Adieu, Ernestine

A day to play Ernestine Anderson records, as we deal with the news that the kittenish Seattle-based singer has--as jazz musicians say--caught the last bus.

Ernestine Anderson was one of several young Seattle performers--Quincy Jones and Ray Charles were others--who went on to do wonderful things. Over six or seven decades she worked with Johnny Otis, Lionel Hampton, the Nat Pierce-Frankie Capp Juggernaut, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, George Shearing, Stix Hooper, and many others. She appeared at Sam Yehia's Plazazz on the North Shore, on a dual bill with Betty Carter. It was a performance one could not miss, but, some, to their everlasting regret, did.

She had an earthy sound--Diana Krall picked up some of that in her early recordings--and great jazz feeling--how many singers would try a vocal rendition of Dizzy Gillespie's "Night in Tunisia"? And she had a subtle, slightly mocking sense of humor.

Her career had ups and downs--whose doesn't?--and for a time was in eclipse, but then Ray Brown propelled her back on stage and into the studio. She made dozens of recordings, and two of the best are "Now and Then" and "Blues, Dues & Love News," recorded for Qwest, the label of Quincy Jones, her pal from high school band days.

There was a jazz club in Seattle named for her--Ernestine's. Perhaps some fans will put a plaque on a Pike Place Market wall. And her name is still up on South Jackson street, at Ernestine Anderson Place, a residence for low-income seniors and homeless folk.

Adieu, Ernestine.