As far as piano players are concerned, Oscar Peterson is my very favorite. I also like McCoy Tyner. I think that the big jazz stars, both now and in the past...how shall I say it? These guys are as great as Bach, Beethoven; all of them. People don't know it yet. If jazz survives and is put on a pedestal as an art form, the same as classical music has been through the years, a hundred years from now the kids will know who they were, with that kind of respect.
Nina SimoneAs I got older though I wanted a life of my own. The classical training was very demanding and thorough. It was a very sheltered existence. Even though I heard blues and gospel on the radio sometimes, it was always back to the piano and study and give recitals.
Nina SimoneSince I was three I've been playing the piano. I've been onstage. My mother is an Evangelist and I used to play the piano at her revival meetings.
Nina SimoneThe Beatles are lucky, very lucky. But what has happened to them has nothing to do with them, in a sense. They came along at the right time. Attention was focused on them. They've had the chance to grow in almost any direction they wanted. Very lucky. They are not exceptionally talented.
Nina SimoneAnything human can be felt through music, which means that there is no limit to the creating that can be done with music. You can take the same phrase from any song and cut it up so many different ways - it's infinite. It's like God... you know?
Nina SimoneWhen I was studying... there weren't any black concert pianists. My choices were intuitive, and I had the technique to do it. People have heard my music and heard the classic in it, so I have become known as a black classical pianist.
Nina SimoneHow do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it
Nina SimoneThrough music you can become sad, joyful, loving, you can learn. You can learn mathematics, touch, pacing... Oh my God! Ooh... Wow... You can see colors through music. Anything!
Nina SimoneEverything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was part of everyday life, as automatic as breathing.
Nina SimoneThe allusion was that I was actually naked. I loved that. It always, kind of shocked people enough that they became mine immediately.
Nina SimoneI don't like to go to strange places. I was in Italy for about five hours on my way to Africa.
Nina SimoneMy singing, if you want to call it that is merely another medium of expression. Just an instrument I play. That's how I see my voice.
Nina SimoneMy people have very subtle slang, inflections and ways of saying things that has little to do with words. If you're from the same place, you'll feel the jargon and know exactly what's happening. Same with any neighborhood cat. What he sees and hears and feels and lives makes him what he is. That's what blues is.
Nina SimoneI had heard blues and jazz all my life but I was never aware that it was associated with nightclubs and drinking.
Nina SimoneI love the classics but there are many new ideas to be made into reality. I'd rather be concerned with my own thing. There are many masters of classical piano so I'll leave it to them.
Nina SimoneThere's no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.
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 SimoneWhat kept me sane was knowing that things would change, and it was a question of keeping myself together until they did.
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 applied for a scholarship to Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. I knew I was good enough, but they turned me down. And it took me about six months to realize it was because I was black. I never really got over that jolt of racism at the time.
Nina SimoneIt doesn't matter to me what is going on today because my music encompasses every kind of mood that exists in human beings. That's my stick.
Nina SimoneI do not believe in mixing of the races. You can quote me. I don't believe in it, and I never have. I've never changed. I've never changed my hair. I've never changed my color, I have always been proud of myself, and my fans are proud of me for remaining the way I've always been. I married a white man one time, but he was a creep
Nina SimoneIt is difficult to retain your standards with the pressure of trying to make money, which always has its rules...It's hard to walk the tightrope of doing what you think is your best and making money at it.
Nina SimoneIt's time to take a look at my failures and stop calling them successes. Now I can start working at something that can use me best.
Nina SimoneDon't Let Me Be Misunderstood," a song that was written for Simone, she confronted the band's lead singer, Eric Burdon. "So you're the honky," she said, "who stole my song and got a hit out of it?
Nina Simone