Reviewed by Scott Merrell (West Sayville, New York)

Esther Phillips was born Esther May Jones on December 23, 1935 in Galveston, Texas. In 1948, she won an amateur contest in Los Angeles, singing Dinah Washington's Baby Get Lost. Billed as "Little Esther," and sounding way beyond her years, she recorded Double Crossing Blues with Johnny Otis, selling 400,000 copies before her 14th birthday. She recorded 12-bar blues and R&B for the Savoy label, and made what amounts to a complete LP by 1950.

In 1951 and 1952, she recorded for the Federal label. (When she sings "I like my men aged and mellow" from this period, you'd never believe you're listening to a 15 year old girl.) She recorded infrequently through the remainder of the 1950s: six sides for Decca in 1953, three for Savoy in 1956, and then three more in 1959. Phillips finally landed a hit record when she recorded the country song, Release Me, for the Lenox label in 1962. The record company quickly went bankrupt, and Phillips’ Lenox contract was picked up by Atlantic Records.

This brings us to this new Collectables release of two long out-of-print albums by the late and great blues diva. The original albums, And I Love Him (Esther Phillips Sings Great Love Songs) and Esther, were first issued on Atlantic in the mid-1960s. These are two of her finest studio efforts, showcasing her ability as an interpreter of the Great American Songbook. The first session for And I Love Him took place in New York City in June, 1964. Finally given some good material to record, she was surrounded by strings and a not too obtrusive choir, arranged and conducted by Mort Garson. Phillips put her individual stamp on the four tunes with Garson that made it onto the album.

There is the surprising inclusion of Edith Piaf's Hymne a L'Amour, here with its English lyric, If You Love Me, Really Love Me. The track begins with strings, choir and a bluesy guitar, Phillips singing the verse in duet with the guitar ("Shall I catch a shooting star? / Shall I bring it where you are? / If you want me to, I will.") To hear her deliver this verse is worth the price of the disc alone. She'll break your heart with the words, "I will." Her masterful shading of a lyric is demonstrated here and throughout the session. She could read a lyric with the best of them –Washington, Frank Sinatra, and Carmen McRae had nothing over Phillips in this department. The other tunes from this date, a magnificent Out of the Blue, and two songs that were associated with Washington – Too Soon to Know, and Make Believe Dreams – are also first-rate performances.

Phillips was often compared by critics to her idol, Washington. In retrospect, she truly was the only worthy heir to The Queen's crown. Throughout her career, Phillips often sang and recorded songs that had been recorded by Washington, but she never flagrantly copied her. Phillips’ detractors would describe her voice as caustic, with a nasal quality. The phrase "ugly beauty" could apply to her sound, or a diamond in the rough. She may sing a phrase quite harshly one moment, with the next being tender and stunningly beautiful. Phillips was a real blueswoman, and the listener can feel that after two notes, regardless of the material she was singing. After Washington’s untimely death, Phillips became the greatest female blues singer of her time.

The remaining eight tunes on And I Love Him were arranged by Ray Ellis, of Lady In Satin fame. Some of the Ellis arrangements sound dated to these ears, such as the Lennon-McCartney title track, which became a hit for Phillips, but there are some excellent vocals from these sessions as well. Phillips’ version of Tis Autumn is the finest I've heard, and the 1960s period piece Shangri-La becomes timeless in her hands. Her swinging version of Makin' Whoopee is also a joy.

The companion album on this CD, titled Esther, recorded for Atlantic in December, 1965 and January, 1966, suffers somewhat from weaker material like He Touched Me and A Taste of Honey, but it has its moments, and again presents Phillips in a middle-of-the-road/jazz context. Seven of the songs were arranged by Oliver Nelson, the finest being It's All Right with Me, Ev’rytime We Say Goodbye, Crazy He Calls Me and The Party's Over. Ray Ellis also contributes four arrangements to this album. Atlantic apparently tried to get another hit record, by having Esther sing As Tears Go By, a song made famous by Marianne Faithfull.

Sadly, Phillips’ career came to a temporary halt after these sessions. She recorded a few more sides for Atlantic, released as singles, late in 1966 and in early 1967, but the material was poor and the recordings quickly disappeared. Her career was plagued by drug and personal problems, which lasted sporadically throughout her life. Phillips went back to Texas, checked into a rehab program, and didn't appear on record again until she recorded six sides for the Roulette label in 1969.

Phillips rejuvenated her career after a successful appearance with Johnny Otis at the 1970 Monterey Jazz Festival. She re-signed with Atlantic and cut a classic live album at the Pied Piper in Los Angeles called Burnin’. In the mid-1970s, Atlantic issued more material from this same engagement on the Confessin' the Blues album. These recordings are rare examples of Phillips in live performance, and rank among her finest work. She subsequently signed with Creed Taylor's Kudo/CTI labels. Her 1971 LP, From a Whisper to a Scream, was well received by the critics of the day, and more importantly, by Aretha Franklin. Franklin so admired Phillips’ album that when the Queen of Soul was awarded a Grammy for her Young, Gifted and Black album, she graciously gave her Grammy to Phillips, saying that she deserved it more.

By the mid-1970s, CTI wanted to turn Phillips into a disco diva. She was reluctant to go along with the idea, but did, and had the biggest hit of her career with a remake of What a Difference a Day Makes. She continued to perform and record until 1984, when she was admitted into a hospital for liver and kidney failure. She died on August 7, 1984 at the age of 48.

Tracks
And I Love Him (Esther Phillips Sings the Great Love Songs)
1. And I Love Him (Lennon, McCartney)
2. 'Tis Autumn (Nemo)
3. Shangri-La (Sigman, Meinick Maxwell)
4. Moonglow / Theme from Picnic (Hudson, DeLange, Mills)
5. Out of the Blue (Nemo, Jason)
6. People (Styne, Merrill)
7. Makin' Whoopee (Donaldson, Kahn)
8. Girl From Ipanema (Jobim, Gimbel)
9. I Wish You Love (Trenet, Beach)
10. If You Love Me, Really Love Me (Monnet, Parsons, Piaf)
11. Too Soon To Know (Chessler)
12. Make Believe Dreams (Mitchell, McWain)
Esther
13. Its All Right with Me (Porter)
14. The Shadow of Your Smile (Mandel, Webster)
15. Crazy He Calls Me (Russell, Sigman)
16. He Touched Me (Levin, Schafer)
17. A Taste of Honey (Scott, Marlowe)
18. Let There Be Love (Rand, Grant)
19. You Can't Go Home Again (Ferreira, Feather)
20. Just Say Goodbye (Grant, Grant)
21. I Could Have Told You So (Heusen, Sigman)
22. Ev’rytime We Say Goodbye (Porter)
23. As Tears Go By (Jagger, Richards, Oldham)
24. The Party's Over (Comden, Green, Styne)

Collectables Records