Sarah Vaughan for a sultry Sunday – three dates from her 1952 stints at Birdland in New York – first one is from March 22nd – second one is from August 23rd and the last one is from September 5th. She’s joined by various players, including “Wild Bill” Davis on March 22nd and these all come from local broadcasts.
The bottom line is 45 minutes of Sarah Vaughan during some of her defining moments as one of the America’s truly great vocalists of the 20th century.
And even with a quarter of the way into the 21st century, we still haven’t found her equal. An elegant voice with the most spellbinding phrasing and the purest of all possible tone doesn’t just happen all the time.
Listening to Sarah Vaughan now is not so much an excursion into the past as an example of what a gifted vocalist sounds like. I don’t think she can be duplicated, nor should she – she’s just laid the groundwork for making a song your own by diving into it and making the notes be about something. It’s what inspiration sounds like. And Sarah Vaughan was an inspiration.
This whole thing about one artist being “better” than another artist is pretty hollow stuff when it comes down to interpretation and investing ones soul into a piece of Music. An interpretation of a standard becomes different when sung by other people, but they are all unique – they all have stamps of individuality – the big difference is how the hairs on the back of your neck react. That’s the Tell.
If you aren’t already familiar with the sound of Sarah Vaughan or if diving into a broadcast some 70+ years old is off-putting (to some, it is . . . can’t tell you why), set all the pre-conceived notions aside and step into something that can take you someplace.
Sound is not the best in the world but it’s the voice that’s the whole deal.
Dive in.
