Name: Nani Vazana sings Nina Simone
Start: 2025-10-09T19:00:00
End: 2025-07-21T23:00-05:00
Location: Unit B

We are thrilled to host the incredible Nani Vazana back onto the Unit B stage. Nani has performed at the Kennedy Center USA, BBC Radio, the London Jazz Festival, Jazz in the Park Fest Romania, EU Music Festival, Vietnam, the Jodhpur RIFF Festival India, TEDx Amsterdam and many more. Nani won the Eurovision for minority languages 2024 representing the Netherlands. She ranked #11 World Music Charts and #13 Music Charts Europe. Her voice, music and stage presence warm the heart and thrill the soul.This tribute to Nina Simone features Nani Vazana's incredible vocals and piano, presenting Simone’s interpretations of Johan Sebastian Bach. This brilliant music seamlessly fuses pieces such as Bach's 1st invention in C into "My Baby Just Cares For Me". Bach's Arioso in G is reinterpreted into "I Loves You Porgy". The famous 1st Prelude from the Well Tempered Clavier blends into "He’s Got The Whole World In His Hand". Enjoy a celebration of Nina Simone &amp; J. S. Bach, like you never heard them before.Holly Mead is a composer, pianist, and recording artist based in Santa Fe. Her music has been featured at Lincoln Center, Pixar, and international festivals. She recently earned a Master of Arts from Berklee College of Music and created Coda’s Tale (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://CodasTale.com">CodasTale.com</a>), a story-based series that introduces beginning pianists to music theory.Jesse Joaquin Parker is an Afro-Latin percussionist, jazz vibraphonist and educator based in Santa Fe, NM. He has performed internationally with Nosotros, recorded with Bernard Purdie, and teaches at New Mexico School for the Arts. Parker holds advanced degrees in music and brings deep experience across styles, performance, and education.Nina Simone was known as The High Priestess Of Soul, but when carefully listened to, you discover a Baroque enthusiast. Simone dreamt to become the first African-American concert pianist in the USA but financial problems and racism had her turn to bars and clubs to play jazz. In Simone’s music &amp; improvisations you can hear J.S. Bach‘s impressions and even direct quotes from his fugues and preludes. Simone admired Bach for his composition. In her autobiography she recalls how her rendition of Love Me Or Leave Me came out of an attempt to compose a Bach-like Fugue.Join us at Unit B for this wonderful, fascinating and spellbinding world class concert. Doors open at 5:30 for dinner, wine and craft cocktails. Showtime is 7:00 with tickets required.