Nina Simone & Me with Laura Mvula

Laura Mvula has a voice often compared to that of Nina Simone. She’s flattered, but having none of it: "No one sounds like Nina." She’s in New York to enthuse about her idol, with personal and learned insight into Simone’s music, such as the influence of JS Bach’s fugues on her piano arrangements and her mother’s Methodist preaching on her stagecraft.

While she may not sound like Nina, Mvula is not so modest that she won’t tackle some of her songs, duetting with long-time Simone collaborator Al Shackman on an acoustic My Baby Just Cares for Me and joining a gospel choir for a rousing Sinner Man.

Shackman adds extra flavour as he reveals the pleasures and pains of working with the volatile Simone. But it’s the clip of her performing Mississippi Goddam at the Selma-Montgomery march that sends a shiver down the spine.