Cohodas follows her biography of Dinah Washington (Queen
) with that of another prominent African-American jazz singer—although Nina Simone would bristle at that label, insisting from the very start of her career that her music was grounded in the classical. (Eunice Waymon only began performing in nightclubs as Nina Simone after a failed application to the Curtis Institute of Music.) If Cohodas is respectful of Simone’s legacy, particularly the impact of songs like “Mississippi Goddam” and “Young, Gifted and Black” on the civil rights movement, she’s also forthright about Simone’s contentious relationship with audiences and critics, and the possible mental illness underpinning that turmoil. It seems as if every one of Simone’s onstage outbursts is recounted, along with every review describing her as “a very angry young woman” or wishing she’d stop playing protest songs. One of the few areas in which Cohodas shows full deference to her subject is in brushing off rumors of lesbian relationships, although a passing comment that Simone was “inexorably drawn” to the playwright Lorraine Hansberry raises questions. For the most part, though, Simone’s complex personality—arrogance and brilliance in equal measure—receives a long-overdue elaboration. B&w illus. throughout. (Feb. 2)
