Album of the Day-May 2
Sarah Vaughan — Jazz Master 18
Sarah Vaughan — Jazz Master 18
2.May.2020
Sarah Vaughan
Jazz Masters 18
1993
Sarah Vaughan is to female vocals what a shapeshifter is to science fiction.
Blessed with a three-octave range, Vaughan could easily slide from jazz to torch to blues to standards to pop and almost anything that might fall in between.
Her career began as if written by a Hollywood screenwriter. Accompanying her friend on piano for amateur night at the Apollo (her friend won second place), she caught the performing bug. She went back as a singer and won…and her first professional gig was opening for none other than Ella Fitzgerald.
That’s not a Christening, that’s a Baptism by fire.
Very quickly she earned the nickname “Sassy” for her sense of humor and mischievous sexiness that often accompanied her singing and stage banter. Equally as fast her vocal prowess was noticed as she played with every bandleader and artist of import of that time.
Sarah Vaughan was such a good singer that she was envied by her fellow New Jersey native, old blue eyes himself, Frank Sinatra who said:
When I listen to her I want to cut my wrists with a dull razor.
And then “The Velvet Fog”, Mel Torme’, who said Vaughan possessed: “…the single best vocal instrument of any singer…”
Sarah Vaughan wasn’t just a master singer using her near-perfect pitch, three-octave range, and brilliant vibrato voice as an instrument; her use of the microphone was just as masterful.
When Sarah Vaughan died in 1990, her New York Times obituary stated that she had maintained her “youthful suppleness and remarkably luscious timbre”. And that unlike many singers who lose their vocal range as they age, Vaughan not only kept hers but many fans and critics felt her voice was close to its peak up until her death.
Singling out any one album of Sarah Vaughan’s to listen to is pointless. Take your pick, they’re all gonna knock your socks off.