Esther Phillips

While CTI specialized in putting out sleek jazz packages that borrowed production ideas from rock 'n' roll concept albums, Esther Phillips' gritty approach stopped her work for the label from being slick. This CD compiles Phillips' best CTI moments, including "I Can Stand a Little Rain," "A Whisper to a Scream," and her pained, autobiographical interpretation of Gil Scott-Heron's "Home is Where the Hatred Is."

Niggles about great singers who trend-hop are often swallowed up by their voices as history passes. A sardonic acolyte of jazz-r&b hitmaker Dinah Washington, Esther Phillips is respected for her r&b output, especially with the Atlantic Records posse. But her commercial peak, a decade later, was her dance records with Creed Taylor and various jazz fusioneers, and this ill-packaged cheapo, her only extant U.S. compilation in the style, proves disco was good for her. Sure the Grammy-nominated Washington cover "What a Difference a Day Makes" is taken too fast. But her astringent, vibrato-laden soprano is never derailed. And it owns the socially conscious Gil Scott-Heron and Joe Cocker songs, the Duke Ellington classic, and--remarkably--Bill Withers's "Use Me." (Grade - ****)