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Nina Simone - Trouble in Mind

And so it goes. In the world of artists of all mediums and disciplines, the musician is most audacious when it comes to altering another’s creation. Imagine an artist taking a palette of paints and a brush to the Museum of Fine Arts and painting an extra nose on a Picasso masterpiece? Or someone putting a hat on Rodin’s timeless bronze and marble sculpture The Thinker? Scandalous, to say the least... and possibly resulting in some jail time!

However, the history of jazz performance and arranging, as well as European classical tradition... is filled with players and writers whose creative intention could be distilled down to Tal’s response.

There are instances in which the reharmonized song is considered so superior to the original chord changes that the new version becomes the standard harmonic form which, in turn, becomes subjected to further variation. The Victor Young classic “Stella by Starlight” and the Burke/Van Heusen standard “Like Someone in Love” are excellent examples of “new” standards.

Can you imagine what a cocktail pianist, who has been on the same five night a week gig for 10 years, would have to endure if they weren’t able to take some kind of harmonic liberty with the repertoire? Maybe reharmonization contributes to good mental health for the performer. No matter how you frame it, reharmonization has a long-standing tradition in the world of jazz and popular music.

For the improvising player, reharmonization is regarded as improvising harmonies to a fixed melody line, the opposite of melodic improvisation. For the improviser who is soloing melodically within the standard framework of the chord changes of a tune, the various substitution and approach techniques... and superimposed against the rhythm section accompaniment can be applied to great effect.

To reharmonize means to alter the underlying harmonic form, while maintaining the original melodic structure. It is essentially an arrangement change that puts the focus on the harmony.

Nina Simone - Trouble in Mind
  • Written by: Richard M. Jones
  • First recording and first release by: Thelma La Vizzo May 1924
  • Released on: November 1960


"Some were songs that she wrote herself, while others were new arrangements of other standards, and others had been written especially for the singer. Her first hit song in America was her rendition of George Gershwin's "I Loves You, Porgy" 1958."

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Location: United States

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