Sometimes I sound like gravel, and sometimes I sound like coffee and cream.
Nina SimoneRead
To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt, and that's not what I play. I play black classical music.
Interpretation
Nina Simone emphasizes that jazz is often misrepresented and underappreciated, as it is deeply rooted in African American culture and artistry.
In this quote, Nina Simone reflects on how the genre of jazz is often stereotyped by predominantly white audiences who associate it with negativity or 'dirt.' She asserts her identity as a performer who plays 'black classical music,' highlighting the sophistication and richness of jazz, which deserves recognition for its cultural significance and artistry beyond the superficial judgments often imposed by society.
In practice
In a discussion about the evolution of jazz in a music history class.
Sometimes I sound like gravel, and sometimes I sound like coffee and cream.
Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.
I only knew classical music, which to me was the only true music. The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix the classical music with popular songs, and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus the talent to mix classical music together with more popular songs, which at the time I detested.
Everything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was part of everyday life, as automatic as breathing.
I didn't get interested in music. It was a gift from God.
This may be a dream, but I'll say it anyway: I was supposed to be married last year, and I bought a gown. When I meet Nelson Mandela, I shall put on this gown and have the train of it removed and put aside, and kiss the ground that he walks on and then kiss his feet.
It was an extraordinary connection, the synergy within the band. There was an area of ESP between Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and myself.
It's not about battling the original artists when I record these songs, it's about paying tribute to them.
I've always been obsessed with drums. They fascinate me. Any other instrument - nothing. I play acoustic guitar a bit. But it's always been drums first and foremost. I don't reckon on this Jack-of-all-trades thing. I thing that felling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts.
The bass is the link between harmony and rhythm. It is the foundation of a band. It is what all the other instruments stand upon, but it is rarely recognized as that.
I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim too ugly or too this or too that.
First of all, the music that people call Latin or Spanish is really African. So Black people need to get the credit for that.
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