Queen Esther sits in a booth at her favorite West Harlem cafe in a pencil skirt and a baby tee, working on an empanada and a list of things to do – cell phone ringing, legs dangling, her favorite guitar within easy reach. It's been a busy day for Her Royal Highness: in the midst of a flurry of auditions and callbacks, she crash-landed into a recording session in midtown, had an online interview with an Americana radio station deep in the heart of Europe, and ended the day with a rehearsal for an upcoming gig. Somewhere in there, she found out that she’s been cast in her third national commercial. On her way home, she impulsively popped in unannounced for an impromptu guitar lesson from none other than her mentor, jazz guitar icon James "Blood" Ulmer.
According to Queen Esther, it's all in a day's work.
"Blood always said that I was a harmelodic person," Queen Esther muses. "What he wanted me to understand is that it would be difficult for people to 'get' how I could do so many things simultaneously." She pauses for a moment, smiles and leans forward slightly. "Actually," she confides, "I don't get it, either. I'm just doing what comes naturally.”
Indeed. Queen Esther grew up as the middle child and the only daughter in the semi-rural environs of the Deep South with six brothers, a four-octave range and an IQ that set her firmly in the gifted program for English and creative writing as a five year old. While attending a prestigious performing arts high school in Atlanta GA, she thrived in the Governor's Honors Program in drama and was cast in many citywide productions, such as Bernstein's MASS with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Thanks to ARTS Recognition and Talent Search (sponsored by the National Foundation for the Arts), she competed for and won several scholarships internationally in theater. As luck would have it, she chose the University of Texas and exploded on the local music scene in Austin as a member of Ro-Tel and the Hot Tomatoes, a regional favorite specializing in girl group music that began as a gag in the infamous local comedy troupe Esther's Follies.
"I'm telling you, you can't make this stuff up," Queen Esther remarked. "We used to do private parties for H. Ross Perot and the Bass brothers. Lots of Texas socialites, like Wendy Reeves. Now, she was a hoot. We'd play a lot of honky-tonks, too. We even opened for Chuck Berry! And we always had a regular set every week on 6th Street, no matter what."
It was “Big Al” Gilhausen, the guitarist in Ro-Tel, who introduced her to the legendary guitarist Hubert Sumlin. Because of his immediate influence, she lost herself in the blues and found her way back to her country gospel roots. With a childhood of 70s freeform radio on the airwaves, augmented by a steady diet of Hee-Haw, The Lawrence Welk Show and Soul Train – and the overwhelming presence of a rural sanctified black church, filled with sacred steel – the Black Americana sound was intact and in place, waiting patiently to be heard.
In time, Queen Esther relocated to New York City and flourished in the alt-music/alt-theater scene. Her work as a vocalist, lyricist, songwriter and actor/solo performer and playwright led to creative collaborations in neo-vaudeville, alternative theater, various alt-rock configurations, (neo) swing bands, trip hop DJs, spoken word performances, jazz combos, jam bands, various blues configurations, original Off Broadway plays and musicals, experimental music/art noise and performance art. Somewhere in this explosion of creativity and ideas, she finished a BA in Screenwriting from The New School and pushed toward developing her ideas, irregardless of genre.
"I never felt compelled to choose any one particular thing, like 'just sing' or 'just act,'" Queen Esther says. "That's not really the way creativity works. Or talent. Besides," she adds with a grin, "I was having a lot of fun!”
By the time she joined forces with guitarist Elliot Sharp as the acoustic alt-blues duo Hoosegow to create the much lauded CD Mighty (Homestead/1996), the Queen had managed to beat out more than 6,000 hopefuls from over five major US cities to land a plumb role in the original cast of the first national tour of the Broadway musical RENT.
"I got into that show on a non-union cattle call with no representation whatsoever," Queen Esther remembers, shaking her head in disbelief. "And after I walked in with my headshot and resume and sang 16 bars like everybody else, I had 5 – count ‘em! Five! – callbacks."
Her one person show Queen Esther: Unemployed Superstar was fleshed out while she was in RENT and further developed when she returned to the city, culminating in a stint in the New Work Now!/New Performance Now! series at The Public Theater and a five week sold-out run at Joe's Pub. But it was touring Europe as a frontwoman for Mr. Ulmer's Blues Experience Raw that instigated the beginnings of the songs that would eventually find their way onto her Black Americana debut CD Talkin' Fishbowl Blues.
As her songs grew, Queen Esther was cast in Bravo's reality tv series The It Factor (2001) and had already begun developing The Big Payback, a solo show about reparations, when 9/11 happened. She didn’t hesitate to shift gears, hosting and performing in Queen Esther’s Stagedoor Canteen in the aftermath of the World Trade Center disaster, a weekly hour-long USO-style variety show at Tribeca Playhouse that welcomed Broadway performers and showfolk to entertain the Ground Zero relief workers for free. Subsequently, the show won a 2002 special Drama Desk Award.
While working as a vocalist with Grammy Award-nominated songwriter/pianist JC Hopkins and his Biggish Band (Underneath A Brooklyn Moon – Tigerlily/2005), Queen Esther took a lead role in George C. Wolfe's critically acclaimed new musical Harlem Song (2002) and followed this Audelco award-nominated performance with a requested appearance to sing at The White House for President Bush, the First Lady, full cabinet and invited guests.
Produced by Vernon Reid (Living Colour), her guest vocals on James "Blood" Ulmer's No Escape From The Blues (Hyena/2003) garnered praise while earning a spot in Rolling Stone's pick of The Best 50 CDs of 2003. Her vocals and songwriting are also present on Mr. Ulmer's much lauded black-folk effort Blues & Grass: The 52nd St. Blues Project (Chesky/2004).
When a kismet introduction to musician/songwriter Alejandro Escovedo led to a publishing deal with Bug Music in 2003, Queen Esther jumped at the chance to start her own label and self-release her debut CD. Of Talkin’ Fishbowl Blues (EL Recordings/2004), C-Ville Weekly says, “Unlike most modern blues singers, Queen Esther is not afraid to learn from many genres and then use their essential strengths to add telling details to her own stories. She quietly pleads with lyrics that use both the bluntness and crooked wit of the blues tradition to draw an emotionally detailed portrait of the romantic dramas awaiting a young, smart New York woman who moves with ease through the avant and blues worlds. Much of her emotional landscape is given extra dimensions by a band whose slightly off kilter yet precisely played licks and beats prove they know musical power can be created without showboating. In a genre increasingly dominated by songwriters afraid to tell their stories, Queen Esther and group demonstrate truth talking and entertainment were both tools for the true blues artist,” while Amplifier says “Not really a blues album, yet aptly tagged as “Black Americana,’ Manhattan-via-Austin super-side-woman (Queen) Esther melds roots, pop and R & B in a way Lucinda Williams, Melissa Etheridge and Sheryl Crow never could on their best days,” while allmusic.com says: “You’ll have to set your preconceptions aside for this one. Queen Esther is active in the theater and performance art worlds, sings the blues, sings jazz with the JC Hopkins Biggish Band and now has offered up a great Rock and Roll album. Is there anything this woman can’t do?” (4 out of 5 stars)
After winning the grand prize in theI 2008 Jazzmobile Vocal Competition, it’s clear that Queen Esther nurtures her unique sound while thriving in ongoing creative partnerships in jazz. So, what’s next?
Queen Esther pauses for a long moment. “Following the creative impetus is a beautiful thing. I’m perfectly willing to go wherever it takes me, and somehow that’s never enough.” She leans back against the banquette and smiles. “I know one thing for sure. I want to continue to write the songs that I keep hearing in my head—the stories I can’t forget, the people that haunt me, the melodies that won’t leave me alone.”
