Musical Musings Of A Mouldy Old Fig: Marching Into The Genius Of Ray Charles & Nina Simone, High Priestess Of Soul

Here at the Jazz Repertory Company we like to tie in our themed shows to anniversaries (in the misguided assumption that it might interest the media in what we’re doing).

Oddly, none of our shows in 2015 revolve around significant anniversaries but our May 9th Ray Charles and Nina Simone show at Cadogan Hall has connections with events of 50 years ago.

The civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama took place in 1965 (celebrated in the excellent recent movie “Selma”) and Nina Simone was one of the many show business names who took part in the third of the historic marches.

In the same year she released three albums Sincerely Nina, Pastel Blue and I Put A Spell On You – the last album of the three features two songs that will be covered by Liz Fletcher - the title track and Feelin’ Good.

Nina Simone

Feelin' Good (1965)

Ray Charles had long been a friend of Martin Luther King’s but the start of 1965 was not the best of times for Ray as he had been arrested again for heroin possession – he avoided jail by going into rehab and finally managed to kick the habit for good later the same year.

Ray’s great album of 1965 was Live In Concert – it captured a late ’64 appearance in Los Angeles where Ray was backed by a 16 piece big band and his Raelettes. The same size band and instrumentation will be featured backing Jeremy Sassoon in our upcoming concert so listen here to get a flavour of what we have in store.