Ernestine Anderson

An acknowledged virtuoso of the blues — her rendition of “Never Make Your Move Too Soon” is a classic — Ernestine Anderson is equally superb with ballads and swing.
From intimate trio formats to big band, she does it all with seductive sophistication. Her sultry, sensuous voice is intimate in small club settings and soars with passionate intensity in the festival arena. Whether it’s Ellington or Sting, Ms. Anderson’s interpretation of a song is infectious. On stage, she’s charming and vivacious, her joy in the music delighting audiences from Sweden to Japan.

“Just turned 80, Ernestine Anderson is one of the greatest jazz and blues singers we have a national treasure who’s always deserved a higher profile. She beguiled audiences as a precocious teen with R&B greats Bumps Blackwell and Johnny Otis, toured with swing legend Lionel Hampton and
recording with bebop saxophonist Gigi Gryce (who penned her early near-hit “Social Call”). After a commercially fallow period, later alliances with Ray Brown, Monty Alexander, Quincy Jones and Concord Records (for nearly 20 albums) made Anderson a club and festival favorite once again, and a Grammy nominee in the 1990s. An Anderson set can be counted on to deliver blues swagger, easy swing, ample romance and time-stopping balladry. her versions of “Old Folks” and “Big City” will likely never be topped, and only B.B. King does an equally convincing “Never Make Your Move Too Soon.”
- Tom Surowicz, Star Tribune and Vita.MN

Hailed as a true jazz legend, Ernestine has been entertaining audiences for five decades.

“She can sing the blues, and she can sing a ballad. She can swing you out of the country!”
- Etta James

“Anderson knows how to transform and restructure a melody so thoroughly that it takes on a vital new life … like Carmen McRae and a very few others, she separates the women from the girls.”
- Leonard Feather, author of The Encyclopedia of Jazz