Jazz is not just music, it’s a way of life, it’s a way of being, a way of thinking.
NINA SIMONEJazz is not just music, it’s a way of life, it’s a way of being, a way of thinking.
NINA SIMONEIf I want to take a particular form of blues somewhere else I have the equipment to do it but I never even thought of it.
NINA SIMONEMany times I feel different like a different person.
NINA SIMONEJazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.
NINA SIMONEWhat kept me sane was knowing that things would change, and it was a question of keeping myself together until they did.
NINA SIMONETo most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt, and that’s not what I play. I play black classical music.
NINA SIMONEI think the rich will eventually have to cave in too, because the economic situation around the world is not gonna tolerate the United States being on top forever.
NINA SIMONEI 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.
NINA SIMONEI was always a politician from the day the civil rights people chose me as their protest singer.
NINA SIMONEI know I’m different, but I don’t think about it.
NINA SIMONEWe have ordered things so long in a certain way, we are numb. Nobody dares question it. This is what is wrong, symbolically, with America.
NINA SIMONEI’m sorry that I did not become the world’s first black classic pianist. I think I would have been happier.
NINA SIMONEI believe in racial memory too. I’m sure I’ve got ancient African blood in me that has something to do with what I am.
NINA SIMONEFunk, gospel, blues is all out of slavery times, out of depression, out of sorrow.
NINA SIMONEHow can you be an artist and not reflect the times?
NINA SIMONEThe worst thing about that kind of prejudice is that while you feel hurt and angry and all the rest of it, it feeds you self-doubt. You start thinking, perhaps I am not good enough.
NINA SIMONE