Nina

In the light of the political horror on our doorstep, I’m getting by okay for the moment. My boycott of just about all news remains a healthy way to survive, not denying it with my ostrich-head in the sand, but simply looking another way. To the natural world, to poetry, to music, to all the people I know and don’t know showing how they care in thousands of ways that will never be shown on the news. 

 

But I know that the deep grief that the situation calls for is biding its time and today, it came closer to the surface. I taught a guest Zoom class to students at Havergal College in Toronto, kids I had taught live in 4^th grade last year and now are in 5^th (the “College” is confusing, but it’s really an elementary/middle/high school). So sweet to see them again. 

 

The theme was a few excerpts from my Jazz, Joy & Justice book and I decided to start with a clip of Oscar Peterson to bring it closer to their Canadian experience and show how jazz is a combination of individual virtuosity and collective conversation in the band, with the freedom of improvisation and the joy of making great music together with others. 

 

From there, I showed the video clip of Hazel Scott, always breathtaking, and told some of her story. And then on to Nina Simone, who shared some of Hazel’s story— both piano virtuosos as young as 4, both trained in classical piano, both singers as well as players, both punished for speaking truth to power and both living many years in France to escape the constant assault of racism. The Youtube clip of Nina I showed from the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival in France was her playing and singing Billy Taylor’s stirring song, I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free. Even over Zoom, I could feel the girls in that music classroom get quiet, sit up a bit taller and lean in a bit closer as Nina drew them in with her musical storytelling. At the end, one of them exclaimed, “She owned that song!” Kids are so smart. 

 

And so, dear reader, treat yourself to six minutes with Nina and feel all the feelings that she invites you to consider. If you feel a chill or goosebumps or moisture in your eyes or a full-blown streaming torrent of tears, well, good for you. Let ‘em rip. 

 

PS And then, as I encouraged those girls to do, share it with your friends and family.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sEP0-8VAow&pp=ygU2bmluYSBzaW1vbmUgaSB3aXNoIGkga25ldyBob3cgaXQgd291bGQgZmVlbCB0byBiZSBmcmVl