Carnegie Hall

For Kandace Springs, Nina Simone’s influence as a multi-hyphenate, genre-defying musician dates back to her childhood and continues to this day.

Through intimate interviews filmed at Carnegie Hall, A Story in Every Note invites you into the musical worlds of legendary artists through a singular, seminal piece of music. Learn more about the works that inspire them, the sounds that define them, and the stories behind the music that moves them. Watch the full series on our YouTube channel.

Meet Kandace Springs

Born and raised outside of Nashville, Kandace Springs first gained national and international attention with the release of her debut album, Soul Eyes, on Blue Note Records in 2016. Since then, she has solidified her position as one of the premier jazz and soul artists of our time.

Springs grew up steeped in the twin music traditions of R&B and gospel, both of which came directly from her father, legendary Nashville session singer “Scat” Springs. Piano lessons and her “first musical crush,” Norah Jones, completed the picture for the teenager, but success was not so swift; life after high school found her parking cars at a downtown Nashville hotel during the day and playing in the lounge upstairs at night. But her talent couldn’t remain hidden for long. Producers Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken, who had previously brought megastar Rihanna to the world, heard a demo and brought Springs to New York. They introduced her to Blue Note president Don Was, who immediately became a believer as well.

Springs’s first single, “Love Got in the Way,” led to national television appearances and performances in London, Paris, and Tokyo. She also joined Christian McBride and Joshua Redman at the Istanbul Jazz Festival, and shared the stage with Sting and Jack White on Later ... with Jools Holland in the UK.

Over the course of the next several years—and two more album releases—Springs’s star continued to grow. She headlined shows at the North Sea, Saratoga, London, Newport, and Monterey jazz festivals; performed with the late legend Roy Hargrove and Norah Jones; and was the featured vocalist at London’s Royal Albert Hall with the Metropole Orkest. In addition, she also had her own hour-long PBS special as part of The Kate series and won Germany’s Deutscher Jazzpreis in 2020 for Best Jazz Vocal Album.

This year features the release of Spring’s first album in four years, Run Your Race—a tribute to her late dad, who was a track star in college. The title track, penned by Springs, is arguably the most heartfelt of her career.

Photography: Springs by Robby Klein.