It's turning out to be quite a year for Nina Simone reissues. Hot on the heels of Four Classic Albums and The Colpix Singles, this similarly exceptional 2CD set from State Of Art Records brings together Nina Simone Sings Ellington! and Nina Simone at Newport. Recorded in New York in June 1961, and conducted and arranged by Ralph Burns, the Ellington album sees the marriage of one of the 20th century's greatest composers with one of its greatest musical iconoclasts. Accompanied by a big band, strings and the Malcolm Dodds Singers (whose contributions at times verge on the overwrought), the album skilfully interweaves the well-known, including ‘I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)’ and ‘Satin Doll’, with lesser-known gems such as ‘Hey, Buddy Bolden’ and ‘Merry Mending’. Recorded at the fabled Newport Jazz Festival on 30 June 1960, where Simone was accompanied by her longstanding guitarist Al Shackman, bassist Chris White and drummer Rob Hamilton, standouts on Nina Simone at Newport include the oft-recorded blues ‘Trouble In Mind’, the remarkable, incantatory interpretation of Cole Porter's ‘You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To’ and the purely instrumental, self-penned ‘Nina's Blues’. Excerpted from her 1958 debut album Little Girl Blue, ‘Mood Indigo’ is also included here as a bonus track.