Sam "Magic Man" Waymon and the Magic Band

The popular Mount Vernon Summer Breeze Concert Series came to an end on Saturday, September 4, with a tribute to Nina Simone by Sam Waymon & The Magic Band, led by Nina Simone’s brother and musical director, pianist/composer, Sam Waymon. Over two-hundred people attended the concert, including many Jazz aficionados.

Although the many in attendance enjoyed Waymon’s performance immensely, there was a sense of melancholy in the air, since it was the last performance of the summer, coupled with summer coming to an end.

In attendance was Mayor Clinton I. Young, who presented Waymon, who was raised in Mount Vernon, with the Key to the City. “This key to our great city is given to you as a token of appreciation for all you have done for our city in the area of the arts,” said Mayor Young.

For those not familiar with Waymon, he appeared in Ganja & Hess, the film directed by Bill Gunn that won 1973 Cannes Film Festival Award, for which he also composed the score; he appeared in Weeds, the Dino DeLaurentis film starring Nick Nolte, for which Sam also was contributing composer and assistant music director.

Born in North Carolina, Waymon began playing piano at age 3, much the same way as his older sister, Eunice, had done before him. In the mid -1950's his sister left North Carolina to further her career. Along the way she dropped her given name and became one of music's most influential and unique musicians, known as Nina Simone. Waymon worked with his sister for over ten years, but finally broke away to develop his own style that combined everything from gospel to jazz.

In his present band he has assembled a group that shares his vision of promoting the best of original American music, namely rhythm & blues/blues/jazz.

Through Waymon's own repertoire of over 400 songs as well as covers of some classic tunes, the band can rock and soul any audience, as Mount Vernonites discovered. The band is capable of doing songs in any style from bossa to blues, and does not hesitate to take any song and brand it with its own distinct stylings and sounds. It is truly a renaissance band from a master of the genre, Mr. Sam Waymon.

Waymon addressed the audience at the end of the concert and stated: "I am extremely honored to have been given the Key to the City of Mount Vernon, and was completely taken by surprise. I wish to thank Mayor Young, Dillard Boone, Yuhanna Edwards, the sponsors and their affiliates, for having me and all the artists that performed here tonight. On behalf of my musicians, we all thank you and look forward to coming back again to the great city of Mount Vernon. My sister, Nina Simone, would be proud also. Her spirit was here tonight. Thank you...and God bless you all."

- Mt Vernon Inquirer

The popular Mount Vernon Summer Breeze Concert Series came to an end on Saturday, September 4, with a tribute to Nina Simone by Sam Waymon & The Magic Band, led by Nina Simone’s brother and musical director, pianist/composer, Sam Waymon. Over two-hundred people attended the concert, including many Jazz aficionados.

Although the many in attendance enjoyed Waymon’s performance immensely, there was a sense of melancholy in the air, since it was the last performance of the summer, coupled with summer coming to an end.

In attendance was Mayor Clinton I. Young, who presented Waymon, who was raised in Mount Vernon, with the Key to the City. “This key to our great city is given to you as a token of appreciation for all you have done for our city in the area of the arts,” said Mayor Young.

For those not familiar with Waymon, he appeared in Ganja & Hess, the film directed by Bill Gunn that won 1973 Cannes Film Festival Award, for which he also composed the score; he appeared in Weeds, the Dino DeLaurentis film starring Nick Nolte, for which Sam also was contributing composer and assistant music director.

Born in North Carolina, Waymon began playing piano at age 3, much the same way as his older sister, Eunice, had done before him. In the mid -1950's his sister left North Carolina to further her career. Along the way she dropped her given name and became one of music's most influential and unique musicians, known as Nina Simone. Waymon worked with his sister for over ten years, but finally broke away to develop his own style that combined everything from gospel to jazz.

In his present band he has assembled a group that shares his vision of promoting the best of original American music, namely rhythm & blues/blues/jazz.

Through Waymon's own repertoire of over 400 songs as well as covers of some classic tunes, the band can rock and soul any audience, as Mount Vernonites discovered. The band is capable of doing songs in any style from bossa to blues, and does not hesitate to take any song and brand it with its own distinct stylings and sounds. It is truly a renaissance band from a master of the genre, Mr. Sam Waymon.

Waymon addressed the audience at the end of the concert and stated: "I am extremely honored to have been given the Key to the City of Mount Vernon, and was completely taken by surprise. I wish to thank Mayor Young, Dillard Boone, Yuhanna Edwards, the sponsors and their affiliates, for having me and all the artists that performed here tonight. On behalf of my musicians, we all thank you and look forward to coming back again to the great city of Mount Vernon. My sister, Nina Simone, would be proud also. Her spirit was here tonight. Thank you...and God bless you all."

- Mt Vernon Inquirer

“wonderfully upbeat-low down, dirty, funky, nasty, filthy-fabulous…implying 'aw yeah - we're going to have a good time tonight'.” - Afro-American Syndicate

"a true musical gem right in our own backyard." - Our Town

“wonderfully upbeat-low down, dirty, funky, nasty, filthy-fabulous…implying 'aw yeah - we're going to have a good time tonight'.” - Afro-American Syndicate

"A wonderful show...a powerful performer.. a brilliant group of musicians who share Waymons passion for the music"-Rockland Review

- The Rockland Review

"A wonderful show...a powerful performer.. a brilliant group of musicians who share Waymons passion for the music"-Rockland Review

- The Rockland Review

"A very impressive show with a solid band and great stage performance....really had the house rockin" - Rockland Jazz and Blues Society

"A very impressive show with a solid band and great stage performance....really had the house rockin" - Rockland Jazz and Blues Society

"Sam tickled the ivory's like a mother would tickle a child. Heads bobbed and weaved, necks pecked, hands clapped, fingers popped....the beat was the bait and like fish we were caught-up"-Gatsby Melodi

- NY Night

"Sam tickled the ivory's like a mother would tickle a child. Heads bobbed and weaved, necks pecked, hands clapped, fingers popped....the beat was the bait and like fish we were caught-up"-Gatsby Melodi

- NY Night

The six piece band played gospel, soul ahd jazz hits to an enthusiatic crowd at Newburgh Library on February 11, 2007. The band didn't disappoint as many could be seen dancing to tunes from singers such as Marvin Gaye, Otis Rush and Waymon's sister, the late Nina Simone. "They are good musicians and I just appreciate the opportunity to come and hear good music," said one in the audience and another exclaimed "I'm really into this kind of music...its fun to listen to and enjoy." - Poughkeepsie Journal

The six piece band played gospel, soul ahd jazz hits to an enthusiatic crowd at Newburgh Library on February 11, 2007. The band didn't disappoint as many could be seen dancing to tunes from singers such as Marvin Gaye, Otis Rush and Waymon's sister, the late Nina Simone. "They are good musicians and I just appreciate the opportunity to come and hear good music," said one in the audience and another exclaimed "I'm really into this kind of music...its fun to listen to and enjoy." - Poughkeepsie Journal

When the world thinks of jazz great Nina Simone, who'll be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on April 14, it might hear her raspy voice calling for justice in the '60s, singing "To Be Young, Gifted and Black," "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" and her searing anthem "Mississippi Goddam."
When her kid brother, Nyack's Sam Waymon, thinks of Simone — who died of breast cancer in France in 2003 at age 70 — he thinks of the consummate pianist and of the little girl who never really had a childhood.
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Sam Waymon of Nyack will be representing his late sister, Nina Simone, as she is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
"I think of her laugh," Waymon said. "I think of her smile. I have the same smile. And I think of what an amazing piano player she was."
Waymon recalled sitting on the step at the Mount Vernon apartment they shared and listening to her practice, a style of playing that was borne of classical study (she went to Juilliard till the money ran out) but had heaping helpings of the gospel chords she learned to play at a tender age.
"I was the only one allowed to call her Eunice, her given name," Waymon said with a laugh. "And even though I was the youngest, I was there to look out for her."

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Sam Waymon of Nyack at the Nyack Library April 5, 2018. He will be representing his late sister, Nina Simone, as she is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. (Photo: Peter Carr/The Journal News)

Waymon will be there on April 14, receiving the Hall of Fame honor bestowed upon Simone when Yonkers native Mary J. Blige presents Simone for induction into the Hall.
Andra Day will be performing a musical tribute with a set list that is under wraps. But Day has covered Simone's "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to be Free," making that an odds-on favorite to be included.
There's a vast catalog to consider.
Simone recorded 40 albums and influenced artists from Cat Stevens to Alicia Keys, said Waymon, who was her manager and organist for years.
The Hall's 2018 inductees also include Bon Jovi, The Cars, Dire Straits, The Moody Blues, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. (HBO will broadcast the ceremony on May 5.)
To be eligible for nomination to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an artist must have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of induction.

Jazz singer Nina Simone in London on Dec. 5, 1968. Simone's deep, raspy, forceful voice made her a unique figure in jazz and later helped define the civil rights movement. Simone is a 2018 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, with the induction ceremony slated for April 14, 2018. Simone died April 21, 2003, at age 70, in Carry-Le-Rouet, southern France. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
More than 900 artists, historians and music-industry insiders filled out the ballots, weighing an artist’s "musical influence on other artists, length and depth of career and the body of work, innovation and superiority in style and technique."
Dire Straits, The Moody Blues, Simone and Tharpe were on the ballot for the first time this year.
Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on Feb. 21, 1933, in Tryon, North Carolina. She began playing piano at 3 and was classically trained for a time.
She rose to fame in 1958 with the album "Little Girl Blue," which included the hit "I Loves You Porgy," from Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess."

But in March 1964, after the deaths of four little girls in a church bombing, and the assassination of Medgar Evers, she debuted a song that would change her career and marked a dramatic shift into the civil rights movement. The song was "Mississippi Goddam," which was banned across the South for its title and its topic.
Simone described it as "a show tune, but the show hasn't been written for it, yet." It's a bouncy number but it dives headlong into the hottest issue of the day, addressing racial inequality. (You can hear Waymon perform it on www.lohud.com.)
Waymon said she found the equality she sought, in France, where she settled in the '90s.
"She spoke fluent French, and Josephine Baker was there," Waymon said. "She had an affinity for the French people. She loved France."

Nina Simone performs at the JVC Jazz Festival in New York's Carnegie Hall on June 28, 2001. Simone, who died in 2003 at age 70, is a 2018 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, with the induction ceremony slated for April 14, 2018. (Photo: MARK LENNIHAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Waymon said his acceptance speech on behalf of his sister will tread on a favorite metaphor of hers.
"A tree planted by the banks of the river has the deepest roots. I've seen trees there bend, but never break. Nina was like a tree that was bent over, but she had deep roots. She'd bend to compensate for things, you bend to get what you want, you bend because the world makes you bend.
"No matter what she did, she did it with roots that went deep to allow her to reach high."
Get Waymon talking about his sister and the memories flow.
He remembers how Simone glowed after returning from a trip to Africa. ("Sam, I've never seen so many black people in one place in my life," she told him.)
He remembers giving Simone a childhood all in one day.
"When we lived in Hollywood, I asked her if it was a burden to be Nina Simone, and what the world didn't know about her," he said. "She sighed and said 'Underneath all this, I'm just a little girl. I never had a childhood. I never played with dolls or jacks.'"

Waymon went out and bought her a doll and some jacks and a basketball and a jump rope. That day, in the late '70s, when Nina Simone was in her mid-40's, she and Waymon double-dutched.
"She had a ball. It was wonderful to see that little girl in the grown woman," he said.
Asked how his sister would react to the call from the Hall, Waymon doesn't miss a beat.
"If she were here, she would say 'Thank you very much.' And then she'd look at me and say, 'Damn, Sam! What took 'em so long?'"
Watching the event
There is no live broadcast of the induction ceremony. There will be a livestream of the red-carpet interviews and HBO will record the ceremony for May 5 broadcast.
What: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 33rd Annual Induction ceremony.
Class of 2018: Bon Jovi, The Cars, Dire Straits, The Moody Blues, Nina Simone and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Ceremony broadcast: HBO will air the 33rd Annual Induction ceremony at 8 p.m., May 5.
Red-carpet livestream: The Rock Hall will livestream the red carpet and talent arrivals from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., April 14, at www.Rockhall.com, on the Rock Hall’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/rockandrollhalloffame) and its YouTube page (youtube.com/user/rockhall).

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Sam Waymon of Nyack at the Nyack Library April 5, 2018. He will be representing his late sister, Nina Simone, as she is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. (Photo: Peter Carr/The Journal News)

See Sam Waymon
Sam Waymon has a few local dates set.
On April 20, from 8 to 10 p.m., he'll be at Harlem's Shrine World Music Venue, fronting "Sam Waymon and the Magic Band." shrinenyc.com
On May 11, he'll play a hometown venue, Maureen's Jazz Cellar in Nyack, with Jeff Doctorow, in a gig called "Piano Meets Guitar," at 8 and 9:30 p.m. www.maureensjazzcellar.com


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When the world thinks of jazz great Nina Simone, who'll be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on April 14, it might hear her raspy voice calling for justice in the '60s, singing "To Be Young, Gifted and Black," "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" and her searing anthem "Mississippi Goddam."

When her kid brother, Nyack's Sam Waymon, thinks of Simone — who died of breast cancer in France in 2003 at age 70 — he thinks of the consummate pianist and of the little girl who never really had a childhood. - lohud.com

Sam Waymon did Nina Simone, his late sister, proud when he came to the microphone at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony on April 14th. “They said I had three minutes, I said, ‘No, I don’t.’ I’m going to take the time necessary to say what I got to say,” Waymon declared. Any Nina Simone fan knows that if she hadn’t passed away in France in 2003 and been in Cleveland for her induction, she would have said the same thing. But the job of taking the stage was left to Waymon, whose own legend as a singer and composer, and a defender of his sister’s legacy, continues to grow. - lohud.com