Anderson is known for mingling with the crowd, singing from the tables or audience and for getting hugs or pats on the back from everyone walking by him. He's well known for singing to the ladies or couples in the audience. Audiences naturally focus full attention on him as he works the room of wall to wall smiles on the rowdiest R&B number or the prettiest of the softer ballads. With his crowds, there's none of that distracting room chatter that some artists experience when singing new or slow music at half the usual volume.
National blues acts who play the Pittsburgh Blues Festival leave town remembering his expert showmanship and his humor working the larger audiences and venues the same way he does the small, intimate clubs. Younger musicians learn invaluable lessons from him on and off stage.
"Chizmo has a wonderful way of interacting with the audience. He can make just about any situation work onstage," said guitarist and bluesbiz.com editor Jim Hamel of what he has learned first from being a fan and now from playing in the Tuesday night band.
"He is a walking musical history lesson. Every day there is something new to learn from him. He lived and worked through so many important periods in our musical culture," Hamel added. He also described Anderson as the most fun singer a band could want.
Blues lady Jill West also has nothing but heartfelt praise, love and respect for Anderson. "I was actually pretty terrible in the beginning, " West said. "Chizmo was there early on in my career being very supportive and very encouraging."
West said Anderson provided good constructive criticism on how to improve her vocals with her band, the Blues Attack, and help transform her show into the first rate act that she and the band are known as these days. She admires Anderson's smooth ability to transition from one musical genre to another without missing a beat. She also praised him for jamming with everyone, "from the pros, the rookies to the wannabes" who gathered earlier in 2005 to pay tribute to him following a physical attack on him by home invasion robbers.
Fellow ace R&B/jazz singer Billy Price also has nothing but utmost praise for Anderson. "Chizmo is a great blues singer, a great entertainer, and most importantly, a nice man. He brings a big smile to my face every time I see him, which isn't as often as I would like."
When the music at the Blues Cafe stops, Anderson talked about his more recent return to the recording studio. He sings lead on two songs written by arranger/producer Norman Nardini on the upcoming release of Zack Wiesinger's first album. Wiesinger is an 18 year old guitar phenomenon who first took the local blues scene by storm two years ago and joined West's Blues Attack last year.
"Chiz is a Pittsburgh treasure. He is a fantastic, high level singer," Nardini said. He thinks Anderson is "under recorded" and should have had more opportunities to record. Nardini would like the opportunity to produce Anderson's next CD. Although Anderson has done little recording, Nardini said, "that doesn't take away from who he is, and that is a great, incredible singer."
As Anderson celebrates his golden anniversary as a singer and his upcoming 78th birthday, he has no intention of cutting back his hours singing. Instead, he said he would like to go in a little different direction again.
"I can't do what I want," he said referring to the limitations a singer who doesn't play an instrument sometimes faces. He'd like to resume singing polkas, country music or Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett standards.
"I'd love to sing "Fly Me To The Moon." That's a great song, one of my favorites," he explained. He wants to sing songs made famous by great singers he loves such as Ekstein, Williams, Bennett, Sinatra and Nat King Cole. However, some of Pittsburgh's best blues musicians backing him don't seem eager or willing to go in those directions.
Surely, some already established polka or standard band would welcome Anderson and his smooth, polished vocal talent to sit in sometime. There's a whole new crowd of women or couples out there who deserve to have polkas or "Fly Me To The Moon" sung to them in his trademark "up close and personal" style and a whole new crowd of friends waiting to give him a hug or pat on the back as they pass by him.
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