Listeners looking for an overview of
Little Esther's Federal period will find it on the 2005 Collectibles release
Best of Little Esther. But for a slightly more in-depth look there are two separate compilations on Classics R&B, 2003's
1951-1952 and 2005's
1952-1953. Both find
Esther in her jump blues/slow-burn belter phase, before she changed her name to
Esther Phillips and explored genres like country-blues and soul. Though neither collection includes her earlier work for Savoy (for whom she recorded some hit singles), stuff like the
Johnny Otis collaborations "Crying Blues" and "Hold Me" (both on
1951) or
1952's barreling "Hollerin' and Screamin'" and "Saturday Night Daddy" and the duet with
Little Willie, "Turn the Lamps Down Low," show
Esther in fun, fiery form.