ESTHER PHILLIPS by David Nathan
She was a remarkable artist capable of investing her soulful vocal talents into an amazing array of diverse musical genres. As 'Little' Esther, the woman born Esther Mae Jones on December 23, 1935 in Galveston, Texas was a child star, singing '50s rhythm and blues when most girls of her age were still in school. By the early '60s, dealing with a drug addiction that would haunt her until the end of that decade, she was interpreting country music, leading to one of her biggest hit records, 1962's classic "Release Me." Three years later, she was no longer little: Ms. Esther Phillips was delving into torch songs, jazz standards - and adding her own unique sound to songs originated by The Beatles (such as "And I Love Him," a pop and R&B hit in the U.S. that led to her first trip to the U.K. in 1965) and even Marianne Faithfull (try "As Tears Go By," one of the cuts on Esther's second Atlantic album, released in 1966). Esther would jump from the out-and-out R&B flavour of singles like "When A Woman Loves A Man" (her answer song to the Percy Sledge '66 smash) and "Cheater Man" to big band arrangements of tunes like "A Taste Of Honey" and "Let There Be Love." By the end of the '60s, Esther's habit forced a temporary withdrawal from the music biz. It was a short-lived hiatus: by 1970, after a quick stop at Roulette Records, Esther was back with Atlantic cutting one of her finest albums, a live set recorded in Los Angeles at the famed Pied Piper club. She finally left her longtime recording home for what promised to be greener pastures in 1971 after hearing about the formation of a new jazz-oriented label by industry veteran Creed Taylor. Taylor had built a strong reputation as producer for such legendary figures as Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Smith and Stan Getz, working with George Benson in the early stages of his illustrious career. Taylor's CTI Records became an important recording home for many of the pioneers in what became known as the 'jazz fusion' movement. Artists like the late Grover Washington Jr. and Hank Crawford were keystone flag bearers for CTI's Kudu imprint. And then there was Esther Phillips. Virtually the only vocalist at the company (save for Patti Austin who joined the roster in 1976), Ms. Esther deservedly had pride of place at the fledgling label and Taylor pulled out all the stops for her Kudu recordings, employing the finest musicians in and around the New York area to give the one-of-a-kind singer the perfect backdrop for her work as a superb song stylist. The credits for "From A Whisper To A Scream", Esther's 1972 Kudu debut - considered by many to be her finest album for the label - listed such renowned players as Crawford on sax, Eric Gale and Cornell Dupree on guitar, Bernard Purdie on drums, Richard Tee on keyboards and Gordon Edwards on bass, with the cream of background singers (Joshie Armstead, Hilda Harris and Tasha Thomas) giving Esther just the right vocal cushion for her blues-tinged interpretations of works by everyone from poet/singer Gil Scott-Heron and the great Marvin Gaye to New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint and soul man Eddie Floyd. Three tracks from that amazing first Kudu LP (so impressive that it prompted Aretha Franklin to give Esther the 1972 Grammy she won) are included on this sumptuous compilation, along with one song, Carole King's "Brother, Brother" left off the original album but included in a 1990 Sony CD reissue. Esther's reading of Scott-Heron's "Home Is Where The Hatred Is" is stark and highly personal, the tale of a junkie's struggle with their own addiction, a song Esther would later recall was one of the hardest tunes for her to sing. The title track, Toussaint's "From A Whisper To A Scream" is given a dramatic and powerful performance; while "That's All Right With Me" is a laidback ballad that allows Esther to show the more intimate side of her artistry. The singer's sophomore set, recorded in the summer of 1972 and released in the late fall, offered another pot-pourri of great material, ranging from the title track - Brit pop singer Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)" - to choice sides penned by Johnny Nash, Joe Turner and even Gladys Knight (who co-wrote the song "I Don't Want To Do Wrong"). Two key cuts included here are Bill Withers' "Use Me" given a rocking funky workout and "I've Never Found A Man (To Love Me Like You Do)," first popularized (with an appropriate gender switch!) and written by Eddie Floyd. Esther's third Kudu set was a neglected gem:1973's "Black-Eyed Blues" never got the critical acclaim or sales it truly deserved: thankfully, the singer's brilliant interpretation of the Joe Cocker co-penned title cut is included here in all its' glory. Unfortunately, the follow-up album "Performance," recorded and released in 1974, fared little better even though the musicianship, choice of material and Esther's own work on the record could not be faulted. The truth was, music was changing and disco - a phenomenon that was birthed out of black gay clubs on the East Coast in the U.S. - was making major inroads on the mainstream marketplace. Seeing the writing on the wall and initially with much reluctance on Esther's part, Creed Taylor decided it was time to take some action to get one of his two primary vocal stars into the winner's circle. "What A Diff'rence A Day Makes," a fast and furious re-working of a 1959 hit by Dinah Washington, one of Esther's prime vocal influences was the title track for Kudu album number five, recorded with guitarist Joe Beck. The cut became Esther's biggest U.S. pop hit in almost fifteen years and rocketed into the R&B Top 10 as well as giving the diminutive songstress an international smash. Buoyed by the response to her first 'disco' hit, Kudu took Esther back into the studio months later to record several more danceable covers of standards such as "For All We Know," the title track for her sixth set for the label. Esther's swan song album for the company referenced her astrological birth sign: "Capricorn Princess" was far more in keeping with her earlier Kudu work and boasted two gems, "All The Way Down," a song previously recorded by longtime pal Etta James, and "I Haven't Got Anything Better To Do," a gorgeous ballad originally recorded by Dee Dee Warwick (sister of Dionne) and revived in 2002 by Natalie Cole. Exiting CTI, Esther landed a great deal at Mercury Records and she loved the fact that the company had been home to Dinah; it didn't hurt that it was also the most lucrative and creatively-free contract the singer would ever enjoy. In fact, she bought her first home in Los Angeles (in the fashionable Mount Olympus area) as a result and was credited as a producer on the four albums she cut during her tenure with the label from 1977 to 1981. Unfortunately, Esther's run of success at Kudu was not to be repeated at Mercury: none of the singles released even grazed the R&B charts and the albums received virtually no attention even though they contained many moments of musical glory. Fortunately thanks to Soul Brother Records, seven of the eight tracks included here are making their CD debut. Bypassing her first Mercury set, a bluesy collection entitled "You've Come A Long Way Baby," the material on this compilation drawn from Esther's years with the company starts with four songs from "All About Esther," produced by former member of The Crusaders, Wayne Henderson. "Native New Yorker" had been a hit for the group Odyssey in 1977 while "S.O.S" had given West Coast-based Side Effect (who had also worked with Henderson) a charted single in '76. Keyboardist Bobby Lyle's "You Think Of Him (You Think Of Her)" and a medley of "There You Go Again (There She Goes Again)," co-written by Side Effect's Augie Johnson is combined with the old standard "Stormy Weather." Esther's sophomore Mercury set, 1979's "Here's Esther…Are You Ready?" was a patchy Harvey Mason-produced affair, including a pretty ignominious cover of Elton John's "Philadelphia Freedom." Two strong cuts from an otherwise less-than-stellar set are worth salvaging: "I Hope You'll Be Very Unhappy Without Me," a gem previously recorded by Randy Crawford; and "Bedtime Stories," justifiably considered one of Esther's best Mercury sides. Two years separated Esther's third and what would be her final Mercury album, "Good Black Is Hard To Crack" and we can only conjecture that the label had concluded that they really did not know how to promote the distinctive-voiced singer The LP (produced by renowned tenor sax player Benny Golson) did produce its own share of fine performances and once again, two of them are included on this anthology, the funky "We Got A Good Thing Goin'" (co-written by Freddie Perren and Fonce Mizell) and "Changing," co-penned by notable arranger Jerry Peters. The 1981 LP was Esther's final major label set; she recorded an album for Muse Records (appropriately entitled "A Way To Say Goodbye" ) and a couple of singles for independent labels. Esther Phillips' music was an acquired taste: she was no gospel-soaring diva like Aretha, no sweet pop chanteuse like Dionne Warwick. But she could give you jazz and funk and plenty, plenty soul and once you acquired the taste, you were hooked. I was. I miss Esther, her sharp wit and her sass and hearing this compilation is a reminder that on August 7, 1984, we lost a great talent. Her music, her style and her incomparable sound live on: listen…and enjoy! David Nathan a/k/a "British Ambassador Of Soul" www.soulmusic.com