Aretha

This essential LP release contains Franklin’s magnificent debut album for Columbia, Aretha (1961), featuring a series of All Star groups conducted by pianist Ray Bryant. Producer John Hammond followed the formula he once prescribed for his “discovery” Billie Holiday: standards and blues with a jazz rhythm section plus horns and “head charts.” Per Hammond, there was “an almost complete absence of arrangements” for the LP. Ironically, there was no Ray Bryant Combo; as Bryant once declared that his “combo” was invented for the album. Featuring a virtual who’s who of fabulous musicians from the East Coast jazz scene, including Tyree Glenn, Osie Johnson, Milt Hinton, Al Sears and Ray Bryant himself, among others.