Customer Reviews

Divine Sarah Vaughan: Columbia Years 1949-1953

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This is one of the "must haves" of the musical world! Sarah will woo you and make you want to get up and dance, all in this collection! Her enchanting voice has lingered in my mind for ages.

In my humble opinion, Ms. Vaughan's years with Columbia produced some of her best works. It is good fortune that this re-recorded album contains MUCH MORE than the original album, "After Hours", which is where I first heard these tunes. I own that album and it is totally worn out so you can imagine how thrilled I was to be able to get this new one. Don't miss an opportunity to purchase this album!

Simply put, this 2-CD Sarah Vaughan anthology is as close to heaven as you'll ever get without dying first. There are three reigning jazz divas; Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan - Sassy Sarah was easily the most accomplished.

Holiday provides the archetype, both through her tragic life and musical legacy, the velvet tone and idiosyncratic phrasing are unmistakable. Amazingly, Holiday made history with just a one-octave range.

For a big girl, Fitzgerald had a very thin and limited voice, however, she compensated with an effervescent personality, irresistible charm, and off-the-hook scat singing.

Only Vaughan possessed true vocal virtuosity, floating effortlessly from soprano all the way to baritone, teasing the notes to the point of delirium with her gorgeous vibrato.

Like so many others, including James Brown, Sarah Vaughan broke into show business by winning the Amateur Contest at Harlem's Apollo Theatre. Only 18 at the time, 1942, within a year she was performing along side Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker - an auspicious beginning to a career spanning decades, almost to her death in 1990.

The quality of her material varied through the years, at times she drifted away from jazz into mundane pop fare featuring arrangements of questionable propriety - but the sheer elegance and beauty of her voice, phrasing, and emotion remained constant. "The Divine One" earned her nickname.

This anthology finds Vaughan at the height of her powers and contains many of the standards associated with her. Far too many standouts to mention, although Black Coffee is unforgettable as are Mean To Me, Come Rain Or Come Shine, and Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year. Everyone can use a little Divine inspiration.

Sarah Vaughan possesed one of the greatest voice of all time, and she was the best jazz singer of the 40s'-50's period, her vocie was rich, creamy, velvety and endlessly elegant, and stylishly devine. This cd will make you a fan, and than you can graduate to her Verve recordings, but start here, and work your way up.

I have a number of Sarah Vaughan recordings and I enjoy this one the most. Youthful in voice, not too much orchestration, hits lots of highs in the songs included here. Love it.

SARAH VAUGHAN, WHAT A GREAT VOICE! THESE RECORDINGS WERE MADE BETWEEN 1949-53 ON COLUMBIA RECORD LABEL, AND INCLUDE A LOT OF LUSH ORCHESTRATIONS TO BACK UP HER EXTROADINARY VOICE. LOTS OF STANDARDS AND BALLADS HERE. TOTALLY ENJOYABLE FROM START TO FINISH, A TRUE GEM FOR ANYBODY WHO APPRECAITES GREAT SINGING.