Nina Simone (nee Eunice Kathleen Waymon, 1933-2003), the fire-voiced jazz musician and civil rights activist, aspired to a career as concert pianist. A student at Julliard Miss Simone had her application rejected by the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. She became a nightclub performer instead but her early classical interest continued to influence her, not surprisingly, especially the improvisational keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach. She, in fact, seamlessly incorporated a Bach fugue into one of her jazz piano works. Revelation!