Nina Simone Forbidden Fruit/At Newport CD

Also available as part of the Collectables box THE LEGEND AT HER BEST.

Recorded live at the Newport Jazz Festival, Newport, Rhode Island on June 30, 1960.

To call Nina Simone a jazz singer is to neglect the depth and range of her artistry. A classical pianist, folk singer, protest singer, and songwriter, her arrangements are harmonically rich, varied, and rhythmically experimental, while her voice can go from lounge singer-smooth to raw and exposed in the space of a verse. This CD is a combination of two extraordinary early albums she recorded for Colpix; the first 10 tracks comprise 1961's masterful FORBIDDEN FRUIT.

The collection's opening cut, Oscar Brown's "Rags And Old Iron," is as spookily hip as any Tom Waits recording, while the creepy tango "Just Say I Love Him," with Al Shackman's stark, compelling guitar work threaded through Simone's delicate piano lines, is a work of brilliance. The last seven tracks comprise her trio's appearance at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival. The performances here are simply electrifying, one highlight being Simone's heartbreaking and soul baring version of Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh's "I Loves You Porgy."

Includes liner notes by David Nathan.

2 LPs on 1 CD: FORBIDDEN FRUIT (1961)/AT NEWPORT (1960).

FORBIDDEN FRUIT:

Personnel includes: Nina Simone (vocals).

Personnel: Nina Simone (vocals, piano); Al Shackman (guitar); Chris White (bass); Bobby Hamilton (drums).

Liner Note Author: David Nathan.

Recording information: 1998.

AT NEWPORT:

2 On 1