Album Best of the Colpix Years by Nina Simone Review
Nineteen tracks from her Colpix label recordings. Dating from 1959 to 1963, this mix of studio and live material is considerably more weighted toward jazz and standards by the likes of Ellington, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hammerstein, and Irving Berlin than the more eclectic albums she would later cut in the '60s and '70s for Philips and RCA. The highlights are when she steps out of the soulful supper club style into more earthier settings, as on "House of the Rising Sun", "Forbidden Fruit", "Gin House Blues", "Work Song", and her own "Children Go Where I Send You" (all of which she would considerably rework over the years). Includes three previously unreleased tracks in a traditional jazz style with minimal arrangements. Note: The version of "(I Loves You) Porgy", her sole Top 20 entry, is not her 1959 hit single, but a live 1960 version.Review by allmusic.com
