Ernestine Anderson

Biography

Positioned squarely in the mainstream camp, at home in the worlds of jazz and pop standards as well as the blues, comfortable with small groups and big bands, Ernestine Anderson regularly receives a lot of airplay on traditional jazz radio stations these days. She fits those demographics well with her tasteful, slightly gritty, moderately swinging contralto, someone who doesn't probe too deeply into emotional quagmires (and thus doesn't disturb the dispositions of those who use the radio as background) but always gives you an honest, musical account.

Anderson's career actually got rolling in the embryonic R&B field at first; as a teenager, she sang with Russell Jacquet's band in 1943, and she moved on to the Johnny Otis band from 1947 to 1949, making her first recording with Shifty Henry's Orchestra in 1947 for the Black-And-White label. In the 1950s, however, she converted over to the jazz side, working with Lionel Hampton in 1952-53 and recording with a band featuring Jacquet, Milt Jackson, and Quincy Jones in 1953 and with Gigi Gryce in 1955. Upon hearing the latter record, Rolf Ericson booked Anderson on a three-month Scandinavian tour; while in Sweden, she made a recording called Hot Cargo that ironically established her reputation in America. Once back in the U.S., she signed with Mercury and made a number of albums for that label until the early 1960s, when her career went into a decline. She moved to England in 1965 and remained largely invisible on the American radar screen until 1975, when Ray Brown heard her sing at the Turnwater Festival in Canada. Brown became her manager, got her to appear at the 1976 Concord Jazz Festival, and that led to a Concord contract which immediately bore fruit with the albums Live From Concord to London and Hello Like Before. These and other comeback albums made her a top-flight jazz attraction in the U.S. again -- this time for the long haul -- and in the 1980s, she was recording with the Hank Jones Trio, George Shearing, Benny Carter, the Capp-Pierce Juggernaut, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, and her own quartet. By 1992, she had attracted major-label attention once again, signing with Quincy Jones' Qwest outfit. For Koch, Anderson issued Isn't It Romantic in 1998. ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide