Things Are Looking Up (2024)

Produced by Queen Esther

A heady mix of lost classics from Lady Day and original songs from Lenny Molotov, played by some of the best jazz musicians on the planet.

"Queen Esther defies classification." - New York City Jazz Record

"If you're sensitive to this form of authenticity, this album will grip you, for even listening to it casually, there will always be a moment when you'll perk up, not out of curiousity but out of necessity. Nothing on this album is left to chance, enriched by beautifully crafted arrangements and a remarkable simplicity that highlights the artist." - Paris Move (France)

Rona (2023)

Produced by Queen Esther

This pandemic album -- written in Harlem and recorded at Mighty Toad in Gowanus -- was created during the darkest days of the COVID lockdown in New York City. It includes original songs from Queen Esther as well as covers from 70s supergroup Bread and the iconic rock band Queen.

"While early descriptions of Queen Esther were along the lines of “the unknown queen of Americana,” a little dynamite should be added to those words to call her the “ecstatic ruler of the outer cosmos.” Because she sings like a cosmic visitor from another solar system, and then takes semi-normal songs and turns them into irresistible creatures of the semi-beyond. Her voice possesses feelings inside it that sound like they originate in a place that no normal humans can reach, and at the same time are as simple as the South Carolina low country where she once lived." - Bill Bentley, Americana Highways

Gild The Black Lily (2021)

Produced by Queen Esther

These 13 songs include originals from Queen Esther as well as covers from Son House, Chip Robinson of The Backsliders, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Eagles, and George Jones.

"She is depicted with a banjo on the cover, but it is the mandolin that is the dominant string instrument here, as well as what sounds like standing bass. In some songs it is laid on a light organ, elsewhere a little guitars, a steel guitar here and there, it is super nice screwed together, but it is always her voice, her crazy voice, that gets to shine and give the songs, both her own and the cover songs, wings." - Feedback (Norway)

The Other Side (2014)

Produced by Queen Esther

Baby's first fully produced album, chok-full of her original songs and reworked covers from 70s superstars Charlie Rich and Paul Pena.

What Is Love (2010)

Produced by Queen Esther and JC Hopkins

"What is Love?" is the new CD release from stunning vocalist, Queen Esther. In this collection of jazz tunes, Queen Esther brings to mind great singers like Sarah Vaughn and Nina Simone but ends up sounding uniquely like Queen Esther. Backed by a stellar band of New York's finest players and produced by Grammy nominated composer, J.C. Hopkins, Queen Esther creates a growling, crooning, and passionately expressive piece of work.

-- Don Sechelski, Muse's Muse

Talkin' Fishbowl Blues (2004)

Produced by Jack Sprat

“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 that Lucinda Williams, Melissa Etheridge and Sheryl Crow never could on their best days.” - Amplifier Magazine