Nina Simone has been seemingly as visible as an active artist in recent years with reissues and unearthed recordings. Now Verve Records commemorates her 90th birthday with the newly discovered release of her performance at the 1966 Newport Jazz Festival, entitled You’ve Got to Learn. You’ve likely seen her performance in the Academy Award-winning documentary, Summer of Soul by Questlove, a performance that most describe as aggressive protest music. Another is her “Martin Luther King Suite” recorded in Atlanta in April of ’68, the night after King’s murder, where she was unequivocally and justifiably enraged. This Newport performance is every bit as passionate but without the aggressive, angry component. It represents an evolving Simone.
She had, of course, already written “Mississippi Goddam” in response to the 1963 Alabama church bombing that killed four little girls. Yet, her rendition of this same song herein, like the others in the set, comes across as a love song, in this case, a swinger that almost camouflages the hurt. Simone was carrying the banner of King’s overriding message that love will conquer all. The set list had been building toward this song as the climax with Simone at the piano with her backing trio (Rudy Stevenson – guitar, Lisle Atkinson – bass, and Bobby Hamilton – drums). Her vocal range, phrasing, and ability to connect with the audience are striking from the provocative examination of love in the title track on through to this planned finale.
Simone is seductive and ever so dramatically charming on her first hit single from eight years prior, “I Loves You Porgy” and then gets earthy and gritty on the music she wrote for Abbey Lincoln’s “Blues for Mama” that features guitarist Stevenson exhibiting his blues chops. She follows, accompanied only by her drummer with another of her hits, “Be My Husband,” before slyly delving into “Mississippi Goddam,” subverting the politics of the song in favor of upbeat swinging. This version is so different than any other that she’s recorded that it alone makes this recording a worthy listen. But there’s more. The audience demanded an encore and Simone returns alone, creating a hush after telling a heckling member to “shut up.” She delivers a transfixing “Music for Lovers,” that picks up a joyous tempo after her sparkling piano solo, her voice so stunning in both its range and emotive nuances. It’s as jaw-dropping a song performance as any this writer has ever heard from her.
So, Nina at Newport in ’66 is not, as one may think at first blush, just another live performance of her hit songs. It’s a singular performance, albeit as passionate as any, captured at a tamer period in Simone’s eventual increasingly sharp political stance.
