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“Roughly speaking, Bessie Smith is the kind of character who overwhelms and suppresses you with her sheer physicality and (figuratively) mass, a sort of living embodiment of Mother Earth herself, against which there is no defense or counteraction by definition. Billie Holiday’s weapon is her subtlety and vulnerability: she appeals to everything within you that is human and responsive to the call of empathy. Next to them, Nina Simone is the voice of your conscience, the Attorney General of human decency and morality — her fierceness and toughness comes from the indomitable look in her eyes rather than from the «bigness» of Mama Bessie or the «smallness» of Lady Day. And this is why ‘No Good Man’ shall always belong to Billie and ‘Me And My Gin’ shall always belong to Bessie and these versions, enjoyable as they are in a background-ish kind of way, won’t ever replace them or make me re-evaluate them in a new light.”

Utterly incredible analysis and writing here George, right on!

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