3. Winifred Atwell‘Bumble Boogie’ / ‘St. Louis Blues’
I don’t think it was one of the 45s from Apapa, but it must have been one of mum’s because it’s old. I was drawn in immediately by the piano, we also had Nina Simone and a lot of classical, and I loved ‘Bumble Boogie’, the dexterity and the genius of Winifred Atwell. But the other side, ‘St. Louis Blues’ is what stirred something inside me. I love the blues, that sensibility and that style. I like it on the guitar, but I love playing it on piano. So when we got a piano, [the blues] was one of the first things I ever learnt to play, just by sheer determination. I found it quite easy to play in that style, and it certainly continued through to my work with Marc [Almond] and all sorts of things.
