Search - Esther Phillips :: What a Difference a Day Makes

A welcome reissue of a career boosting classic.

Dr.D.Treharne | Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom | 06/18/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For her fifth album for Creed Taylor's CTI label the label boss gave production duties to Joe Beck. The result was to be like nothing else that she had recorded before, both in the scope of the material and in the luminary band and orchestra that was assembled for the sessions.The album was the result of three sessions stretched over late April/Early May 1971, and the quality of the cuts and the choice of material has stood up well in the intervening years. The hit, "What a difference a day makes" appears in two forms and two tempos, the released track clocks in at 4.30 and the bonus cut at 3.10. My favourite tracks are the great version of Kenny Gamble/Leon Huff's "One night affair" (she had lived that one!), an excellent reading of "I can stand a little rain" and a belting version of Lu Emerson's "Hurtin' House". Less successful, and slightly dated is the reading of "Oh Papa". Special mention for Michael Brecker on Tenor sax, and the four piece trumpet section, as well as Joe Beck's guitar. It's still a fine, varied album that produced the hit, and put her career back on track. A great shame that neither of the follow up albums consolidated the situation, but this is a great reminder of what she could do.It's also a great counterpoint to the Rhino compilation "The best of Esther Phillips""

Bursting at the seams with character

David Kenneth Caudill | Hendersonville, Tennessee United States | 06/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Esther Phillips shines on this record as a unique, capable, and brilliant lead singer. The mix is handled in an equally deft manner, allowing dynamics to flow through the music, the result being a record that begs to be turned up.

The upbeat songs stand out on the record, demonstrating a smoky, loungey character thats supplies some much needed texture to disco backing.

An all around classic for lovers of unique, funk, soul and R&B records."

Esther Phillips Goes Disco

Scooter | Southern California | 07/17/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Don't get me wrong here, I loved Disco--and I worshipped Creed Taylor and his engineer Rudy Van Gelder. These guys are jazz Gods, and have produced some of the greatest jazz records ever.



Esther Phillips is a jazz and standars legend, at the downhill slope of a great career in 1975 at the height of Disco craze.



So Creed Taylor delegates the music arrangements to guitarist Joe Beck who produces a Disco Standards Jazz album, in an effort to bolster her failing career. Regretably, Creed Taylor didn't succeed, and neither does this CD.



This is an awful marriage of musical styles which doesn't fit and doesn't translate very well to the year 2006. It sounds dated, because it is; It sounds forced, because I'm sure Ms. Phillips abhored Disco; and I just can't get into a Disco album by Creed Taylor.



If you can hold your nose and ears long enough to sift through some of the musical breaks, the solos are terrific, with Joe Beck wailing on guitar, backed up by the Brecker Brothers and David Sanborn. The standard, What a Difference a Day Makes have never sounded better in the musical breaks, but the tempo is unfamiliar and will puzzle jazz purists.



If you like Esther Phillips, pick another CD.



If you like Disco, try the Bee Gees.



If you want funky up tempo musicianship by these same musicians, try any one of the Brecker Brother Albums, or better yet "Beck" with David Sanborn and Joe Beck, a terrific CD.



But I would pass on this Disco Jazz Standard experiment."