Johnathan Blake “My Life Matters” – Top Jazz 2025

“And I mean every word of it.” Almost all readers of this magazine will recognise that proclamation – the pledge to stand behind every word – as the firm, angrily militant voice of Nina Simone introducing Mississippi Goddam for the first time, on 4 April 1964, in the temple of New York’s classical music. She was among the first artists to blur that “sacred” space – a programme devoted to the canon – by bringing in other musical forms. It is said she told her mother, just before going on stage: “I’m at Carnegie Hall, but I’m not playing Bach tonight.” That song, which marked Simone’s proclamation and, at the same time, her fall through widespread ostracism, was recorded by Philips as a promotional single that disguised the title with asterisks, hashtags, and exclamation marks. Behind those lyrics – this is history – stand the names of Medgar Evers, the […]