Annette Peacock - Abstract-Contact
I heard it when I was really young. My dad played it to me. And I realised a few years ago that it's a fusion album - ha! - but I was just so taken by the vocal work that I didn't hear it because I really hate jazz fusion, it's like my least favourite type of music of all time, except maybe mainstream country music. I listened to it a few years ago and I hadn't heard it for a long time and I was kind of shocked by the type of music that was going on but it's kind of lovely to have heard something before you could really judge anything for its style. I heard that album when I was eight or something and I listened to it a lot in my childhood and teens and I really love the way she's a writer and the way she uses her voice. It's really different from anything else.

She did so many experimental things so many years before anyone else did them, so she has an incredible history. My dad played me this record where, you know, she's almost rapping but in a more kind of jazz tradition, I guess, and it's so free and it's crystal clear and it's very political. And then he played me Jimi Hendrix. So she was my Jimi Hendrix. I was then certain that she was as famous as Jimi Hendrix. It didn't occur to me that they were totally different artists and she was obscure outside of the jazz world and he was an incredibly famous rock star. To me, she was a huge rock star and I was very disappointed when I found out much later that all her albums were out of print and few people took an interest. I guess it's easier now to find her music again but it was very hard for a long time.