– Sarah Vaughan – live at Zardi’s, Hollywood – May 21, 1956 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
The legendary Sarah Vaughan this weekend. Recorded live for the All-Star Parade Of Bands radio program at Zardi’s in Hollywood on May 21, 1956.
With her trio, featuring Jimmy Jones on piano, Joe Benjamin on bass and Roy Haynes on drums, they turn in a great set of performances and a lot of Sarah Vaughan signature standards.
And for those of you who don’t know where Zardi’s Jazzland was, it was located on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine and was one of the Hollywood hotspots for Jazz during the 1950s. It was a hotbed of Jazz activity, and in 1956 became the site of a weekly TV series Tonight At Zardi’s. Sadly, the club closed in 1957.
This particular performance marked Sarah Vaughan’s first appearance at the club, which would see several return engagements over the coming years.
And for those of you not familiar with the recorded legacy of Sarah Vaughan, please do yourselves a favor and check out any of the many albums she recorded over the years. A consummate artist and one of the iconic figures in Jazz of the 20th Century, Sarah Vaughan and her distinctive and highly personal approach to music hasn’t been surpassed over the years. Her purity of tone, her soaring range and her gift of phrasing have made her one of the most recognizable and widely respected artists in music history. They didn’t call her The Divine One for nothing. And even some 34 years after her death, her recordings are still milestones and are, for the most part, still in print. Music critic Scott Yanow one referred to her as “one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century” – about a minute in, you’ll hear why.
Turn it up, relax and enjoy Sunday.
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Sarah Vaughan opened at Zardi’s Jazzland on March 22, 1956. Ms. Vaughan and her trio shared the billing with the Pete Jolly Trio. Her engagement ran for two weeks. This broadcast was probably taped during that engagement.
Zardi’s Jazzland was located at 6315 Hollywood Boulevard (at Vine). I would include a jpeg of the newspaper ad, but it appears this format does not allow such insertions.
Later that month, April 27, she appeared at the Shrine Auditorium as part of Irving Granz’s “Jazz a la Carte” concert.
Since all these broadcasts were “transcribed”, they were run a few weeks or a few months after the event. The discs refer to Sardi’s, but I suspect that’s because these are via New York, and the engineers may have confused Zardi’s with Sardi’s. Thanks for the heads up on that.