Princess of Wands

Nina Simone was many people throughout her long and tumultuous career as a musician, and none of them ever rested easy. She seemed able to reinvent herself even within the span of a single song -- to the point that audiences often weren't sure whether to laugh, cry, cheer, or get up and leave in disgust.

Her concert at the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival is both famous and infamous, and you can watch a lot of it online. In fact, you have to see it to believe it! Simone seems to weave in and out of consciousness, propelled chaotically forward by some unknown force. She improvises her way through old standards as freely as if their lyrics were merely suggestions. She bellows and seethes, giggles, dances, and despairs -- all while her skilled fingers frantically caress the piano. She snaps at the audience when they become impatient with her bizarre behavior (such as stopping suddenly to inquire whether her friend David Bowie is in the house), only to woo them again moments later with her reedy braying voice.

I took the screenshot above from the moment (around 4:30) during "Feelings" when suddenly, looking as if she has just woken from a spell, she ad-libs the line, "I wish I'd never lived this long." Her sincerity is unmistakable. I've watched the concert on DVD many times, and I'll never get tired of trying to drink it all in. Was she on drugs? Mentally unstable? A master manipulator? Perhaps all of the above. But underneath it all, she was just fundamentally determined to embody utter freedom, to be and do whatever she decided -- a freedom that African Americans had been struggling for during her entire lifetime.

Nobody could better embody the unnervingly impulsive and magnetic Princess of Wands (though Simone declares herself a queen during the concert). The Princess is a bit of a loose cannon among the Court cards -- her whims and passions translate into immediate action, and she's willing to explore and blaze her own trail rather than seek counsel or wait for maturity to set in. She may drive people nuts sometimes, but you can't stay mad at someone who is so effortlessly raw and genuine. Accept her, observe her, and follow her (if you dare). And if you are her, then try to remember that self-restraint is a virtue that will enhance your natural gifts, not compromise them.