Jump To It

Personnel: Aretha Franklin (vocals); Doc Powell, Steve Love (guitar); George Young (soprano saxophone); George Duke (piano); Marcus Miller (keyboards, synthesizer, bass); Luther Vandross (keyboards, background vocals); Sonny Burke, Nat Adderley, Jr. (keyboards); Francisco Centeno, Louis Johnson (bass); Buddy Williams, Yogi Horton (drums); Crusher Bennett (percussion, congas); Paulinho Da Costa (percussion); Cissy Houston, Tawatha Agee, Norma Jean Wright, Phillip Ballou, Brenda Corbett, Brenda White, Michelle Cobbs, The Four Tops, Stephanie Spruill, Darlene Love, Paulette McWilliams, Erma Franklin, Pam Vincent, Sandra Dance, Alexander Brown, Fonzi Thornton (background vocals).
Producers: Luther Vandross, Aretha Franklin.
Reissue producer: Nedra Olds-Neal.
Engineers: Michael Brauer, Carl Beatty, Lee Keifer.
Audio Mixer: Michael Brauer.
Liner Note Author: J. Matthew Cobb.
Recording information: Mediasound Studios, New York, NY; Record Plant, Los Angeles, CA; Soundsuite, Detroit, MI; Village Recorders, Los Angeles, CA.
Photographer: Harry Langdon.
Of the many vocalists influenced by Aretha Franklin, none are as fervent in their admiration of her as Luther Vandross. So it's no wonder that his production on Franklin's 1982 release JUMP TO IT brought out the best in Lady Soul at a time when contemporary R&B was shaking off the doldrums of disco burnout. The Vandross/Marcus Miller-penned title track was Franklin's first Top 40 hit in the '80s and returned her to the singles charts after a six-year absence. Loading up on lush songs such as "If She Don't Want Your Lovin," "This Is For Real" and Smokey Robinson's "Just My Daydream" in particular, Vandross gave the soul legend material that ably displayed the impressive range of her fabled pipes.
George Duke's piano contributions on the silky-smooth "(It's Just) Your Love" and the union of Franklin and the Four Tops on "I Wanna Make It Up To You" predate the light jazz/urban R&B sound ushered into the '90s by Vanessa Williams and Toni Braxton. Like Williams who covered the Isley Brother's "Work To Do" on 1991's THE COMFORT ZONE, Franklin turns in an equally funky reading of the Isley's "It's Your Thing" that bubbles over with popping bass and biting string arrangements.