Independently Blue

22/365/2014

"There'll be no one unless that someone is you. I intended to be independently blue" - from Love Me or Leave Me.

Did we get snow? Yes, about a foot. And today was snow day #3 so I stayed home and did some work online. The temperature dropped to about 5F so it was very cold. Our kids started watching the LOTR trilogy (extended edition) yesterday and by midday, they finished The Return of the King.

Before he needed to get back to studying, we took our son out sledding on our new inflatable jetskii-like sleds. The sleds worked well; our son and Curiouscalvin had a lot of fun. Our daughter's getting over a cold so she stayed home chillin' :-).

These trees caught my eye when I looked up. They looked so pretty with the blue sky as the backdrop.

Are there any jazz enthusiasts out there?
For today's sound illustration, I pick Nina Simone's Love Me or Leave Me. I discovered this artist when I was listening to iTunes radio (Ella Fitzgerald station). I was struck by her use of fugue-like imitation in her jazz piano playing so I decided to look her up.
Née Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 -- April 21, 2003), Nina Simone was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist. Trained in classical music, she auditioned for the Curtis Institute in our own city, Philadelphia, but was not accepted. Later she found out that it wasn't a poor audition that denied her acceptance into Curtis, but it was because she was black. She moved to Philadelphia anyway and started taking more classical classes to further her piano training. She began singing and her career took off.

I'm glad I accidently discovered Simone! I recommend this recording of Love Me or Leave Me (it's a Spotify link). If you don't use Spotify, check out this YT video of her playing the piano while singing the song. Personally, the recording on Spotify has better improvisation and vocal presence.

If you want to listen to another song of Nina, try My Baby Just Cares For Me.

Have a great Thursday!