🎷 AotW: Kudu Esther Phillips: Black-Eyed Blues (Kudu Records KU-14)

Esther Phillips: Black-Eyed Blues

Kudu Records KU-14
Released 1973

• A1: Justified /5:38
• A2: I've Only Known A Stranger /3:30
• A3: I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good /6:40
• B1: Black-Eyed Blues /6:00
• B2: Too Many Roads /4:35
• B3: You Could Have Had Me, Baby /7:30

Alto Saxophone – Jerry Dodgion, Pee Wee Ellis (tracks: B1)
Arranged By [Strings] – Bob James
Arranged By, Conductor [Conducted By] – Pee Wee Ellis
Backing Vocals [Vocal Background] – Carl Carldwell, Joshie Armstead, Lani Groves, Tasha Thomas
Baritone Saxophone – Pepper Adams
Bass – Boz* (tracks: A1, A2, B1 to B3), Ron Carter (tracks: A3)
Cello – Alan Shulman, Anthony Sophos
Design [Album Design By] – Sibbie McDonough
Drums – Ian Wallace
Engineer – Rudy Van Gelder
Guitar – Charlie Brown
Lacquer Cut By – Van Gelder
Lead Vocals - Esther Phillips
Percussion – Arthur Jenkins (tracks: A1, B1)
Photography By [Album Photographs By] – Alen MacWeeney
Piano – Tim Hinkley
Producer [Produced By] – Creed Taylor
Trumpet – Jon Faddis, Marvin Stamm
Viola – Alfred Brown, Emanuel Vardi
Violin – David Nadien, Emanuel Green, Gene Orloff, Harold Kohon, Harry Lookofsky, Irving Spice, Joe Malin, Max Ellen

Recorded at Van Gelder Studios, July, 1973


Amazon product ASIN B00IOYA9O6

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[Rudy]

Listening to this album again this evening, this might be my favorite of Esther's seven Kudu albums so far. Rather than go for a soul/jazz-lite approach, this one has a more bluesy, rootsy backing that better fits her voice. She still has an unusual singing style (I find her similar to Della Reese, but with more of a soul/gospel influence), but the music backing her is perhaps the missing piece of the puzzle that the previous albums missed, and I find that this backing works well with both the uptempo and downtempo tracks. She also seems less inhibited on this album as well. "Justified," "I've Only Known a Stranger" and the title track are highlights here. On "You Could Have Had Me, Baby," it's all blues, and it works well.