In late 1966 the fiercely individualistic singer and pianist Nina Simone signed with RCA Records and continued her genre-bending explorations of jazz, blues, pop, folk, and soul, recording songs such as Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “The Look of Love,” Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne,” civil-rights anthems such as “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free,” and occasional standards such as Hoagy Carmichael’s “I Get Along Without You Very Well.” We hear all of those and more in this program; a previous Night Lights program, Four Women, features Simone’s mid-1960s Philips recordings. You can also watch Nina Simone performing “Young, Gifted and Black” and “Ain’t Got No… I Got Life” at the Central Park Harlem Festival in 1969:

Read More: jazz vocals, Nina Simone, women

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