Thursday 16 July 7.30pm
Sing The Truth: Nina Simone Remembered featuring Dianne Reeves, Lizz Wright, Angelique Kidjo and Simone
Tickets 20/25/30/35
Produced by the Barbican in association with Serious Part of Blaze
A singer of unique emotional effect, Nina Simones passing left a huge gap in the music world. This tribute, by some of the greatest female singers alive, will go some way towards giving those too young to have seen Nina a taste of the power and drama of her music. With the support of Ninas original band, including her longtime music director Al Schackman on guitar and vibes this tribute includes many of the classic songs which the great diva made her own, including I Loves You Porgy, Young Gifted and Black and My Baby Just Cares for Me.
Dianne Reeves has won numerous Grammy Awards and recently featured in the George Clooney film Good Night, and Good Luck, for which she was awarded her fourth Best Jazz Vocal Grammy. Reeves was discovered by Clark Terry at 17 and worked with his group in the 1960s, though it wasnt until she showed off her three-and-a-half octave range on the 1987 Blue Note album Dianne Reeves that she became an international star. Lizz Wright, from rural Georgia, began playing piano and singing in church and later studied voice at university. Working first in more conventional jazz contexts, her last two Universal/Verve albums, Dreaming Wide Awake and Orchard, have brilliantly explored the common ground between jazz, country and blues. From Cotonou in Benin, singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo became well-known across West Africa before relocating to Paris in 1983. Signed by Chris Blackwell to Island, she had a series of international hit albums and collaborated musically with Carlos Santana, Herbie Hancock and Branford Marsalis among many others. Her most recent album, Djin Djin has appearance from Alicia Keys, Peter Gabriel, Joss Stone and Amadou and Mariam. She has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2002.
Ninas daughter Simone spent most of her early childhood in New York City before accompanying her globe-trotting mother to Liberia, Barbados and Switzerland. After her education she joined the US Air Force in 1982 and rose to the rank of staff sergeant. While in the forces she started to sing and later toured the US with a number of major musicals. She co-ordinated her mothers memorial service in Harlem in 2003 and made her first appearance in a formal tribute show three year later, working with some of the original members of the band who had accompanied her mother . Her new album, Simone on Simone, is a roaring big band celebration of many of her mothers greatest hits.
Sing The Truth: Nina Simone Remembered featuring Dianne Reeves, Lizz Wright, Angelique Kidjo and Simone
Tickets 20/25/30/35
Produced by the Barbican in association with Serious Part of Blaze
A singer of unique emotional effect, Nina Simones passing left a huge gap in the music world. This tribute, by some of the greatest female singers alive, will go some way towards giving those too young to have seen Nina a taste of the power and drama of her music. With the support of Ninas original band, including her longtime music director Al Schackman on guitar and vibes this tribute includes many of the classic songs which the great diva made her own, including I Loves You Porgy, Young Gifted and Black and My Baby Just Cares for Me.
Dianne Reeves has won numerous Grammy Awards and recently featured in the George Clooney film Good Night, and Good Luck, for which she was awarded her fourth Best Jazz Vocal Grammy. Reeves was discovered by Clark Terry at 17 and worked with his group in the 1960s, though it wasnt until she showed off her three-and-a-half octave range on the 1987 Blue Note album Dianne Reeves that she became an international star. Lizz Wright, from rural Georgia, began playing piano and singing in church and later studied voice at university. Working first in more conventional jazz contexts, her last two Universal/Verve albums, Dreaming Wide Awake and Orchard, have brilliantly explored the common ground between jazz, country and blues. From Cotonou in Benin, singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo became well-known across West Africa before relocating to Paris in 1983. Signed by Chris Blackwell to Island, she had a series of international hit albums and collaborated musically with Carlos Santana, Herbie Hancock and Branford Marsalis among many others. Her most recent album, Djin Djin has appearance from Alicia Keys, Peter Gabriel, Joss Stone and Amadou and Mariam. She has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2002.
Ninas daughter Simone spent most of her early childhood in New York City before accompanying her globe-trotting mother to Liberia, Barbados and Switzerland. After her education she joined the US Air Force in 1982 and rose to the rank of staff sergeant. While in the forces she started to sing and later toured the US with a number of major musicals. She co-ordinated her mothers memorial service in Harlem in 2003 and made her first appearance in a formal tribute show three year later, working with some of the original members of the band who had accompanied her mother . Her new album, Simone on Simone, is a roaring big band celebration of many of her mothers greatest hits.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
