‘Who would not want to dance to Boogie Wonderland?’: Alison Balsom’s honest playlist

‘There’s such clever composition to Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy’ … Alison Balsom. Photograph: Pip

The first song I fell in love with
When I was seven and I started playing the trumpet, my mum would take me to the library. They just happened to have Afro by Dizzy Gillespie, and I fell in love with Con Alma, which Dizzy plays on the trumpet with so much soul that it feels like a voice. I remember thinking: Wow, this is something else.

The song I do at karaoke
I can recognise the melodies in most songs because I have the ear of a musician. But I don’t really listen to the words – I feel having the words in front of me would throw me off, so I’ve never done karaoke. If I had to, I’d probably do an old classic like Crocodile Rock by Elton John.