South Carolina's Eskew Reeder Jr. was a young pianist who taught Little Richard to play the piano. (Little Richard says as much in a brief interview snippet at the end of this album.) Little Richard, however, got a head start and began his recording career before Esquerita cut the songs that appear here. Vintage Voola features seven demos cut in 1958 in Dallas, plus an early single with Paul Peek ("Sweet Skinny Jenny" and "The Rock-A-Round"), a late-'60s recording of "Dew Drop Inn," and that brief Little Richard interview. These early recordings show the fierce, piano-based rock 'n' roll that Little Richard quickly studied. The vocal style here is more restrained, but the overall sound is still plenty aggressive, with glorious reverbs and slapback echoes working their magic, along with live-in-the-studio excitement that can't be faked.