Aretha Franklin - Jump To It (1982) - €10,00

Jump to It is the twenty-eighth studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin, produced by Luther Vandross and released in July 26, 1982.
Aretha Franklin scored some hits with this early- '80s album and managed to make concessions to urban contemporary tastes without totally distorting her classic soul sound. While it's certainly not in the class of past recordings, the title cut gave Franklin her first number one of the '80s, and "Love Me Right" was a decent follow-up.
In 1982 Davis approached the then-upcoming Luther Vandross to produce Franklin’s next album. Whilst promoting his debut album Never Too Much, Vandross was quoted in Rolling Stone magazine as wanting to produce Franklin.
Davis had read the article and made Luther an offer.  It was an inspired choice: Vandross, a longtime backing singer for the likes of Chic, Bette Midler and Roberta Flack, was finally finding fame with the release of his debut solo album along with his appearance with the studio group Change on their debut singles ‘The Glow of Love’ and ‘Searching’.
Luther had successfully navigated soul in the post-disco area, and initiated the adult contemporary genre in black music with his super-romantic ballads, in particular his version of ‘A House is not a Home‘, arguably his first real masterpiece.
Vandross’s new found fames and infectious soul grooves made him perhaps the perfect choice to revive the career of the Queen of Soul.
He was a fan of the great female voices in soul, growing up adoring the vocals of Patti LaBelle (he was rumoured to have started her first ever fan club), Dionne Warwick (he once lied about being related to her at college), and Aretha herself.
Vandross began work on the album with bassist Marcus Miller, an equally talented musician and songwriter who would go on to become one of the most respected musicians in jazz and soul. Yet things didn’t get off to a glowing start.
In an interview with David Ritz, who ghost-wrote Aretha’s autobiography, then his own, more revealing biography of the singer, Aretha had called Luther to discuss working together. Luther excitedly grabbed the phone, answering simply “Aretha?” to which the Queen of Soul replied cooly, “Yes, this is Miss Franklin, is this Mr Vandross?”
Eventually, the two got into the studio together, but it wasn’t an easy relationship. Aretha, the Queen of Soul, seemed to resent the approach Luther had in the studio, particularly for telling her how and when to sing. In an interview with David Ritz, quoted in his excellent biography on Franklin, Luther remembered that “There were quite a few disagreements. Aretha doesn’t like her vocals criticised – and understandably. Hey, she’s Aretha Franklin”.
The Queen of Soul was also unsure of the title track at first, claiming that the the introduction was too long and listeners would switch off before they heard her sing. Luther claimed otherwise, claiming the listener would wait, being hooked on the infectious groove he and Miller had devised. In the same interview with David Ritz, Luther said:

“I wanted to establish the groove with a long instrumental intro. Aretha didn’t think the listener would wait that long to hear her voice. I assured her that the listener would be hooked on the groove and would be delighted to wait. She wanted to come in sooner. I said no. “Who’s the one with the most hits here?” she asked. Of course the answer was her. I just had one; she had dozens. “But who’s the one with the latest hit?” I asked. She didn’t answer. She stormed out.”

Eventually Aretha returned to the studio, and the Jump To It album, as well as a friendship between Luther and Aretha (forged partially on their love of junk food) was born.
The title track was a smash: it reached number one on the billboard Hot Soul Singles chart for a month, and helped reinvigorate her career. In an interview quoted by Vandross biographer Craig Seymour, Aretha, no doubt with the benefit of hindsight, claimed that the title song “had all the sugar and spice I required… The groove was extra mellow and the message right on time.”


Side A
A1.  Jump To It  - 6:40 
A2.  Love Me Right  - 4:10 
A3.  If She Don’t Want Your Lovin’  - 5:36 
A4.  This Is For Real  - 4:45 

Side B
B1.  (It’s Just) Your Love  - 4:10 
B2.  I Wanna Make It Up To You  - 6:00 
B3.  It’s Your Thing  - 4:10 
B4.  Just My Daydream  - 5:55


Notes 
Release:  1982
Format:  LP
Genre:  Soul
Label:  Arista Records
Catalog#  204742

Vinyl:  Good
Cover:  Good

Prijs: €10,00