4. Nina SimoneAnd Piano
It’s a great story how I got that record, actually. I was at a record shop in Portland, Oregon, and I just saw the cover on the wall. The text that’s at the top got me. When I first glanced at that, I thought it was Arabic or some foreign language. But then I picked up the record off the shelf. This was only the second or third time I’d seen it, because they had it displayed on the wall in the shop. Only after going in there a few times did I finally pick up this record. I was like, ‘what is this?’, and then I realised, ‘Oh, that’s actually the letters "Nina Simone", but they just look really weird because they’re used in the design to make the shape of a piano. It was a stunning cover. I hadn’t really listened to much Nina Simone before that. I’d heard a few songs and always appreciated her, but I felt this was my chance to dive in now. I picked up that record and it just did not leave the turntable for months and months. This became such a huge inspiration for me; I really took more time to play the piano and sing after that, and just the sheer power that she exerts on her own. It was only a couple of years ago, actually, that I discovered that.
