Ernestine Anderson
| Ernestine Anderson | |
|---|---|
Ernestine Anderson in 2008
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| Background information | |
| Born |
November 11, 1928 Houston, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | March 10, 2016 (aged 87) Seattle, Washington |
| Genres | Jazz, blues |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Singing |
| Labels | Qwest/Reprise, Concord, Mercury |
| Associated acts | Johnny Otis, Lionel Hampton, Rolf Ericson |
Ernestine Anderson (November 11, 1928 – March 10, 2016) was an American jazz and blues singer. In a career spanning more than six decades, she recorded over 30 albums. She was nominated four times for a Grammy Award. She sang at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Monterey Jazz Festival (six times over a 33-year span), as well as at jazz festivals all over the world. In the early 1990s she joined Qwest Records, the label of fellow Garfield High School grad Quincy Jones.
Ernestine Anderson (and her twin sister Josephine) were born, in Houston, Texas, on November 11, 1928. By the age of 3, Anderson showed a talent for singing along with her parent’s old blues 78 rpm records by the likes of Bessie "The Empress of the Blues" Smith. Anderson started singing at a local church, singing solos in its gospel choir.
Anderson tells of her early life in the 1998 book The Jazz Scene):
Her family moved to Seattle, Washington in 1944, when she was sixteen. Anderson attended Garfield High School, graduating in 1946. While a teenager, she was discovered by bandleader "Bumps" Blackwell, who hired her as a singer for his Junior Band. Anderson's first show was at the Washington Social Club on East Madison Street. The band (which later included Quincy Jones on trumpet, and a young Ray Charles on keyboard) performed regularly in jazz clubs on Seattle's Jackson Street.
When she was eighteen, Anderson left Seattle, to tour for a year with the Johnny Otis band. In 1952, she went on tour with Lionel Hampton's orchestra. After a year with the legendary band, she settled in New York City, determined to make her way as a singer. Her appearance on Gigi Gryce's 1955 album Nica's Tempo (Savoy) led to a partnership with trumpeter Rolf Ericson for a three-month Scandinavian tour. Ernestine's first album in the United States was made after her debut album, recorded in Sweden and released here by Mercury Records under the title Hot Cargo (1958) the dean of America jazz critics, Ralph J. Gleason, began airing it on his hit-making radio show. In addition his nationally distributed San Francisco Chronicle jazz column, saying: "she is the best new jazz singer in a decade. She has good diction, time, an uncanny ability to phrase well, great warmth in her voice, a true tone and, on top of all that, she swings like mad", which created a huge sensation. In 1959 Anderson won the Down Beat "New Star" Award and recorded for Mercury to more acclaim, before dividing her time from the mid-'60s between America and Europe.
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