My Kinda Swing

Ernestine Anderson was 32 years old at the time of this 1960 session, not long before her career inexplicably fell into the doldrums. This album finds her in great form, supported by a cast of musicians including Clark Terry, Hank Jones, Yusef Lateef, Ernie Royal, Frank Rehak, and Kenny Burrell, with terrific arrangements by Ernie Wilkins. She achieves the perfect balance in her interpretation of "Trouble Is a Man," a masterful ballad written by Alec Wilder, and she's clearly in her element in the hard-rocking blues "See See Rider." Terry's striking trumpet almost provides a contrasting vocal alongside Anderson during "All My Life," while her understated approach to a quick run through "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" showcases Jones and Burrell. Lateef's oboe adds to the exotic flavor of "Lazy Afternoon." Unjustly out of print for decades, Verve reissued this disc on CD as a part of their limited-edition series in the fall of 2002, and it is well worth purchasing.