The Queen in Waiting: The Columbia Years 1960-1965

by Aretha Franklin

Overview

Franklin's Columbia years are hard to summarize in compilations, even fairly extensive ones such as this two-CD set, which includes six previously unreleased tracks and one previously unavailable alternate take among its 40 songs. In part that's because she explored several different styles during this era without really finding a home in any of them, in part that's because the quality of the recordings themselves were so erratic, and in part it's because Sony keeps putting out compilations that duplicate each other to a fair extent. About half the songs on this anthology, for instance, also appear on the most comprehensive previous Franklin/Columbia retrospective, Jazz to Soul. On its own merits, this is a fair summation of some of her more notable Columbia recordings, slightly more pop-oriented in its track selection than Jazz to Soul, and at least including something new in the handful of unissued numbers. David Ritz's informative liner notes make a case for viewing the Columbia years as ones with numerous artistic successes. But the fact remains that the mixture of lush pop, Billie Holiday-style jazz-blues, Dinah Washington/Nancy Wilson-style jazz-pop crossover, early Dionne Warwick-style light soul-pop ("Cry Like a Baby" is actually a quite good cut of that sort), and hints of gospel is unfocused, if often promising. And it's not nearly as good or expressive as the soul she'd delve into at Atlantic after leaving Columbia. Her accompanists sometimes deserve their share of blame as well; the drums of "Nobody Knows the Way I Feel This Morning" almost totally lose the rhythm at one point, and the harmonica player on "Evil Gal Blues" sounds like she or he had just been dragged in off the street. There's not much soul music here, in the accepted stylistic sense, other than the two best tracks, "Soulville" and "Lee Cross," which are the ones that point most convincingly to her future triumph as the Queen of Soul. The previously unreleased items (all on disc one) are as variable as the rest of the set, ranging from the satisfyingly bluesy cover of Ray Charles' "Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I)" (with some fine Franklin piano) and the respectable jazz/R&B/gospel of "Please Answer Me" to trifling Bobby Scott-produced orchestrated pop ballads and an unremarkable alternate take of "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home." ~ Richie Unterberger

Product Details

Release Date:	05/05/2023
Label:	Music On Vinyl
UPC:	8719262020801
Rank:	60176

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Aretha Franklin   Primary Artist,Piano,Vocals
Ray Bryant   Guest Artist,Piano
Ted Harris   Piano
Bill Lee   Bass
Kenny Burrell   Guitar
Ellis Larkins   Piano
Ernie Hayes   Organ,Piano
Robert Mersey   Conductor
Osie Johnson   Drums
Milt Hinton   Bass
Al Sears   Sax (Tenor)
George Duvivier   Bass
Buddy Lucas   Sax (Tenor)
Teddy Charles   Vibraphone
Paul Griffin   Organ
Ernie Royal   Trumpet
Tyree Glenn   Trombone
Gary Chester   Drums
Bob Asher   Trombone
Chauncey Westbrook   Guitar
Bobby Scott   Conductor
Hindai Butts   Drums

Technical Credits

Seth Foster   Digital Editing
Frank Loesser   Composer
John Kander   Composer
Ted White   Composer
Pearl Delaney   Composer
Steven Berkowitz   A&R
Ray Charles   Composer
Bob Johnston   Producer
Bernie Wayne   Composer
Billie Holiday   Composer
John Hammond, Sr.   Producer
Fred Ebb   Composer
Arthur Herzog, Jr.   Composer
Clyde Otis   Composer,Producer
Jo Trent   Composer
Frank Laico   Engineer
Ben Raleigh   Composer
Fred Plaut   Engineer
Charlie Foxx   Composer
Doris Tauber   Composer
Don Raye   Composer
Leonard Feather   Composer
John Jackson   Project Director
Joshie Armstead   Composer
Huey P. Meaux   Composer
Joy Byers   Composer
Johnny Mercer   Composer
Leo Sacks   Mixing,Compilation Producer
Valerie Simpson   Composer
Dinah Washington   Composer
Lil Armstrong   Composer
Joseph Scott   Composer
Hughie Cannon   Composer
Robert Mersey   Arranger,Producer
Jimmy Campbell   Composer
Jule Styne   Composer
James Van Heusen   Composer
Mark Wilder   Mixing,Mastering
Richard Ahlert   Composer
Richard M. Jones   Composer
Billy Strayhorn   Composer
Reginald Connelly   Composer
Nikki Giovanni   Poetry
Morris Levy   Composer
Tom Delaney   Composer
Arthur Resnick   Composer
Burt Bacharach   Composer
Harry Richman   Composer
James Cleveland   Composer
Harry Woods   Composer
Willie Dennson   Composer
Hoagy Carmichael   Composer
Darren Salmieri   A&R
Stan Weiss   Engineer
Stanley Adams   Composer
Bob Merrill   Composer
Hal David   Composer
Inez Foxx   Composer
J. Leslie McFarland   Arranger,Composer
Curley Hamner   Composer
Luther Dixon   Composer
David Ritz   Essay
Maria Mendez Grever   Composer
Lionel Hampton   Composer
Peter DeRose   Composer
Kay Rogers   Composer
Nickolas Ashford   Composer
Aretha Franklin   Composer
Titus Turner   Composer
Winston Rodney   Composer
Henry Glover   Composer
Sammy Cahn   Composer
Curtis Lewis   Arranger,Composer
Howard Fritzson   Art Direction
B.J. Scott   Composer
Willie Denson   Composer
L.C. Cook   Composer
Micaela Boland   Design
Bobby Scott   Arranger,Producer
Warren Vincent   Engineer
Stanley Tonkel   Engineer
Hank Parker   Cover Photo,Photography
Vernon Smith   Photography
Don Hunstein   Photography
Barbara Lynn Ozen   Composer