MAY 1961 …NINA SIMONE DEBUTS AT CARNEGIE HALL
MAY 21
The headline in The New York Times on the morning of May 22 was prosaic: “Two Folk Singers Present Concert”. Yet the review was anything but, Robert Shelton reporting that on the previous night, “Two incandescent women musicians, Miriam Makeba and Nina Simone joined to give a concert late yesterday afternoon at Carnegie Hall.” It was the first time that Nina Simone had appeared at the prestigious New York venue. The May 21 concert, a benefit for the Presbyterian Church Of The Master in Harlem, saw her share a stage with her friend Miriam Makeba, the singer from the Xhosa people of South Africa whose vocals’ click consonants and dynamic tones provided her with a genuinely unique sound. A true world artist, Makeba performed a range of Zulu songs, calypsos and folk music. Simone was equally resistant to being tagged with any specific music label. Reviewer Shelton, noting that Nina’s guitarist Al Schackman sometimes supplemented his basically jazz approach with Indian flavours, and that drummer Bobby Hamilton used Arabic finger cymbals, observed: “It had little to do with the traditional song she was working on but it is useless to measure the unpredictable and whimsical Miss Simone by any narrow standards.” Life was good for Nina at that point. She had divorced husband Don Ross and had a new love in her life, Andy Stroud, a rugged-looking guy whom she’d met while working a two-week engagement at a Manhattan club a few weeks before. He’d initially told her that he was a bank-teller but the truth was that Stroud was a Harlem cop, a detective-sergeant who’d been part of the force for some 14 years. Nina had laughed when he explained his reluctance to reveal his true occupation. Certainly he had a fearsome reputation. Frankie Lymon claimed that Stroud had once pushed a certain miscreant off a roof. “He scared me to death,” Simone said. “It was like he just took over, and I’m glad of that.” His nearness made her feel safe, and she needed reassurance. A club booking a month earlier at New York’s Roundtable had proved a disaster. The venue was one of those places where the clientele went to be seen and appreciated. Nina found herself facing an onslaught of off-stage noise that reduced her to mainly providing instrumentals – attempting vocals proved a pointless exercise. By night three, Nina could stand no more of the disrespect. “Pack up,” she told her accompanying trio. “Don’t worry about wages, I’ll pay you for the week.” Then she headed for the door. At this time, the first copies of Nina’s latest album for Colpix, Forbidden Fruit, were also up for review. Billboard provided a four-star review and asserted: “Nina Simone’s unique vocal style is in soft rapport
“IT IS USELESS TO MEASURE MISS SIMONE BY ANY NARROW STANDARDS.”
with the ballads and blues on this LP. There are many rather unusual items in the set like Oscar Brown Jr’s Rags And Old Iron, Gin House Blues, Nat Adderley’s swinging Work Song and the title tune… there are spots which spotlight the gal’s powerful piano technique. The set should go well with her many fans and could make a distinctive pop-jazz item.” However, the album only sold moderately, failing to match the success of its predecessor, Nina At Newport, which had reached Number 23 on the Billboard chart. Sadly, that 1960 long-player would be the only one Simone would ever contribute to the US pop listings. Her marriage to Stroud, though long-term, also proved to be an ordeal, one that crashed to earth as early as her engagement party, when Stroud, who’d consumed more than his fair share of rum during the evening, beat her up. But Nina’s love affair with Carnegie Hall continued. She was there again in 1961, appearing at a New Year’s night concert which featured her alongside John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins. However, she had to wait until April 12, 1963 before making her solo debut at the hall, an event documented on a fine live album released by Colpix. 1964’s In Concert was also recorded at the famed Midtown Manhattan venue. Nina’s friendship with Miriam Makeba would also endure across the years. Makeba, The Empress Of African Song, suggested that Simone, The High Priestess Of Soul, live in Liberia in the ’70s, and in 1991 they collaborated on record. And after Nina Simone died on April 21, 2003, Makeba was there for the funeral. “She was not only an artist,” she said of her peer. “She was also a freedom fighter.”