Maps of Music

Forbidden Fruit (1961)

Where the lyrics of Forbidden Fruit take you, and where it was really made.

The sessions are logged only as New York City, and the trio behind Nina Simone on this album also played on the live records made before and after it.

Key places

Recorded in New York City (1961)

Recording site Record Plant Studios — The album's sessions were held in New York City between 1960 and 1961. Only the city is named, so the point marks the city centre rather than a specific studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Forbidden Fruit: third studio album by Nina Simone
• Her second studio album for the Colpix label
• Released 1961, listed as June 1961 in the Italian edition
• Ten tracks in total, five on each side
• Follows her live album Nina Simone at Newport
• Built around love themes, which were central to the artist

Background

• Three songs were written by Oscar Brown, Jr, a poet and playwright who had begun recording himself in 1960
• Where Can I Go Without You was co-written and recorded by singer and actress Peggy Lee
• Just Say I Love Him draws on the Italian song Dicitencello vuje
• Simone married Andrew Stroud, a New York City policeman, late in the same year

Recording

• Simone is accompanied by a trio of Al Schackman (guitar), Chris White (bass) and Bobby Hamilton (drums)
• The same trio appears on both live albums before and after this release
• Recorded in New York City, 1960–1961
• Producer credited: Carl Lampley
• Gin House Blues was re-recorded in a more upbeat way on 'Nuff Said! (1968)
• Work Song also appears on Nina's Choice (1963), Nina Simone with Strings (1966) and, newly recorded, High Priestess of Soul (1967)

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com · it.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21, 1933, in Tryon, North Carolina; the sixth of eight children.
• Began playing piano at age three or four and gave a classical debut recital at age 12.
• Failed to gain admission to the Curtis Institute of Music, which she attributed to racism.
• Played piano at a nightclub in Atlantic City and adopted the stage name "Nina Simone" in 1954, after which she began singing as well.

Career

• Debut album Little Girl Blue (1958) included "I Loves You, Porgy", her only Billboard top 20 single in the US.
• Recorded more than 40 albums up to 1974; her 1960s protest songs such as "Mississippi Goddam" tied her to the civil rights movement.
• Left the US in 1970 and settled in Europe, later living in Liberia, Barbados, the Netherlands, and France.
• Autobiography I Put a Spell on You was published in 1991; she continued performing until her death on April 21, 2003.
• Known as the "High Priestess of Soul"; Rolling Stone ranked her No. 21 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Members

• Solo artist; she was accompanied by percussionist Leopoldo Fleming and guitarist Al Schackman throughout most of her career.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• The DownBeat reviewer of the time commented that Forbidden Fruit was not a jazz album
• The same review added that Simone demonstrates she has the equipment and some of the potential to be a fairly good jazz vocalist
• Backing trio: Al Schackman (guitar), Chris White (bass) and Bobby Hamilton (drums)
• Ten tracks on the album, with its songs centred on love

Records

• Released 1961 on Colpix; catalog numbers CP 419 / SCP 419
• Recording sessions held in New York City, 1960–1961
• Running times listed as 19:06 for side A and 18:12 for side B
• Discogs credits Carl Lampley as producer
• The 2005 CD version by EMI adds 11 bonus tracks recorded at roughly the same time, about 40 minutes in total
• Four bonus tracks had earlier been issued in edited form on Nina Simone with Strings, with overdubbed strings
• The Discogs reissue release notes 'Made in EU.' and credits Malcolm Addey for mastering

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title song Forbidden Fruit is one of three songs on the album by Oscar Brown, Jr, a humorous up-tempo take on Adam and Eve that was part nursery rhyme, part call and response
• Brown's Rags and Old Iron was originally titled Kicks and Company, the same name as his album
• Four of the bonus tracks on the 2005 EMI CD were previously issued in edited form on Nina Simone with Strings
• The 2005 EMI CD's bonus tracks add up to a kind of lost album of roughly 40 minutes

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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