Ernestine Anderson will join the ranks of jazz divas who keep swinging well into their twilight years. Often compared to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, the esteemed performer had a stroke not long ago, yet performs from a center stage chair to which she’s deferentially helped. Surrounded by the support and affection of a top-notch band, she sings verses at the beginning and end of songs. Her register is low, strength limited. “This Can’t Be Love" (Roders & Hart) feels like a warm up. "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" (Cole Porter) is up-tempo, fuller. "Only Trust Your Heart" (Benny Carter and Sammy Cahn) sways to a bossa nova beat. Anderson toys with percussive scat. Her voice is the fifth instrument. Quietly...more quietly...like waves.

Not until the hot, humpy soul of “The Down Home Blues” does she let it rip: “I came here tonight to have a good time.” She’s wailing. Houston Person’s otherwise mellow sax is wailing. All the notes seem round/short phrases, round notes. Nothing moves but his fingers, a piece of cheek, and the music. The audience is whooping. It’s a long number, with Lonnie Plaxico’s throbbing, defined bass—bent forward by half, he embraces his lady instrument,-Willie Jones III’s thumping drums, and Lafayette Harris’s inimitable, rhythmic power swinging the piano from here to Harlem. Shades of Earl Hines. It feels like a revival meeting.

These are musicians whose mutual respect shines in their craft. Tonight the stage glows.

Alix Cohen
Cabaret Scenes
May 24, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org