Phil-LA of Soul Records caught up with Ernie Andrews in 1971 when he was performing with the Fuzzy Kane Trio, out of Baltimore. The liner notes portray a difficult start to the relationship. Ernie Andrews wrote, “An hour later [after the other two had arrived], a solemn face covered by a stingy brim, quietly entered the room. He nodded at the introduction, gave no reason for his lateness….” Fuzzy Kane wrote, “It was not love at first sight, our thing through the years had been playing together and diggin’ it. He was an outsider.” But they managed to make great music together, and Fuzzy Kane admitted, “In less than a week of his three-week engagement, Ernie build his bridge over troubled water and we began walking it together.” Ernie Andrews concluded, “The Fuzzy Kane Trio was doin’ it. I was glad to be in town.”
Born on Christmas Day in 1927 in Philadelphia, Ernie Andrews grew up in Los Angeles. He sang for six years after World War II with the Harry James Orchestra. Other labels he recorded for before Phil-LA of Soul were G&G, Aladdin, Columbia, and London in the late '40s, GNP/Crescendo in 1958-59, and Dot in 1965-66. After Phil-LA of Soul, he recorded for Discovery in 1980, Muse in the 1990s and later for High Note. He is featured in the documentary, Blues for Central Avenue and continues to live and work on the West Coast.
And the reason Fuzzy Kane was late for that date was that he “ran a school in the day and taught at night.” Still, he wrote, “I saw no sense in explaining.”
