Answering to the title, “High Priestess of Song,” Nina Simone was one of the most provocative, as well as gifted, entertainers of the 20th century.

A child prodigy classically trained on the piano, Simone supported her family as an accompanist in an Irish bar in Atlantic City, N.J. When the owner insisted Simone sing as well as play, a career was born.

In the late 1950s, she released remarkable recordings displaying talents not only as singer and pianist but as composer as well. Songs like “Plain Gold Ring,” “Don’t Smoke in Bed” and “Little Girl Blue” endeared Simone to jazz fans, although she didn’t like to be categorized as a jazz artist.

One song she performed, “I Loves You Porgy” (from Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess”), became a hit and the acclaimed nightclub singer became a star, performing at New York’s Town Hall and Carnegie Hall as well as at jazz festivals, with a repertoire ranging from gospel to African music, from blues to classical music, from the songs of Duke Ellington to folk songs of diverse origin. Employing Bach-style counterpoint, an improvisational approach to jazz and the modulations of the blues, her efforts soon made her a worldwide talent.

When four black children were killed in the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963, Simone composed “Mississippi Goddamn,” a bitter and furious accusation of the situation of the black residents of this country. Her strong emotional approach became a characteristic of her art. She used her voice with its remarkable timbre, coupled with measured piano playing, as a means to achieve her artistic aim — to express love, hate, sorrow, joy and loneliness through music.

Controversial songs, civil rights activism and radical politics resulted in Simone being blacklisted, noted singer Kim Nalley at Copia last Saturday night. Nalley was in town presenting a captivating tribute to Simone, including material from her latest recording, “She Put a Spell on Me: Kim Nalley Sings Nina Simone.”

Backed by an outstanding quartet, Nalley kicked off the Simone salute with one of the legend’s earliest triumphs, “My Baby Just Cares for Me,” a song by Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn that was a song and dance routine in a 1930 Hollywood musical. With consummate accompanist Tammy Hall setting the pace at the keyboard, Nalley not only reminded us of young Simone but also charmed a respectable Copia house with a rousing swinger. At that point, we knew what was in store.

Split in two segments, Nalley presented us with well-known Simone as well as obscure Simone, like a moving tribute to Martin Luther King that attempts  to deal with the reason someone would take the life of such a revered civil rights leader. Nalley moved us.

She presented the controversial Simone, in the form of “Mississippi Goddamn.”

Often misunderstood, when Simone wrote “Four Women” — a bitter lament of four Negro women whose circumstances and outlook are related to subtle gradations in skin color — the song was banned on Philadelphia and New York radio stations because “it was insulting to black people.” Nalley offered a rendition that incorporated the songwriter’s acerbic edge, giving it her personal accent of both vocal color and rich, hair-raising timbre.

There were a couple of songs focusing on a topic that Simone handled well, the other woman — “I Don’t Want Him,” a heartfelt reading that incorporated a dramatic solo by guitarist Josh Workman, plus a chilling “The Other Woman.”

We appreciated as well that Nalley included a number of the folk songs Simone counted in her vast repertoire: “In the Evening by the Moonlight” from America’s first popular black songwriter James Bland; a prostitute’s tale that Nalley noted has been misappropriated by rock ‘n’ rollers, “House of the Rising Sun;” and one of the artist’s favorites from the West Indies, “See Line Woman.” This one got an unexpected boost from a terrific rhythm section, Michael Zisman on bass and Kent Bryson on drums.

Nalley is one of the Bay Area’s musical gems. She’s a powerful singer, but one who knows how to incorporate shading and silence (a Simone asset) to deliver winning performances. This is her second appearance in as many years at Copia. We can only hope performance director Richard Miami brings her back next year, perhaps with the artist’s tribute to Billie Holiday. And let’s hope Tammy Hall is at the piano.

Next up at Copia is La Fibi Flamenco, an evening of fiery flamenco featuring dancer Phoebe Vernier, and an ensemble of 12 dancers, singers, guitarists and percussionists. Tickets for the March 24 performance are $30 and can be ordered by calling 259-1600 or logging online at www.copia.org.