++ NOT FINISHED ++

For those unaware, Queen Esther is a performance artist, solo performer, actor, songwriter, lyricist, topliner, vocalist, producer, musician and storyteller.

Described as “...the unknown queen of Americana…” (Feedback, Norway), “..a Black Lucinda Williams…” and a “...brutal, original, explosive singer…” (Vanity Fair, Spain), Queen Esther’s creative output musically is the culmination of several critical Southern elements, not the least of which are years of recording and touring internationally as front woman for several projects with her mentor, harmolodic guitar icon James “Blood” Ulmer, including a stint in his seminal band Odyssey.

Raised in Atlanta, GA and embedded in Charleston, SC’s Lowcountry – a region with African traditions and Black folkways that span centuries and constantly inform her work – Queen Esther uses her Southern roots as a touchstone to explore cultural mores in America, deconstructing well-worn historical narratives while creating a reclamation-driven soundscape.

Queen Esther’s most recent work includes headlining Lincoln Center’s 2022 Summer for the City with her western swing collective The Black Rose of Texas (featuring Queen Esther, Kat Edmonson and Synead Cidney Nichols on vocals, and the legendary Cindy Cashdollar on pedal steel guitar) that was augmented by a performance workshop at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and later that year, a sold out weekend of shows at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola; and a grant from The 2022 New York City Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theater for Blackbirding, an alt-country album – written during an All Media Artist Residency at Gettysburg National Military Park.

Her new album is entitled Things Are Looking Up (out April 9th, 2024), is a jazz album of original songs and Lady Day’s lost classics, and the alt-Americana album Blackbirding.

1. Blow, Blossoms
2. Having Myself A Time
3. Detour Ahead
4. Flashin’ In Front Of My Eyes
5. Gold Standard
6. Glad To Be Unhappy
7. Clean Blue Flame
8. I’ll Look Around
9. Things Are Looking Up
10. Big Stuff
11. Paris On The Moon
12. If The Moon Turns Green

This dutifully soulful new collection, a heady mix of original songs and lost classics from Lady Day, played by some of the best jazz musicians on the planet, opens on the ______________ of Blow, Blossoms and the ___________ of Having Myself A Time and they are followed by the _____________ of Detour Ahead, the ____________ of Flashin’ In Front Of My Eyes and then comes the ______________ of Gold Standard and the ______________ of Glad To Be Unhappy.

Along next is the ______ of Clean Blue Flame and the __________ of I’ll Look Around and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the ________ of Things Are Looking Up, the ___ of Big Stuff, the set rounding out on the ________ of Paris On The Moon, closing on the ________ of If The Moon Turns Green.

Musicians:
Queen Esther, vocalist

Jeremy Bacon Trio
Jeremy Bacon, piano
Shawn Balthazor, drums
Thomson Kneeland, bass

Queen Esther Quartet
Jeremy Bacon, piano
Hilliard Greene, double bass
Jeff McLaughlin, electric guitar
Warren Smith, drums

Official Purchase Link