puzzle which determined if I was finally going to accept rock and roll as my musical lord and savior. Well at least one of my musical saviors anyway, jazz was already in my head. It came on the heals of music I was listening to in 1966 from the Animals, Outsiders, Young Rascals, Troggs, Syndicate of Sound, Kinks, Paul Revere & The Raiders and particularly The Yardbirds, with Shapes of Things. When I first heard Shapes of Things I knew I was hooked, and Eight Miles High confirmed it. Looking back, it appears I was wide open to the ideas of psychedelic music because both these songs have been identified as pioneers in that genre. My true turning point came when a classmate of mine and I were hanging out at school and he started asking me about my musical likes. This was not long after I had started hearing Eight Miles High on the radio and I finally admitted that I was getting hooked on rock music. I had that undeniable "gotta have it" experience going on, but I wasn't into buying 45s at that point and frankly thought it surely must be on an album. It turned out that album took an another four months from the single release to be issued. It felt like an eternity, especially since it still took me a few more months to finally buy Fifth Dimension. It is generally recognized that the Yardbirds’ song, with Jeff Beck’s Asian/Indian-Raga feedback-laden guitar solo, and the anti-war/pro-environmental lyrics, was the first popular psychedelic song. Eight Miles High, is likewise considered the first American popular psychedelic song, with The Byrds next single, 5D (Fifth Dimension), following up a few months later. What followed was a two to three-year period in which the new psychedelic music scene was explored from top to bottom, and sideways. Psychedelic music incorporated new playing techniques, use of unusual or unexpected instruments, new ideas in thought and expression. It most certainly was influenced by the growing use of drugs, particularly those labeled as psychedelics such as LSD. As was mentioned, both Eight Miles High and 5D failed to reach higher chart plateaus, at least at part, because of what was alleged to be drug references in the songs. Eight Miles High approximates the height at which jet airliners fly and was a reference to that experience. Latently both Roger McGuinn and David Crosby admitted that their own drug use had influenced their contributions to the song. McGuinn however, who wrote 5D (Fifth Dimension) as a reference to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, was disappointed by much of the listening audience assuming it was about drugs. What did he expect? It was 1966 after all, and perhaps that’s what they wanted it to be. Despite the psychedelic feel and abstract lyrics of 5D, McQuinn still somehow managed to make it sound country as well. The album ended up being a continuation of the folk-rock sound that The Byrds had helped pioneer with their first two albums. It also found them exploring what came to be known as country-rock.

A notable difference between Fifth Dimension and The Byrds’ first albums is that the band had five original compositions with four by Bob Dylan in each of them while Fifth Dimension contained eight by The Byrds and none by Dylan. The reviews of the album have been mixed, with some, such as New Express Magazine calling it "faultless" and a work that "heralds a newly psychedelic Byrds hung up on the archetypal acid-fixation with the unknown”, while others were disparaging. The general direction of criticism of the album was that it fell below the standards set by their first two albums, that it lacked energy, that it was “wildly uneven” per Richie Unterberger, or as Barney Hoskins in Mojo put it, "can't quite decide what sort of album it is”. On the other hand Billboard Magazine, later called it “their most under-rated album”. I, for one, was quite happy to not be some jaded critic. My mind was being opened up by new music, new ideas, and I could not get enough. Since I hadn’t obtained the first two albums, Fifth Dimension became my compass point for the Byrds, even though I had heard and enjoyed their first two hit songs. Fifth Dimension, with its’ various styles, was perfect for me and I listened to it repeatedly for quite a long time. It still remains one of my favorite albums. I even found a way to enjoy 2-4-2 Foxtrot (The Lear Jet Song) when I finally listened to it from the perspective of someone sitting in the co-pilot seat. Must have been at LAX.

One cut on the album had a resounding affect on me, "I Come and Stand at Every Door". I was still developing my own perspective on what was going on in the world and this song helped me look at many things differently.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Byrds

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Dimension_(album)

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-byrds-mn0000631774/biography

https://www.allmusic.com/album/fifth-dimension-mw0000200612

https://www.britannica.com/topic/the-Byrds

https://www.discogs.com/artist/215471-The-Byrds

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Mountain_Thyme

http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2015/08/nazm-hikmet-ran-i-come-and-stand-at.html?m=1

Pete Seeger Aug. 9, 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9qzZ0-qkac

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1ql_ADlWoY

LP15

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sheilacwall · 5 years ago

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The Year is 1964 & Nina Simone is About to Take on the Authorities

Black History in America – When Nina Simone Sang What Everyone Was Thinking

“Mississippi Goddam” was an angry response to a tragedy, in show tune form.

Nina was angry, damn right too and she channeled her energy into music, but it could have gone another way…

On June 12, 1963, in the early morning after president John F. Kennedy’s Civil Rights address, activist Medgar Evers was shot in the back as he stood in the driveway of his Mississippi home.

He was returning from a meeting with NAACP lawyers and officials, and carried an armload of T-shirts that read “Jim Crow Must Go.” Evers was taken to a local hospital, where he died less than an hour after being admitted.

On September 15, 1963, four girls were killed when white supremacists planted more than a dozen sticks of dynamite beneath the side steps of the African-American 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The children were preparing for a sermon titled “A Love That Forgives.” According to one witness, their bodies flew across the basement “like rag dolls.”

When she heard the news, jazz musician Nina Simone was paralyzed. “It was more than I could take,” she remembered, “and I sat struck dumb in my den like St. Paul on the road to Damascus: all the truths that I had denied to myself for so long rose up and slapped my face. The bombing of the little girls in Alabama and the murder of Medgar Evers were like the final pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that made no sense until you had fitted the whole thing together. I suddenly realized what it was to be Black in America in 1963, but it wasn’t an intellectual connection…it came as a rush of fury, hatred and determination. In church language, the Truth entered into me and I ‘came through.’”

Simone’s initial reaction was less than Christian. “I had it in mind to go out and kill someone,” she remembered. “I tried to make a zip gun.”

Andy, her husband and manager, intervened. “Nina,” he said, “you can’t kill anyone. You are a musician. Do what you do.”

An hour later, Nina Simone had composed a song called “Mississippi Goddam.” “It was my first civil rights song,” she recalled, “and it erupted out of me quicker than I could write it down.”

“Mississippi Goddam” became one of Nina Simone’s most famous compositions. It redirected her career. Crisply honest, it is a pure expression of rage and an indictment of inequality. Stylistically, it leapfrogged the righteous, passive anthems that characterized protest music of the time. It was knowing, biting, and inciting.

It was a step Simone was reluctant to take. “Nightclubs were dirty, making records was dirty, popular music was dirty and to mix all that with politics seemed senseless and demeaning,” she wrote in her autobiography I Put a Spell On You. “And until songs like ‘Mississippi Goddam’ just burst out of me, I had musical problems as well.

How can you take the memory of a man like Medgar Evers and reduce all that he was to three and a half minutes and a simple tune? That was the musical side of it I shied away from; I didn’t like ‘protest music’ because a lot of it was so simple and unimaginative it stripped the dignity away from the people it was trying to celebrate. But the Alabama church bombing and the murder of Medgar Evers stopped that argument and with ‘Mississippi Goddam,’ I realized there was no turning back.”

“‘Mississippi Goddam’—that’s using God’s name in vain,” said comedian and activist Dick Gregory. “She said it, talking about ‘Mississippi, goddamn you.’ We all wanted to say it, but she said it. That’s the difference that set her aside from the rest of them.”

Shortly after the song’s debut in New York, Nina Simone performed it to a mostly white audience at Carnegie Hall in March, 1964. It starts off at a clip. “The name of this tune is Mississippi God-DAMN,” Simone declares to nervous laughter as the band vamps behind her, “…and I mean every word of it.”

Alabama’s got me so upset

Tennessee made me lose my rest

And everybody knows about Mississippi

Goddam

The arrangement is at apparent odds with the sentiment. It’s a vaudeville tune, a clip from a musical review. It makes you see chorus boys, bright in the footlights, dancing in unison. But this is a dark message, delivered in a white envelope. Simone repeats the first verse more insistently, then asks for a witness in the middle eight.

Can’t you see it

Can’t you feel it

It’s all in the air

I can’t stand the pressure much longer

Somebody say a prayer

…then a recapitulation of the verse, to complete the standard AABA form.

What happens next is fascinating, and we need to discuss a little music theory to talk about it. Simone doesn’t change key, but begins playing in the relative minor. Musically, it’s like looking at the opposite side of the same coin: major chords (in this case A-flat, the song’s key base) are generally considered bright and happy, while minor chords (F minor here) are understood to be more melancholy and sinister. Because A-flat and F minor reside in the same key, we understand them as being of a piece. They may have a different root, but share the same scale. Not only that, A-flat is the very note that changes an F chord from major to minor. Simone is demonstrating, tonally, that there are two very different stories to be told from the American perspective: one of majority and one of minority. Furthermore, the existence of one causes the desolation of the other.

“This is a show tune,” Simone explains over the new minor vamp, “but the show hasn’t been written for it yet.” More tittering from the uncertain audience.

Then, a little over a century after president Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Nina Simone slaps gradualism in the face and throws politeness out the window. “You don’t have to live next to me,” she sings. “Just give me my equality.”

Yes you lied to me all these years

You told me to wash and clean my ears

And talk real fine just like a lady

And you’d stop calling me Sister Sadie

Oh but this whole country is full of lies

You’re all gonna die and die like flies

I don’t trust you any more

Keep on sayin’ ‘Go slow’

“Everyone knows about Mississippi,” Simone sings as the song comes to a racing close. “Everyone knows about Alabama. Everyone knows about Mississippi. Goddamn.”

youtube

“Mississippi Goddam” was included on the album “Nina Simone In Concert,” and released as a single, with the offending word bleeped out. “It may be the most topical selection in years,” read the sleeve notes. “This outstanding message song, with the great ‘SIMONE’ feel and rhythm, makes this a @*?!!;; hot disc.”

One box of promotional singles was returned from South Carolina with each record broken neatly in half. Most southern states banned the song.

“Nina Simone In Concert” contains another original composition, “Old Jim Crow.” Jim Crow was a character originating in a blackface minstrel song from the 1820s, and was the name of the prevailing racial caste system in the South after slavery.

“Oh I’m a roarer on de fiddle, and down in old Virginny,” goes the original lyric to “Jump Jim Crow” from 1828,

They say I play de skyentific like Massa Pagannini

Weel about and turn about and do jis so,

Eb’ry time I weel about and jump Jim Crow

“Old Jim Crow, what’s wrong with you?” Nina Simone sings in her song.

It’s not your name, it’s the things you do

Old Jim Crow don’t you know

It’s all over now

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There were many songs sung during the Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights March in early 1965, a year after Nina Simone’s concert at Carnegie Hall. The marchers burst into “We Shall Overcome,” the anthem of the Civil Rights movement, several times. (Folk music icon Pete Seeger had taken the old spiritual and replaced “I will” with “We shall” in the title, making it a more universal pean to perseverance and gradualism.) Two young supporters sang “Woke Up This Morning With My Mind Stayed on Freedom” after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s remarks in Selma on the morning of the march. Along the route, white supremacists blasted “Bye, Bye Blackbird” from loudspeakers.

At the end of the march, in Montgomery Alabama on March 25, a concert was given. Ten thousand people gathered around so tightly that 57 of them fainted. Accompanied only by her guitarist, Nina Simone sang “Mississippi Goddam” on a stage made from empty coffin crates. After the performance, she was introduced to Martin Luther King.

“I’m not nonviolent!” she declared, sticking out her hand.

“That’s okay, sister,” Dr. King replied. “You don’t have to be.”

The terrible decade ground on. A tense interview with Down Beat in January, 1968 was interrupted when segregation came up. “What kind of thing are you doing?” asks husband and manager Andrew Stroud. “We’re not interested in the race issue.” Later that year, when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, Simone and her bassist Gene Taylor composed “Why? (The King of Love Is Dead).”

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Nina Simone moved to Europe and Africa in the early 1970s. “I left this country because I didn’t like this country,” she told an interviewer. “I didn’t like what it was doing to my people and I left.” She was ever after associated with the Civil Rights movement, even though her ultimate conclusion was that political music was a professional liability. She told one interviewer that she regretting writing “Mississippi Goddam” because it hurt her career.

“There is no reason to sing those songs, nothing is happening,” Simone told the interviewer in the 1980s. “There’s no Civil Rights movement. Everybody’s gone.”

But there had been a reason to sing those songs, even when it was done at personal expense. “It was dangerous,” she said about performing for the movement’s marches and rallies. “We encountered many people who were after our hides. I was excited by it, though, because I felt more alive then than I do now because I was needed, could sing something to help my people, and that became the mainstay of my life, the most important thing.”

On another level, Nina Simone, as a musician, understood the universality of being human. Music, after all, is our common emotional language. It does not know age, or race, or class, or gender. Though it informs each, it is available to all. Protest music, specifically, is nothing more than a complaint when such equality — a condition articulated by our founders, but not yet fully achieved — is violated.

“It’s funny about music,” she said at the end of the Down Beat interview. “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. Through music you can become sad, joyful, loving, you can learn. You can learn mathematics, touch, pacing…Oh my God! Ooh…Wow…You can see colors through music. Anything! Anything human can be felt through music, which means that there is no limit to the creating that can be done with music. You can take the same phrase from any song and cut it up so many different ways — it’s infinite. It’s like God…you know?”

by Tom Maxell – source

The post The Year is 1964 & Nina Simone is About to Take on the Authorities appeared first on Hip Hop World Music.

from Hip Hop World Music https://hiphopworldmusic.com/the-year-is-1964-nina-simone-is-about-to-take-on-the-authorities/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-year-is-1964-nina-simone-is-about-to-take-on-the-authorities from Hip Hop World Music https://hiphopworldmusic.tumblr.com/post/188791822388

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rocknutsvibe · 7 years ago

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Top 10 Byrds Songs

I’ve found myself dipping into The Byrds catalogue a lot more ever since Tom Petty passed away. Petty’s cover of “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better” got me going one day, and ever since then I’ve been rediscovering the brilliance of these guys. I keep thinking that if things had worked out differently they could have been the definitive American Beatles, one of the three or four greatest bands of all time, but sadly, in the end The Byrds just couldn’t hold everything together.

What an amazing array of talent they had. Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, Chris Hillman and Gene Clark were excellent singers, songwriters and musicians, each and every one of them, and that is some kind of versatility. They were highly influential Rock pioneers, and many if not most of the songs on this list were highly original and truly trailblazing.

I have deliberately included only one Bob Dylan cover, the big one that launched their career. If the Byrds had a fatal flaw it may have been doing too many Dylan covers. They officially recorded at least 20, which is ridiculous, and it’s also sort of like cheating because you know the songs are already good. More importantly, your reputation as a major musical innovator is compromised if you’re covering somebody else’s work so much of the time.

If The Byrds had made twenty or even ten more songs as good as the ones below instead of doing 20 Dylan covers, who knows how big they might have been? Easier said than done, but as the saying goes, to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. Or in the words of modern day street poets, it is what it is.

10. Mr. Spaceman

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Did a young Tom Petty hear this song on the radio in 1967 and say to himself “that’s what I will sound like someday”? It sure seems like it because it’s all there, the vocal inflection, the humor, the gifted songcraft. And another hint of the country direction the Byrds were headed in.

9. Tribal Gathering

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David Crosby never felt his contributions were given a fair hearing in the band, and the truth is that the Byrds never moved much towards the jazz-flavored stylings that Crosby favored. If they had given Crosby more space The Byrds would have made more music like this, the same kind of signature sound Crosby would eventually bring to his new partners Stills and Nash.

8. So You Want To Be A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star

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It was early ’67 and people were already getting jaded about Rock Stardom. This short and sweet slice of scathing satire was apparently inspired by the Monkees, the pre-Fab Four. But dig the exotic rhythms, Chris Hillman’s amazing bass line, and Hugh Masekela’s trumpet flourishes, I’ve never heard another song remotely like it.

7. Hickory Wind

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A best-of Byrds list has got to include something from Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, generally believed to be the album that gave birth to Country Rock, and it’s got to be a song by the grievous angel himself Gram Parsons, the driving force behind the band’s hard country turn, and a shooting star who deeply influenced Rock before tragically flaming out at age 27. You can’t get any closer to the root than he did.

6. Wasn’t Born To Follow

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A lot of people really love this one because it was featured in the movie Easy Rider, a perfect fit because breezy, rootsy Byrds music works so well on an open highway on a sunny day. You should try it if you haven’t already. The band manages to give this Goffin/King number both a country and a psychedelic treatment, a rare double in the same song.

5. Chestnut Mare

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In 1969 Roger McGuinn was one of a number of Rockers who wanted to combine their music with theater, it was the thing to do back then. McGuinn’s country Rock opera never got made but a few songs survived, including this shimmering, spellbinding cowboy story which was a big hit in the U.K. And we all know the horse is a metaphor for something.

4. I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better

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Track 2 on their debut album, written and sung by drummer Gene Clark, again, this is pure pop perfection that should have been a huge hit. You can hear the Lennon/McCartney influences in the chord changes and structure, but those influences would disappear by the next album as the band found its own confident voice.

3. Mr. Tambourine Man

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Any one of these top three Byrds tracks could be their very best, I could flip a coin to choose between the three of them. But this is the one that started it all. It begins with one of the most memorable licks in Rock history, one that McGuinn ripped off from Bach, and it alone would have made the song stand out. But then the incredible harmonies kick in, bringing Dylan’s vest-pocket mythologies to the unwashed masses for the first time, and suddenly we’ve got a significant cultural artifact on our hands, Folk Rock was being born, and the magic swirling ship was just setting sail.

2. Eight Miles High

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The Byrds were the leaders of the Country Rock movement, but you could also argue they were Psychedelic Rock pioneers too. This song blew a lot of minds when it came out in March 1966. This was six months before the Beatles’ Revolver and its psych trailblazer “Tomorrow Never Knows”, and nobody had ever heard the kind of psychedelic and atonal guitar playing that McGuinn lets rip on “Eight Miles High”. McGuinn said he was channelling Ravi Shankar and John Coltrane and wasn’t intending to be psychedelic at all but it doesn’t really matter. The track was a game changer and one of the most important songs in Rock history.

1. Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season)

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McGuinn’s Rickenbacker chimed like church bells across the land in the Fall of ’65, heralding nothing less than a new awakening for a new generation. You can still taste the bittersweet in it today, hope for the future tinged with the sadness of the past, the wound of JFK’s assassination still fresh at the time. Lots of genius at work here: McGuinn’s arrangement, Pete Seeger’s melody and two big lyric contributions – the repeated title phrase plus the words “a time for peace I swear it’s not too late” – and whoever wrote the rest of these insightful, powerful, timeless words in the Book of Ecclesiastes.

So what are your favourite Byrds songs?

Photo credit: By Joost Evers / Anefo (Nationaal Archief) [CC BY-SA 3.0 nl (http://ift.tt/2CeOqg8], via Wikimedia Commons

from Rocknuts http://ift.tt/2FvPOfE via IFTTT

#Rocknuts #rock #music

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onestowatch · 8 years ago

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From The Farm To Grammy Collaborations: Council Expands On ‘Rust To Gold’ Debut

How do three brothers who worked on a farm with no internet get this ridiculously talented team to work with them--on a debut, no less? Lead singer Patrick Reeves says, “The short answer is luck and a lot of persistence.”

Amongst the treacherous and over-populated landscape of today’s music, Council’s music emerges as the soundtrack that reminds you of U2, with the melodies and modern day sing-along-able chants of One Republic or 30 Seconds to Mars. They embody the tunes that truly do get trapped in your head, and without the gimmicks of vocoders, distracting auto-tuned featured artists, or a melody played by an instrument rather than sung by a vocalist.

Council’s debut EP, Rust to Gold, shows that rock can still exist in pure form. Moreover, perhaps the more interesting factoid is who this relatively unknown band worked on the album with: Grammy-nominated producer Justin Gray (Mariah Carey, John Legend), ten-time Grammy-nominated mixer Mark Needham (Imagine Dragons, The Killers), and mastering legend, Howie Weinberg (U2, Nirvana).

The three brothers who make up Council --twins Pat and Doug, plus brother Andy-- won over their champions the old fashioned way: by sending demos and emails. Describing themselves as “U2 meets Imagine Dragons and on some nights they invite Coldplay over for a threesome,” the band’s EP undoubtedly exudes a polished sound comparable to that of a rock veteran’s second or third studio release.

In the day and age of “buying” success, Council shows us that focused talent plus persistent hard work will always pay off. Read more in our Q&A below.

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You guys are brothers--were you in other bands before you started working together?

Pat: We all have been with this band since its inception. We each threaten to leave and go to other bands but frankly, there’s nothing like working with your brothers.

Why are you called Council?

Pat: We really spent quite an amount of time trying to figure out something that wasn’t outrageous, had meaning, and looked good in print. We were being evicted from our apartment, and I was arguing some reason why we thought we were in the right and the manager said she would bring it to her “counsel.” I remember looking at Doug and Andy and saying, “that could be our name.” I wasn’t particularly focused on the eviction part, but more excited we had just crossed off our first band task. We changed the spelling because it better reflected our band’s decision-making process.

Who are some of your influences?

Doug: U2 would be at the top of the list for so many reasons including longevity, amazing songs, and a tremendous live show. I’d also say Oasis. We caught the end of their peak, but nonetheless can’t help being inspired by the brothers Gallagher. The Who, Foo Fighters, Queen, and the lyrical genius of Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam.

How on earth did you go from working on a farm to working with all the Grammy winners/nominees that helped produce this EP?

Pat: When we were on the farm, we had no internet so we'd take lunch breaks and odd times at night to go to the library and send out our demos to industry people. We were fortunate to have legendary mixer, Brian Malouf (Michael Jackson, Queen), open the email and like what we were doing. The first co-writing session was with writer/producer Justin Gray (John Legend, Dirty Heads). We were amazed at how quickly and proficiently he worked. We learned so much and had an immediate connection with him.

Fast forward a couple years later: we were still sending out demos to industry people but had some big names believing in us. People like Grammy winners David Kahne (Paul McCartney, The Strokes), Richard Rainey (U2 producer/mixer), Terry Lawless (U2 keyboardist/programmer), and attorney George Stein (Jeff Buckley). We decided we had to finally record something professionally.

We immediately thought of Justin as the guy to fulfill our vision. By the next phone call, he had a rough sketch of what the EP should sound like and also had brought Mark Needham (The Killers, Imagine Dragons) to mix. So with everything in place, we got to work on our debut Rust To Gold.

On the EP, is there a thread that ties the songs together?

Pat: I think all the songs are a reflection of hope; a kind of a dark optimism. And truthfully we’ve lived the songs lyrics, so I think the listener will pick up on the fact that as a band, we are forward-looking. No matter the darkness that preceded us, there’s always light and that’s what we want to translate through our songs.

As brothers, how does the songwriting process work?

Doug: After years of trying to figure the process out, I’m grateful I can actually answer this question. Usually, I’ll hear some new song or a beat and bring it to Pat’s attention. He’s my twin, so I know his tastes pretty good by now. Pat will then usually put a chord progression, a lead piano line and some kind of working title. Then it’s played to Andy, and if he seems interested then Andy proceeds to kick Pat off the song (or at least leading the charge in writing) for fear he’ll ruin it. Then Andy starts developing song structure, lyrical ideas, and from there it becomes a three-man effort to etch out an idea that has passed all of our approvals. We try not to waste time if we all aren’t excited about the song.

What movie trailer would “Rise Above It All” fit best on?

Doug: I’d say definitely a biographical movie. They seem to really capture the spirit of never giving up. Maybe “Cinderella Man?” An amazing story of perseverance through some extraordinary odds.

What bands/music are you listening to right now?

Andy: The Strumbellas, Kings of Leon, Metallica’s new album. We really love every genre so whatever is being played is usually okay with us.

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Of the shows you’ve played so far, what has been your favorite place and why?

Pat: I’d say playing at Pipeline Café in Hawaii and opening for the All American Rejects because it was the culmination of a lot of work we had put in--playing in front of 2,500 people was really something I enjoyed.

Andy: Mine was playing at Citi Field (Mets Stadium). The Mets happen to be our favorite team and playing on the field was amazing. This was when Jose Reyes was about to win the batting title, so the fans were electric.

Doug: I’d say opening for The Toadies. Not only are they amazing live, but it was surreal to be playing Guitar Hero to their song the summer before and then be on the same stage as them six months later.

Most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you while performing?

Andy: One time I forgot to hit my tuning pedal when I was supposed to start the song--nothing came out of the amp and I screwed up the timing so bad we had to restart the song. I also had my guitar strap come undone mid-song and my guitar dropped to the stage.

Doug: I’ve dropped sticks and missed notes, but I think coming in the song on the wrong count off is my biggest mistake. We play to a click and backing tracks and when that happens, I literally screw the whole song up. And get the death stare from my two brothers.

Pat: For me, probably stepping on the cord and having the microphone come unplugged or forgetting lyrics. I’m always surprised how I can forget something we wrote.

If you could open for any established band on a big tour, who would you pick?

Doug: U2. They are an older band by our generation's standard, but they really have been a huge influence on us and in music in general. The fact that they can still put on the biggest tour in the world and continually push the envelope live is a testament to their influence and evolution in maintaining relevance. They certainly didn’t invent the stadium sound, but they have perfected it. To be able to open for them would not only be a career high point, but a challenge that I know we’d love to take head on.

What do you hope to accomplish this year?

Pat: I think we have our sights on a record and publishing deal this year. We’d really love to add to our team and have a label and publisher to help take the band to the next level. In a year, I’d imagine we’d be touring. Hopefully, the tour will encompass more dates and states than we’ve done before and also be able to add some international stops.

When can we expect to hear a full album from you? What’s next for you?

Pat: Hopefully late fall 2017. If things fall into place, we’d love to be recording the LP with our producer, Justin Gray, and have it ready for fall release.

Next, we will be releasing another EP in February sometime.We will be hitting dates in the northeast early this year and continue to expand tour dates and states. Keep an out for what we’re up to, it’s going to be a very interesting year.

Social Media:

https://www.councilband.com

https://www.facebook.com/councilband3

https://www.twitter.com/council_band

https://www.instagram.com/councilband

https://www.youtube.com/councilband3

#council #u2 #alt rock #alternative #rock #pop #pop rock

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blackkudos · 7 years ago

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Ledisi

Ledisi Anibade Young (/ˈlɛdᵻsiː/; born March 28, 1972) is an American R&B and jazz recording artist, songwriter and actress. Her first name means "to bring forth" or "to come here" in Yoruba. Ledisi is known for her jazz influenced vocals. In 1995, Ledisi formed the group known as Anibade. After unsuccessfully trying to get the group signed to a major label, she formed LeSun Records with Sundra Manning. Along with her group, Anibade, Ledisi released an album titled Take Time. The album gained major airplay from local radio stations. She is a nine-time Grammy Award nominee.

In 2000, Ledisi released her first album, titled Soulsinger: The Revival. Ledisi and her group toured in 2001, performing various shows. In 2002, Ledisi released her second album, Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue. The album won her an award for "Outstanding Jazz Album" at the California Music Awards.

In 2007, Ledisi signed a major record deal with Verve Forecast and released her third album in August of that year, titled Lost & Found, which sold almost 217,000 copies and earned her two Grammy nominations, including one for Best New Artist. In 2008, Ledisi released her Christmas album, It's Christmas.

In 2009, Ledisi released her fourth album Turn Me Loose, which earned her two Grammy nominations, followed by her fifth album Pieces of Me (2011) which debuted in the top ten of the US Billboard 200 album chart at number eight, becoming her first top-ten album of her career and her highest-charting album to date. It also garnered three Grammy nominations at the 54th Grammy Awards including for Best R&B Album. In 2013, she received a nomination for Best R&B Performance at the 55th Grammy Awards for her collaboration with fellow R&B and jazz musician Robert Glasper for the album cut "Gonna Be Alright" off of his Grammy Award-winning fifth album Black Radio (2012). In 2014, she released her sixth album The Truth to critical acclaim and moderate sales. She portrayed legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in the Martin Luther King, Jr. 2014 biopic, Selma.

Early life

Ledisi first began performing publicly at age eight with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra. Ledisi moved to Oakland, California, where she attended McChesney Junior High School, now Edna Brewer Middle School, where she was shy about her singing abilities. She would sing only upon request when students in her gym class would implore her to sing Deniece Williams' version of Black Butterfly, bringing the entire locker room audience under the spell of her very mature, melodious voice. As she sang more publicly her music career blossomed. She was nominated for a Shellie award in 1990 for her performance in a production of The Wiz and performed in an extended run with the San Francisco cabaret troupe, Beach Blanket Babylon. She studied opera and piano for five years at University of California Berkeley in their Young Musicians Program.

Musical career

1995–1999: Career beginnings

In the 1990s, Ledisi formed a group called Anibade, alongside Sundra Manning (producer, keyboards, songwriting), Phoenix (LaGerald) Normand (background vocals, songwriting), Cedrickke Dennis (guitar), Nelson Braxton (bass), Wayne Braxton (sax), and Rob Rhodes (drums), playing a jazz and hip-hop influenced kind of soul. The group won acclaim in the Bay Area with a cult-like following of die-hard fans who referred to themselves as "Ledites" and meet her with love at every event, singing along verbatim to songs that though unrecorded at the time, were well known by their fans. The group later recorded a demo of one of the songs from their set, entitled, "Take Time" which was played on local stations and requested non-stop. Ledisi tried to get the group signed to a major label, but had no luck. Ledisi also performed often with jazz saxophone giant Robert Stewart throughout the early 1990's in San Francisco.

2000–2003:

Soulsinger: The Revival and Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue

2006–2008: Lost & Found

In 2008 Ledisi performed the song "The Man I Love" as a blues singer in the Leatherheads movie.

2009–2010: Turn Me Loose

In 2009, Ledisi's fourth studio album was announced to be titled, Turn Me Loose. The album was released on August 18, 2009. Speaking in April 2010 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis – Deputy Editor of the award-winning Blues & Soul – Ledisi explained the album's title reflected its musical diversity: "The title 'Turn Me Loose' is basically me saying 'I don't wanna be boxed in! Let me be myself as a performer and singer, because I do EVERYTHING! Not just one particular style!'." She employed production from seasoned Rhythm and Blues songwriter-producers such as Raphael Saadiq, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, James "Big Jim" Wright and Carvin & Ivan. The first single from the album was "Goin' Thru Changes". The second single was chosen to be "Higher Than This", produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and James "Big Jim" Wright.

2011–2012: Pieces of Me

Ledisi has performed at the White House seven times at the request of President and First Lady Obama.

Ledisi will release her first book, Better Than Alright: Finding Peace, Love & Power on Time Home Entertainment, Inc. in 2012. The book, an innovative collaboration with ESSENCE, is filled with the singer's personal photos, quotes, lyrics and richly detailed stories of the Grammy nominee's journey to acceptance of her beauty, talent and power.

2014–present: The Truth

On March 2014, Ledisi released her new album The Truth. She is also on tour with Robert Glasper in partnership the magazine "Essence" (which featured her on one of their three April covers as well as Erykah Badu and Solange Knowles).

Ledisi is currently working on her eighth studio album to be released in 2017.

Discography

Studio albums

Soulsinger: The Revival (2000)

Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue (2002)

Lost & Found (2007)

It's Christmas (2008)

Turn Me Loose (2009)

Pieces of Me (2011)

The Truth (2014)

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

Ledisi has been nominated for nine career Grammy Awards.

BET Awards

BETJ Virtual Awards

California Music Awards

2008, BET J Cool Like Dat Award (Nominated)

2008, Female Artist of the Year (Nominated)

2003, Outstanding Jazz Album, Feeling Orange But Sometimes Blue (Won)

Soul Train Music Awards

2011, Centric Award (nominated)

2009, Best R&B/Soul Female Artist (nominated)

2014, Best R&B/Soul Female Artist (Nominated)

NAACP AWARDS

2012 Best Female Artist (Nominated)

2015 Best Female Artist (Nominated)

Honors/Special Awards

2016, NAACP Awards Theatre - Spirit Award Honoree

2016, America For The Arts - Music Honoree

Tours

Pieces of Me Tour (2011)

B.G.T.Y. Tour (2012)

The Truth Tour (2014)

The Intimate Truth Tour (2015)

Filmography

2008: Leatherheads (as the Blues Singer)

2011: Leave It on the Floor (as Princess' Mother)

2014: Selma (as Mahalia Jackson)

Wikipedia

#Ledisi #03-28

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sheilacwall · 5 years ago

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The Year is 1964 & Nina Simone is About to Take on the Authorities

Black History in America – When Nina Simone Sang What Everyone Was Thinking

“Mississippi Goddam” was an angry response to a tragedy, in show tune form.

Nina was angry, damn right too and she channeled her energy into music, but it could have gone another way…

On June 12, 1963, in the early morning after president John F. Kennedy’s Civil Rights address, activist Medgar Evers was shot in the back as he stood in the driveway of his Mississippi home.

Simone’s initial reaction was less than Christian. “I had it in mind to go out and kill someone,” she remembered. “I tried to make a zip gun.”

Andy, her husband and manager, intervened. “Nina,” he said, “you can’t kill anyone. You are a musician. Do what you do.”

Alabama’s got me so upset

Tennessee made me lose my rest

And everybody knows about Mississippi

Goddam

Can’t you see it

Can’t you feel it

It’s all in the air

I can’t stand the pressure much longer

Somebody say a prayer

…then a recapitulation of the verse, to complete the standard AABA form.

“This is a show tune,” Simone explains over the new minor vamp, “but the show hasn’t been written for it yet.” More tittering from the uncertain audience.

Yes you lied to me all these years

You told me to wash and clean my ears

And talk real fine just like a lady

And you’d stop calling me Sister Sadie

Oh but this whole country is full of lies

You’re all gonna die and die like flies

I don’t trust you any more

Keep on sayin’ ‘Go slow’

“Everyone knows about Mississippi,” Simone sings as the song comes to a racing close. “Everyone knows about Alabama. Everyone knows about Mississippi. Goddamn.”

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One box of promotional singles was returned from South Carolina with each record broken neatly in half. Most southern states banned the song.

“Oh I’m a roarer on de fiddle, and down in old Virginny,” goes the original lyric to “Jump Jim Crow” from 1828,

They say I play de skyentific like Massa Pagannini

Weel about and turn about and do jis so,

Eb’ry time I weel about and jump Jim Crow

“Old Jim Crow, what’s wrong with you?” Nina Simone sings in her song.

It’s not your name, it’s the things you do

Old Jim Crow don’t you know

It’s all over now

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“I’m not nonviolent!” she declared, sticking out her hand.

“That’s okay, sister,” Dr. King replied. “You don’t have to be.”

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“There is no reason to sing those songs, nothing is happening,” Simone told the interviewer in the 1980s. “There’s no Civil Rights movement. Everybody’s gone.”

by Tom Maxell – source

The post The Year is 1964 & Nina Simone is About to Take on the Authorities appeared first on Hip Hop World Music.

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