Description

Two classic albums in one double gatefold LP release!

When Nina Simone signed to Colpix in 1959 she was granted complete creative control over her music. This new freedom gave her the ability to explore new subject areas, particularly themes dealing with Civil Rights. Songs like Work Song on 1961s Forbidden Fruit gave an inkling of the maelstrom that was to come, when she would become a veritable force to be reckoned with, making white audiences squirm in their seats with her harsh condemnation of American apartheid.

When At Newport was recorded live at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1960, Nina Simone had just had her first Top 20 hit with I Loves You, Porgy, but the Porgy found here (written by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields, most famous for I Cant Give You Anything But Love) is actually a continuation of Gershwins original version of the story. Other highlights include Flo Me La, an African work chant, and Little Liza Jane, an African American folk song.