Me, My Guitar, & Nina Simone

 Stories about the adventures and misadventures of Nina Simone as told by Al Schackman, her close friend and musical accompanist for over forty-three years. Al also recounts colorful tales of his own life with other notable luminaries including Dr. Martin Luther King and Harry Belafonte.

Internationally acclaimed guitarist, Al Schackman, was a musical prodigy known as the "Skinny White Kid" playing in Black Brooklyn jazz clubs as a young teenager. Going on to being a first-call session player for Atlantic and Columbia records in the 1960's, he would eventually travel the world with musical celebrities throughout his long career. Most significant was his magical and immediate connection with Nina Simone in 1958, beginning a professional relationship that lasted throughout her life, and an everlasting friendship which endured through thick and thin. Each chapter is a lively and revealing episode from his unusual life, such as:

• Nina flying into Casablanca for a concert carrying a gun

• Nina shaking up the Apollo theater

• Nina putting the fear of God into racist cops

• Nina and Al unveiling "Mississippi Goddam" at the Selma March

• Nina kidnapping a Rolls Royce in Paris with Al and James Baldwin

• Al's romance with Kim Novak and Nina's romance with the Prime Minister of Barbados

• A bomb scare on a plane with Martin Luther King

And much more, including excerpts from Nina's letters to Al

Volumes have been written about Nina Simone based on interviews and research, but this is a book of first-person experiences. The stories give true insight into Nina's brilliance and musical performances as well as her struggles with mental health challenges and relationships. As an entertaining and vibrant storyteller, Al's perceptions and thoughts about the events he experienced add special significance to his writing.

 Al Schackman is most widely known as the legendary Nina Simone’s guitarist and music director. He met the late, great Miss Simone in 1958, thus beginning over four decades of touring the world and playing major global stages with her through the year 2000.  When he wasn’t playing with Nina, he toured throughout the U.S. and Europe with Harry Belafonte. They frequently traveled with Dr. Martin Luther King, playing at his speaking engagements and fundraisers. Al also performed with Nina and Harry at the historic concert in Montgomery, Alabama following the Selma civil rights march. He was also first call guitarist for Atlantic and Columbia records. His guitar can be heard on recordings by Neil Sedaka, Ben E. King, The Drifters, The Eisley Brothers, Solomon Burke, among many others.

            In response to many requests from those who have heard his entertaining life stories, Al has put them into a book, entitled ME, MY GUITAR, & NINA SIMONE, that is filled with his adventures and misadventures, some hilarious and some historically relevant today. His stories of Nina Simone are intimate and revealing; stories that only someone so closely involved with her can bring to the reader. He describes the dangers he encountered traveling with Dr. King, together with harrowing experiences as a white musician in a black band playing in the segregated south. His tales include various encounters with many celebrities as well as exotic foreign travel.

            Currently, Al lives on a ranch in northeastern New Mexico with his wife Ginny and continues to write and record.