JANS – Anderson Hardwick Jr. was born on June 10, 1935. Anderson Sr. and Lillian Hardwick raised him on Crawford Street in Vicksburg, MS. From infancy, he was immersed in music. He had aunts who sang. His Aunt Alma was a school music teacher. His Aunt Hattie owned a radio and record player on which Andy listened to Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Louis Jordan, Lucky Millner, and Jimmy Lunceford’s band. By age 12, Andy played professionally with Fish Man Evans and the Bobcats. He later played with the Rhythm Aces and the Re-Bops.
Andy attended school at the Southern Christian Institute (SCI), a Black boarding school in Edwards, MS, from the 7th through the 11th grade. His Aunt Alma taught there. The school closed in 1953.
The following fall, Andy transferred to the Alcorn Laboratory High School. As a high school student, he played in the college band. He continued to play with the Re-Bops, which eventually reorganized as the world-renowned Red Tops. At age 17, Andy became an original member and the youngest member. The Red Tops performed at the popular Blue Room Skyline in Vicksburg, as well as other venues and special events throughout Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee.
Upon graduation from high school in 1954, Andy enrolled in Alcorn State College, where he later earned a B.A. in Business Education. In 1957, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. Stationed in Paris, Andy directed and coordinated USO shows and all live entertainment for isolated American troops throughout Western Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Off the clock, he “sat-in” with jazz greats such as Art Blakey, Clifford Browne, Dexter Gordon, Oscar Pettiford, Bud Powell, Lucky Thompson, and Sarah Vaughn. He even befriended writer Richard Wright, a fellow Mississippian.
In 1960, Andy reintegrated into the live music scene in his hometown of Vicksburg. Upon his return, he helped to organize the group, the Corvettes, and completed his studies at Alcorn. After graduation, Alcorn hired Andy as the assistant bookkeeper. On the weekends, he gigged.
In 1967, Dr. Aaron Shirley, fellow Black physicians, and Andy received funding and actually opened the Tufts-Delta Health Center in Mound Bayou, the first of its kind in the region. Dr. Shirley hired Andy as the center’s business manager. He continued to gig on the weekends.
In 1970, Andy and his family moved to Jackson, MS, where he served as the comptroller of the Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center. He formed his own group, the Sounds Unlimited. The group over time expanded from a trio to a quintet. Beginning in 1975, Andy led Poets’ house band for 15 years.
In 1983, Andy took a brief hiatus from professional music to accept the position of Vice President of Fiscal Affairs at Paul Quinn College, then located in Waco, TX. In 1985, he returned to MS. He divided his time between gigging at Poets and the Ramada Inn – Renaissance Hotel, which later became the Hilton. He played at the Jazz brunch at the Hilton until March 2020. The onset of the pandemic shut down the brunch.
During the years that Andy played at Poets, but particularly at the Hilton, he offered informal apprenticeships to budding jazz musicians, as he invited them to sit-in. The two venues served as training grounds for student musicians from area colleges, namely Jackson State University. Indeed, Andy has always been dedicated to the furtherance of the jazz tradition through mentoring up-and-coming jazz musicians as well as to jazz enthusiasts.
Over the 60 plus years that Andy played professionally, he has had the pleasure of performing with James Brown, Red Callender, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Lionel Hampton, Milt Hinton, B.B. King, Otis Redding, and many others. Somehow, he managed to marry the lovely Velma Sims Hardwick. They were married 54 years. Together they have three children, Kevin, René, and June; six grandchildren, Janah, Jenae, Joi, Justin, Jaela, and Raha; and two great-grandchildren, Ayden and Cali. All of whom love music – thanks to Andy.
