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Ernestine Anderson (Houston, TX 1928) is an American jazz and blues singer. In a career spanning more than five decades, she has recorded over 30 albums. She was nominated four times for a Grammy Award. She has sung 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.

Anderson was born in Houston, TX as the daughter of a construction worker. At age three, she could sing along with the raw tunes of the legendary Bessie Smith; she soon moved on to the more refined environs of her local church, singing solos in its gospel choir.

Her family moved to Seattle, Washington in 1944, when she was sixteen. At age eighteen, she 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, 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), 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-60's between America and Europe.

Her re-emergence in the mid-1970s (at which time Ray Brown was her manager) came as a result of a sensational appearance at the 1976 Concord Jazz Festival, a string of albums for Concord Records followed. Anderson has continued her career revival into the 1990s, working with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, among others.


Ernestine Anderson - A Song for You - 2009
Ernestine Anderson - Be Mine Tonight - 1986
Ernestine Anderson - Great Moments - 1993
Ernestine Anderson - Hello Like Before - 1977
Ernestine Anderson - I Love Being Here With You 2CD - 2002
Ernestine Anderson - Live From Concord To London (1978) - 2013
Ernestine Anderson - Love Makes The Changes - 2003
Ernestine Anderson - My Kinda Swing (1960) - 2002
Ernestine Anderson - Never Make Your Move Too Soon - 1980
Ernestine Anderson - Sunshine - 1979
Ernestine Anderson - Swings The Penthouse (1962) - 2015
Ernestine Anderson - When the Sun Goes Down - 1984
Ernestine Anderson with The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra  - Boogie Down - 1989
George Shearing & Ernestine Anderson - A Perfect Match - 1988


Wat mij betreft hoort Ernestine beslist thuis in het rijtje Ella - Billie - Lena - Sarah - Carmen
Gek genoeg had ik tot een paar dagen geleden nog nooit van haar gehoord.
Dat is hiermee rechtgezet.
Enjoy !