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If you were whiling away the summer in Switzerland in the late 20th century, which was the year to take a break from the fondue and chocolate and catch Nina Simone at her very best at the Montreux Jazz Festival? This double CD, culled from five appearances between 1968 and 1990, gives a good idea of the answer. It also serves as a history of a ferocious talent, whose career was torn between the demands of showbusiness fame, her support for black civil rights and her personal problems – not least the long-undiagnosed bipolar disorder.

The show, like pretty much everything here, has been available before, but the existing Montreux 1968 album commands eye-watering prices on Discogs. For anyone who saw Simone only in her declining years (and I’ve never seen a car-crash of a set quite as excruciating as her slot at the Bishopstock Festival in Devon in 2001), here’s a reminder of a mighty talent at her peak. – London Jazz News