During the 33-and-one-third rpm long-playing record era, Columbia Special Products released a number of excellent compilations, usually multi-LP boxed sets. There was, for example, Swing Street, which pulled together performances associated with the sounds of New York City's 52nd Street when it was the center of the jazz universe. Body and Soul covers a wider era: 50 years of female jazz singing, or at least female jazz singing as recorded by Columbia, and the label had a substantial number of these singers under its wing at one time or another. Despite a bit of a stretch in the definition of the term "jazz," with the inclusion of such performers as Ruth Etting, Helen Morgan, Mae West, and even Aretha Franklin, the set gives an excellent overview of the development of popular singing as practiced by women vocalists. The heavy "vaudeville"-type blues represented by Mamie Smith (here with her 1920 hit "Crazy Blues") and Bessie Smith gives way to the lighter-voiced offering of Ethel Waters. Billie Holiday and her disciple Carmen McRae, who is represented by her 1961 rendition of "Yesterdays" with Nat Adderley and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, are here as examples of the soulful approach to the art of vocalizing. The '30s and '40s selections focus on the role female singers played with the big bands. The "cool school" is in attendance with June Christy and Anita O'Day. A gem from the decade of the '50s is Sarah Vaughan's "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)," with Miles Davis and Budd Johnson present. All in all, this three-LP, 30-song set is a comprehensive, well-assembled survey of one of the most important areas of American popular music, the female "jazz" singer. ~ Dave Nathan, All Music Guide