March, 2020

It seems like Ernestine Anderson was born to sing.  When she was just a little girl, she was singing in church and hearing her father perform with a gospel quartet...and teaching herself to play piano by ear.  As a teenager, she attended Garfield High School in Seattle and made her professional debut in 1946 at 18, singing with the Bumps Blackwell Junior Band. Another student in the band at the time was Quincy Jones, who would later found Qwest Records and record two Grammy-nominated albums for her.  

Anderson's vocal versatility kept her in demand and she had early work with Johnny Otis's band.  She toured with Lionel Hampton in the early 1950s.  From heartfelt ballads to deep, soulful blues, her sound encompassed it all.  Her first album "Hot Cargo" was recorded in Sweden and released in the United States in 1958.  She would go on to record several more albums for Mercury Records, ultimately recording over 30 albums in a career that spanned six decades.  The 1960s ushered in rock & roll in America, so Anderson split her time between the U.S. and Europe.  She staged a sensational return to American Jazz with a 1976 performance at the Concord Jazz Festival and recorded some of her most acclaimed music for Concord Records, including her signature release, 1981's "Never Make Your Move Too Soon."  She sang around the world, achieving performances at The Kennedy Center, as well as every singer's dream...Carnegie Hall.  

Tierney Sutton is definitely more than the “girl singer” with the Tierney Sutton Band.  Rather, she is truly a part of the band, a musician whose instrument happens to be her voice. It’s both a creative approach and a business model that even by today’s standards of equality can seem a bit remarkable. 

Raised in Wisconsin and schooled at Berklee College of Music, Sutton developed a distinct voice in the jazz world, both as a singer and as a creative partner.  After her student time at Berklee, Sutton headed west and moved to Los Angeles in 1993, where she quickly made a name for herself as one of the premier vocalists in Southern California.  In addition to gigging, she spent time teaching vocal jazz at USC and has been the head of the vocal department at L.A. Music Academy in Pasadena.  A nine-time Grammy nominee, Sutton has earned critical acclaim, as well as performing for appreciative audiences worldwide. 

With the Tierney Sutton Band, she has explored the works of Frank Sinatra, Joni Mitchell, and Sting.  The band has actually incorporated as Hollow Reed, Inc., allowing each of the members to have full equality in both creative and financial matters.  The group is celebrating nearly twenty years together.

With roots in Memphis and a fan base from Paris to New Orleans, multi-faceted singer Dee Dee Bridgewaterhas earned critical acclaim in every area of her career for over forty years.  Bridgewater came into the jazz scene as the vocalist for the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra in the 1970s and released her first solo album “Afro Blue” in 1974.  She has since successfully fulfilled the roles of singer-songwriter, producer, actress, educator, radio host, mentor, and touring musician.  She continues to fights against world hunger as a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.

 In the earlier years of her career, she was fronting the bandstand with such jazz legends as Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, and Dexter Gordon, even the eclectic Rahsaan Roland Kirk.  But, her talents were not limited to jazz singing and she worked on Broadway in the Tony-award winning musical “The Wiz.”  She played Glinda the Good Witch, a role that would bring her a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress.  Her multiple stages roles included Billie Holiday in “Lady Day.”  Bridgewater’s musical forays have ranged from classic American Jazz and French classical to African-themed music inspired by collaborations in Mali.  Her albums, “Dear Ella” and “Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee” were not only tributes to the legends who preceded her, but both won her Grammy Awards.  Her current release “Memphis…Yes I’m Ready” takes her back to her hometown roots.  As one of the world’s favorite jazz singers, Dee Dee Bridgewater continues to make musical history.