 ESTHER
PHILIPS with Beck: FOR ALL WE KNOW
For
all we know, it is impossible to talk about For All We know (originally
released in 1976 as KU-28) without talking about the unforgettable What
A Diff’rence a Day Makes (KU-23), the album that transformed
Esther Phillips (at least for one year) into a disco-music diva.
Conceived by Tony Sarafino, the unofficial A&R man at CTI/Kudu for
disco-oriented projects, What A Diff’rence A Day Makes became
a milestone on Esther’s career as her biggest hit and best-selling
album ever. Recorded in April 1975, released as a single three months
later, its title track (curiously,
the big hit of Dinah Washington, Esther’s main idol and influence)
exploded in the New York dancefloor scene, and soon it swept Europe.
Besides
Tony Sarafino, the other musical hero in that project was Joe Beck,
then recently signed for the Kudu label as a solo artist. All in the
music circles became very surprised to know that the great guitarist
had done the arrangements not only for the basic tracks, but for the
string section as well! Basically because nobody had ever heard
Joe Beck
arranging for strings, not even on his solo album Beck (KICJ
8359), which included string arrangements by Don Sebesky. Anyway, the
pairing of Esther Phillips and Joe Beck
succeeded
in all aspects, leading producer Creed Taylor to do a kind of volume
2, quickly booking dates at Van Gelder’s studio in October 1975.
Most
of the musicians featured on What A Diff’rence A Day Makes
(Don Grolnick, Will Lee, Chris Parker, Steve Khan, Ralph MacDonald,
Barry Rogers and The Brecker Brothers) were once again hired for its
follow-up album, For All We Know, with some other studio kings
(like Andy Newmark and Ronnie Cuber) also invited to the sessions. Not
to mention two other great percussionists: Latin legend and Fania
recording artist Nicky Marrero, and the underrated George Devens, a
classically-trained percussion master who was a former member of
George Shearing’s quintet. Plus: seasoned studio vocalists Patti
Austin and Tasha Thomas got the hard task to write the vocal
arrangements.
In
November, Esther Phillips completed the vocal parts. In December, Joe
Beck added the string section. The following month, the first promo
copies were mailed to club and radio DJs, who enjoyed the new album
almost as much as they have loved the previous one. However, in spite
of all the promotional efforts by the CTI team, For All We Know
did not yield any huge hit a la What A Diff’rence A Day Makes,
although two tracks (shortened versions of Fever and For All We Know),
released on the KU-929 single, received heavy airplay.
Maybe
that was the first mistake. According to Joe Beck, “Creed should
have selected Unforgettable as the first single, because it was the
most commercial track, as well as a potential disco-hit which I had
prepared the same way I had done with What A Diff’rence A Day
Makes”, remembers the guitarist, whose name was discretely featured
in the album cover.
While,
on What A Diff’rence A Day Makes, Esther had been reluctant
to record most of the tracks selected by Tony Sarafino, during the
pre-production work for the new album she was so happy that she wanted
to select some of the songs. Three of them (Unforgettable, For All We
Know, Fools Rush In) previously recorded by Nat King Cole. Two of them
(Unforgettable and For All We Know) also covered by Dinah Washington.
Actually,
Irving Gordon’s Unforgettable, introduced by Nat King Cole in 1951,
was recorded by Dinah Washington as the title track of her 1959 album
for the Mercury label. Later on, in 1964, it also became the title of
an Aretha Franklin session in tribute to Dinah, released by Columbia.
And most recently, Natalie Cole sold over six million copies of her
7-time Grammy Award winner Unforgettable album for Elektra in
1991. Listening to Esther Phillips’ crepitant and very sexy version,
with the singer sighing of desire behind Michael Brecker’s sax, it
is difficult to understand why it was not chosen as the album title
neither as its first single.
Fred
Coots/Sam Lewis’ For All We Know, another song picked by Esther
herself, had been covered by both Dinah Washington (on Drinking
Again, in 1962) and Billie Holiday (on Lady In Satin, in
1958), after Nat King Cole’s 1943 version. Another Nat smash hit,
covered by everyone, from Glenn Miller to Frank Sinatra to Elvis
Presley, Johnny Mercer’s sublime Fools Rush In, also receives a
discofied arrangement that sounds better than anything ever recorded
by Donna Summer or Gloria Gaynor. The keyboardist is LA-based Bobby
Lyle, fresh from his stint with Sly & The Family Stone.
Next,
Esther displays her r&b roots on a stunning rendition of Pure
Natural Love, penned by the beautiful and very talented
singer/songwriter Jackie DeShannon. On the acoustic piano, Don
Grolnick plunges into Eddie Cooley’s Fever, a big hit for Peggy Lee
in the Fifties, revived by Madonna on her x-rated Erotica album
from 1992. Curiously, besides Esther Phillips’ intoxicating version,
the most successful recording of this song, in the dancefloor scene,
was done by Brazilian singer/actress Norma Bengell back in 1959, being
recently rediscovered by European DJs. Then comes Duke Ellington’s
classic Caravan, in a funky groove, with a baritone sax obbligato by
Ronnie Cuber.
But
nothing compares to the Latin-tinged arrangement Joe Beck prepared for
Teddy Randazzo’s Going Out Of My Head, turned into a hit by Little
Anthony & The Imperials in 1965. That same year, Creed Taylor
convinced Wes Montgomery to cut this song, used as the title track for
his best-selling Verve album which won a Grammy the following year for
Best Instrumental Jazz Performance. This is really a perfect track,
with an intoxicating groove, a subtle Don Grolnick solo on electric
piano, a fantastic interaction between George Devens on congas and
Nicky Marrero on timbales, plus a superb backing vocal arrangement by
future CTI star Patti Austin.
After
For All We Know, Esther, who had already recorded five albums
for Kudu (From A Whisper To A Scream, Alone Again Naturally,
Black-Eyed Blues, Performance, and What A
Diff’rence A Day Makes), still cut another album for the label, Capricorn
Princess, in 1976, with David Matthews replacing Joe Beck as
arranger. She can also be heard on two moving performances (Cherry Red
and God Bless The Child) from the CTI Summer Jazz Live At The
Hollywood Bowl concert, recorded in 1972 but only issued in 1977.
And one exciting album recorded live on July 1975, at NY’s Bottom
Line, remains unreleased in the CTI archives.
Then,
after leaving Kudu, Esther released four albums on Mercury, the same
label for which her idol Dinah Washington had recorded her most
memorable albums. Her final session, titled A Way To Say Goodbye,
for the small Muse label, came out in 1984. Esther Phillips, born
Esther Mae Jones on December 23, 1925, passed away on August 7, 1984,
of liver and kidney failure. This digitally remastered of For All
We Know is a good way to celebrate her immortal talent.
Arnaldo
DeSouteiro
May 29, 2001
Mr.
DeSouteiro is Brazil’s top jazz producer and CTI historian
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