Forbidden Fruit (Nina Simone album)

Forbidden Fruit
Studio album by Nina Simone
Released	1961
Recorded	1960–1961
Studio	New York City
Genre	Jazz, blues, folk
Length	37:57
Label	Colpix
Producer	Cal Lampley
Nina Simone chronology
Nina Simone at Newport (1960) Forbidden Fruit (1961) Nina at the Village Gate (1962)

Forbidden Fruit is the third studio album by Nina Simone. It was her second studio album for Colpix. The rhythm section accompanying her is the same trio as on both live albums before and after this release.

Song information

• "Gin House Blues", Simone re-recorded this song in a more upbeat way on 'Nuff Said! (1968).
• "Work Song", written by Oscar Brown, Jr and Nat Adderley tells the story of a chain gang. This song also appears on Nina’s Choice (1963), Nina Simone with Strings (1966) and, newly recorded, on High Priestess of Soul (1967).
• "Forbidden Fruit", the title song, one of three on the album by Oscar Brown, Jr. ^[1] This "humorous up-tempo take on Adam and Eve was part nursery rhyme, part call and response." ^[2]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
DownBeat	[3]

The contemporaneous DownBeat reviewer commented that Forbidden Fruit was not a jazz album, but added that "Simone demonstrates here that she has the equipment and some of the potential to be a fairly good jazz vocalist". ^[3]

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Rags and Old Iron"	Oscar Brown, Jr	Norman Curtis
2.	"No Good Man"		Dan Fisher, Irene Higginbotham, Sammy Gallop
3.	"Gin House Blues"	Henry Troy	Fletcher Henderson
4.	"I'll Look Around"	Douglas Cross	George C. Cory
5.	"I Love to Love"	Herbert Baker	Lennie Hayton
6.	"Work Song"	Oscar Brown, Jr	Nat Adderley
7.	"Where Can I Go Without You?"	Peggy Lee	Victor Young
8.	"Just Say I Love Him"	Enzo Fusco English lyrics: Sam Ward and Martin Kalmanoff	Rodolfo Falvo Music adaptation: Jack Val and Jimmy Dale
9.	"Memphis in June"	Paul Francis Webster	Hoagy Carmichael
10.	"Forbidden Fruit"		Oscar Brown, Jr
Total length:				37:57

The 2005 CD version by EMI features 11 bonus tracks roughly recorded at the same time, themselves adding up to a kind of "lost album" of approximately 40 minutes. Four of the songs - Porgy, I Is Your Woman Now, Baubles, Bangles and Beads, Gimme a Pigfoot (a different take), and Spring Is Here - were previously issued on Nina Simone with Strings in edited form with an overdubbed string section.

2005 CD version

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Porgy, I Is Your Woman Now"	DuBose Heyward, Ira Gershwin	George Gershwin
2.	"Baubles, Bangles and Beads"		Robert Wright, George Forrest
3.	"Gimme a Pigfoot"		Wesley Wilson
4.	"Ev'rytime We Say Goodbye"		Cole Porter
5.	"Spring Is Here"	Lorenz Hart	Richard Rodgers
6.	"Lonesome Valley" (traditional)
7.	"Golden Earrings"	Ray Evans	Jay Livingston, Victor Young
8.	"My Ship"	Ira Gershwin	Kurt Weill
9.	"'Tain't Nobody's Biz-ness if I Do"		Porter Grainger, Robert Graham Prince, Clarence Williams, Everett Robbins
10.	"Try a Little Tenderness"		Harry M. Woods, Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly
11.	"Od Yesh Homa" (traditional)

Personnel

• Nina Simone – vocals, piano
• Al Schackman – guitar
• Chris White – bass
• Bobby Hamilton – drums

References

1. All Music Guide to Jazz: The Definitive Guide to Jazz Music Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine – 2002 12, 1959 / Colpix ***** One of Nina Simone's finest recordings, this Colpix LP features the unique singer/pianist ... 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..."
2. Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone Nadine Cohodas – 2012 "Forbidden Fruit (CP 419, COL-CD6207), produced by Cal Lampley, featured three Oscar Brown songs, including the one picked for the title track, “Forbidden Fruit.” The humorous up-tempo take on Adam and Eve was part nursery rhyme, part call and response.
3. Gardner, Barbara (August 17, 1961). "Nina Simone: Forbidden Fruit". DownBeat . Vol. 28, no. 17. p. 38.