Even a diehard R&B connoisseur could be forgiven for not recognizing the name of Jeanette Jones.  She only had one solo single to her name: 1969's "The Thought of You" b/w "Darling I'm Standing by You," released on the small Golden Soul label out of San Francisco.  But in the 21st century, the musical archaeologists at Ace Records began issuing lost masters from this lost singer, building up a small but powerfully vivid catalog from the mystery-shrouded vocalist.  Now, in association with Ace, the new Playback Records label has collected Jones' complete output, including never-before-reissued tracks recorded with her gospel group The Voices of Victory Choir, on Dreams All Come True, a new CD collection.  As her path crossed with such venerable names as Mike Bloomfield, Gerry Goffin, and H.B. Barnum, her musical story is a most fascinating one.

Bay Area music historian Alec Palao's detailed liner notes reveal that the big-voiced Jones was first discovered by Golden State Recorders' Leo Kulka when she was fronting The Voices of Victory.  The group had brought their latest recordings on tape to his facility's custom record press for him to manufacture (110 copies made) but upon hearing them, Kulka immediately wanted to know more about the woman who sang the lead on five of the eight selections.  Dreams presents the opportunity to hear exactly what Kulka heard, as the Jones-led sides from that Voices of Victory private-press album are here.  Even on these traditional spirituals and hymns, Jones' voice can't help but be distinctively full-throated.

Kulka attempted to sign Jones as a secular singer, but she initially resisted.  Once she had taken on Jay Barrett as her manager, however, she had a change of heart.  Barrett considered himself a songwriter, and in his client, he had the perfect interpreter.  His songs like "Jealous Moon" and this collection's title track, the throwback ballad "Dreams All Come True," were largely unexceptional, but Jones' spirited, electric performances were anything but.  Barrett had Jones signed to Kulka, and no expense was spared on her early sessions; the songs have full, sympathetic band arrangements and background singers including Ramona King.  Still, there were no takers for the recordings.

Next, Kulka purchased some backing tracks from Los Angeles for Jones to overdub.  Palao notes that some of these tracks were intended for the Uni act The Blues Scene.  Regardless of their origins, though, the tracks fit Jones like a glove.  Ben Raleigh's "Break Someone Else's Heart" got a fine reading from Jones, and she took to heart the lyrical advice of "Cut Loose" on the brassy Sam Russell song as arranged by H.B. Barnum.  "I Want Action," went the title of one slinky, commanding track.  Chart action would have been appropriate.  Yet once again, the songs sat on the shelf.  Then, in 1969, R&B singer-songwriter Wally Cox (not the bespectacled Hollywood Squares panelist!) took an interest in Jones, which led to one of her released sides and still more in the can.  Cox's funky, breakneck R&B workout "I'm Glad I Got Over You" - sung with all the power Jones could muster - didn't see release, but "The Thought of You" did, on Leo Kulka's own small Golden Soul label.  Kulka released the smoky, string-laden uptown soul ballad on a single with Barrett and Carol Ann Alexander's gospel-inspired "Darling I'm Standing by You" in the hopes that a major label would pick it up, but alas, the 45 languished in the Bay Area.  (The liner notes confirm that the breathy spoken-word introduction, however, wasn't by Jones but rather by Pat Hardy.)

Another might-have-been happened when Cadet's Kent imprint picked up the Golden Soul single in 1971, but the reissue was too little, too late, and Kent expended little energy in promoting it.  In the meantime, though, Jones had done some secret recording for The Mill Valley Bunch - an impromptu group led by Bay Area resident, Bob Dylan pal, and blues guitar hero Michael Bloomfield.   The guitarist and his bandmate Nick Gravenites often recorded at Golden State, and would jam on favorite songs during a session's downtime.  Leo Kulka proposed that these informal recordings form the basis of an album, which was pseudonymously credited to The Mill Valley Bunch.  Bloomfield, Gravenites, and Jefferson Airplane's Spencer Dryden backed Jeanette on Bloomfield's own slice of smoldering, Stax-inspired southern soul, "What Would I Do Without My Baby."  It gained a U.S. release on Verve in 1973, though this alternate mix didn't appear until 1996.  It's joined by Bloomfield's fun, lightweight and loose "Ooh Ooh Ooh La La La," presented here in a previously unreleased mix.

The final tracks on this collection come from the pen of composer Barry Goldberg and lyricist Gerry Goffin.  The collaborators enlisted Jones to sing a couple of demos in 1974.  The rocking "You'd Be Good for Me" and the wistful ballad "What Have You Got to Gain by Losing Me," both full band performances of release quality, prove that Jeanette's deep soul had lost none of its fire.  Unfortunately, those demos remain the last known recordings of Jeanette Jones.

Playback's new anthology, attractively designed by Robert Penney and sublimely remastered by Nick Robbins, is one-stop shopping to discover the Jeanette Jones story.  This collection can be viewed as the singer's greatest hits in an alternate reality where, in fact, Dreams All Come True.  Here, Jones' dreams of musical fame might not have been attained, yet her music still resonates all of these decades later - a happy ending, indeed.

Jeanette Jones, Dreams All Come True (Playback PBCD-007, 2017) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

1. I Want Action
2. Cut Loose
3. You'd Be Good for Me
4. I'm Glad I Got Over You
5. Jealous Moon
6. Break Someone Else's Heart
7. Quittin' the Blues
8. Dreams All Come True
9. I Want You Mine
10. What Have You Got to Gain by Losing Me
11. The Thought of You
12. Darling I'm Standing by You

The Mill Valley Bunch (Tracks 13-14)

13. What Would I Do Without My Baby
14. Ooh Ooh Ooh, La La La

The Voices of Victory Choir (Tracks 15-20)

15. He'll Understand
16. Lord I'll Go
17. There is No Failure in God
18. Lord I'll Cry Out
19. There Is a Fountain
20. Why

Track 1 rec. 1968, first issued on Kent CDKEND 430, 2015
Tracks 2, 5 & 8 rec. 1968, first issued on Kent CDKEND 179, 2000
Track 3 rec. 1974, first issued on BGP CDBGPD 183, 2007
Track 4 rec. 1969, first issued on BGP CDBGPD 154, 2003
Track 6 rec. 1968, first issued on Kent CDKEND 432, 2015
Tracks 7 & 9 rec. 1968, first issued on Kent HIQLP 047, 2016
Track 10 rec. 1974, first issued on Kent CDKEND 342, 2010
Tracks 11-12 from Golden Soul single 7690/7691, 1969
Track 13 rec. 1970, this mix first issued on Magical Mystery Disc MMCD 00003, 1996
Track 14 rec. 1970, this mix previously unreleased
Tracks 15-19 rec. 1965, from Golden State LP C 502, 1965
Track 20 rec. 1967, from Golden State single 1210, 1967