Nina Simone - At the village gate

“The breath-taking originality of the second half of the show is what makes this album great. Opening with Oscar Brown, Jr.’s “Brown Baby” and then Michael Olatunji’s “Zungo” and delivering a long version of another traditional song “Children, Go Where I Send You”, Simone makes a profound stand on the black musical tradition, drawing on her deep reading in Frantz Fanon’s auto-theory and Leopold Senghor’s ideas on negritude to create a body of work that transcends jazz styles and critical pigeonholes. She was unique, but only because she drew on multitudes.” Brian Morton