Vocalist Ernestine Anderson was born in Houston, Texas on this date in 1928. During her career in music Anderson would become one of the most recognized jazz singers of her time and be nominated for Grammy awards four times.

Growing up in Texas her family listened to a lot of blues records and Ernestine cited the big bands coming through her hometown as an additional influence on her musical interests. She specifically mentioned the Erskine Hawkins, Jimmie Lunceford, Billy Eckstein and Count Basie bands in a 1998 interview. Anderson would sing along with her parent’s blues records and was entered in a talent contest at the age of 12. She knew only two songs and when the accompanist asked what key she wanted she said “C.” It turned out that C was not a good key for her so she sang around the melody and afterwards one of the musicians told her that she was a jazz singer.

At the age of 16 Ernestine Anderson’s family moved to Seattle, Washington where she attended Garfield High School. While still in her teens she began singing with the “Bumps” Blackwell band in Seattle that also included Quincy Jones on trumpet and Ray Charles playing piano. Shortly thereafter she went on tour with the Johnny Otis band and by 1952 she was singing with Lionel Hampton. The following year she relocated to New York City and in 1955 appeared on a Gigi Gryce album. In 1958 she made her first album as a leader in Sweden and the next year she was named a “New Star” by DownBeat Magazine.

Anderson spent much of the 1960s living and working in Europe because popular tastes in the United States made it more difficult for jazz musicians to find work. She made a comeback of sorts starting at the 1976 Concord Jazz Festival which resulted in a contract with the Concord label and a string of eleven successful and critically acclaimed records over the following 15 years. In 1993 she was back in Seattle and signed with Qwest records, owned and operated by her old friend from high school days Quincy Jones. She continued to work and record over the next two decades and established herself as one of the great vocal talents of her era. Ernestine Anderson passed away in Seattle in 2016 at the age of 87.

Here is a link to a live performance of an Ernestine Anderson favorite from 1984:

"NEVER MAKE YOUR MOVE TOO SOON"