My road dawg, Tony, and I were doing our basic trot around Lake Merritt a couple of months back, dishing Lady Soul and her tired, coy, air-brushed "autobiography"," and T-Dogg brought up Aretha's work for Columbia. I said I had heard it once or twice, saw her on Merv Griffin a few times in those days, but he began raving about "Today I Sing the Blues," "This Bitter Earth" and "Skylark." He was so enthusiastic and convincing, that when I ran into this 2 disc box set with 39 choice cuts from those pre-Atlantic years at Amoeba in Berkeley, I bit. What I found in the clumsy ol-skool box set packaging is a treasure trove of simply magnificent recordings, ranging from standards ("Drinking Again," "Impossible," "Misty") to r&b hits of the day covered by Miss Ree ("Walk On By," a sad, sad "Every Little Bit Hurts") and her own decent r&b chart hits ("Runnin' Out of Fools," "Cry Like A Baby"). A couple of these, "Lee Cross" and "Take It Like You Give It," are just footsteps away from the breakthrough work she did shortly thereafter on Atlantic, which has overshadowed these incredible sides. "Land of Dreams" is simply beautiful, "Won't Be Long" tears the roof off, "Love for Sale" re-defines that classic riff. Boy, am I glad I listened to Tony!

Aretha Franklin has always been a Powerhouse of a singer. She's even been called a genious. Although her greatest acclaim came after several (mainly hitless) years at Columbia Records, her evolution there is finally being recognized. The two CD set "Jazz To Soul" is an excellent and worthy showcase of her early work at the label. Aretha swings, bops, pleads, testifies, and exclaims for her place in the historical arena of great voices that will not be denied what's rightfully theirs. Critics have long dimissed a lot her early work as "bloated" productions, but this two CD set easily dilutes those assessments. While it's difficult for me to recommend any one song, I must make special note of "Impossible". Here's a young, unfettered Aretha, yielding a soulful, tender testimonial of love. The notes across the front cover of Aretha's first Columbia Lp exclaimed that "She doesn't knock at the door, she breaks it down!" Just one listen to this fine set and my feeling is that door is forever unhinged.

Althought official story said that Aretha Franklin suddenly blossomed when she left "Columbia",I love her early recordings.The voice was always there,piano playing was always there,its just influence of her then-husband-manager that drowns down a bit the whole picture,as he clearly had ambition to make his wife a night club ballad singer.For that reason I usualy skip the first CD on this collection,which is overproduced and Aretha doesn't sound comfortable on standards,but I prefer second CD which shows her rhytm & blues potential.It shows that her work for "Atlantic" was just a natural progression,there would never be "Respect" if she did not already have "Wont Be Long" or "Soulville" or "Lee Cross".

In 1961 (Oh by the way I love the cover photo of a very beautiful young Aretha) In 1961 before the constant array of hits started to flow at Atlantic records Aretha had a top R&B hit on the national charts. It's one of those classic pieces of soul music- In fact it's one of the best soul ballads of the early 60's. The long forgotten "Operation Heartbreak". This is the only cd available that contains this classic featuring a youthful sounding Aretha. Al Issacs in the early to mid 90's in Birmingham,Alabama on WATV used to play this classic on his Saturday blues show. Some had heard it for the first time but the response to the song was always phenomenal. I now feature this classic on my Dr.Blues and Boogie show that I'm trying diligently to get syndicated.

I always listen to disc 1 of this compilation of jazz and blues by the Queen of Soul whenever I,m winding down from a long hard day. It helps me to relax, and Aretha delivers a great soulful sound. Her strong gospel background is evident in her style of singing.