In the early 1990s she joined Qwest Records, the label founded by fellow Garfield High School graduate Quincy Jones.

Anderson tells of her early life in the 1998 book The Jazz Scene: Her family moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1944,[4] when she was 16.

The band (which later included Quincy Jones on trumpet, and a young Ray Charles on keyboard) performed regularly in jazz clubs on Seattle's Jackson Street.

Her appearance on Gigi Gryce's 1955 album Nica's Tempo (Savoy)[7] led to a partnership with trumpeter Rolf Ericson for a three-month Scandinavian tour.

[6] The dean of America jazz critics, Ralph J. Gleason, began airing it on his hit-making radio show.

She has good diction, time, an uncanny ability to phrase well, great warmth in her voice, a true tone and, on top of all that, she swings like mad", which created a huge sensation.

In 1959 Anderson won the DownBeat "New Star" Award and recorded for Mercury to more acclaim, before dividing her time from the mid-1960s between America and Europe.

After leaving Concord Records in 1993, Anderson signed on with her old Seattle jazz scene pal, Quincy Jones, and his happening new label, Qwest, which issued two albums — 1993's Now and Then, and 1996's Blues, Dues & Love News — that also both received Grammy nominations.

Within this book Ernestine Anderson joins such company as Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Oprah Winfrey, Lena Horne, and Sarah Vaughan.