Customer Reviews

Live At The 1971 Monterey Jazz Festival

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Part of a new series of releases recorded live at Monterey is this one from Sarah Vaughan recorded in 1971. After 36 years you wonder why it took so long to release this live concert. Introduced by Norman Granz Sassy swings with her trio then is joined by five more top jazz musicians for a jamm session wich runs almost 15 minutes. What I like about this CD is that it just sounds and feels like you are really there. No gimmicks, no augmentations. The producers have given us a present I know I will enjoy for years to come. Sarah collectors will definately want to add this one to the collection because it does offer an experience that none of Sarah Vaughan's other live performances have. Wait until you hear Sassy set up the jam asking Zoot Sims where he was going (he went to get his sax) then she hauls off to an unforgetable scat session.

Even though I caught Sarah live several times in the '70s, I'd trade all those occasions for the opportunity to have been in the audience at Mr. Kelly's in '58 (a sublime live session reissued this year by Verve). The Divine One simply sounded less heavenly to my ears as the sixties drew to a close--she was no less sassy, inventive, and vocally impressive, but in the falsetto soprano register she could sound, well, high. Nevertheless, on this Monterey date she offers plenty of evidence to convince even occasional skeptics like me that, when it came to the art of jazz singing, her only equal, very likely in the history of this American music, was Ella.

In fact, the present recording has much the same appeal as Ella's famous "cutting contest" on the West Coast when she transformed herself into a horn player for "C Jam Blues" and took on in succession Stan Getz, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Sweets Edison, and Roy Eldridge (there may have been a couple of others, though Ella could have held her own against Coltrane on that occasion). On this Monterey date, Sarah shows much the same command, both as the "director" of and participant in an all-star jam on blues changes. And just as Ella's most memorable exchange was with Roy Eldridge, Sarah engages Clark Terry in a musical argument to end all arguments: she answers his trumpet work with her scatting--then goes one better by taking him on in his famous "mumbles" routine, matching him word for word (or in mumbleleez, "sound" for "sound").

There was something shy and even "girlish" about both Ella and Sarah, and one suspects that music was to a considerable extent a form of overcompensation for both of them. As competent, commanding, and confident as both were about their unassailable musicianship, even while watching them perform one could sense their insecurity about acceptance. When the crowd "showed its love," as on this occasion and the previous one with Ella, it was the audience that was overcompensated, because both singers were capable of departing from a program or song list and simply wailing their hearts out. (Would it actually were simple. I know I'll never see the likes of either of these awesomely masterful musicians again in my life-time. I'm not even so sure one can count on two per century.)

It is actually amazing that this good an album never before appeared on the market, particularly when you read that this live performance was recorded at the time Sassy was not publishing all that much, although she was still at the peak of hear considerable vocal powers.

And what a night it might have been! Starting from the very first number, where she apparently receives some flowers (or something of the sort) from a fan and bursts into laughter in the middle of a strong performance, ending with an extravagant jam session, where her main partner is the one and only Clark Terry, who does his mumbling thing in a glorious duet, but the other participants of the session ("A Monterey Jam") contribut quite an impresive bunch of performances.

Incidently, this was recorded in the beginning of the decade in which many jazz singers tended to record (and publiclly perform) a lot of contemporary pop-songs in order to survive in the market; Sassy sings only one Lennon-McCartney song (and survives the experience untainted), while the other songs are quite wordy of her tallent - her scatting, slow romantic vibrato and passionate uptempo - for instance Mercer & Schertzinger's "I remember you", Monk's and Hanighen's "'Round Midnight", Gross and Lawrence's "Tenderly"...

CD-maniacs of recent generation might complain that the actual musical content of this album goes under 40 minutes (a typical vinyl span), but just listen to the quality of Sassy's performance with her trio (Bill Mays-p, Bob Magnusson-b, Jimmy Cobb-dm) and the power of the JATP fashioned "A Monterey Jam"... As Sarah says: "just start playing; I don't know what key - any key"... And the rest is history.

Sassy Sarah Vaughan performed live at the 1971 Monterey Jazz Festival in California. She was simply one of jazz's finest vocalists on par with Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday. She was one of the most beloved figures in the music industry. To listen to Sarah's live recording on this compact disc is truly a treasure.

Most recently, she was nominated for the New Jersey Hall of Fame class in 2009 and I am still befuddled as to why she didn't get it but there is always next year. Sarah's voice is deep and was born to sing. Even 20 years after her death, her voice can still touch us all on her recordings.

Despite her personal health problems, she was a smoker and died of lung disease. You wouldn't know it from listening to her recordings. She was top rate and full of class who never forgot her roots in Newark, New Jersey where it all began. She is truly timeless and should be recognized for her contributions to the music industry. You won't find a bad note about Sarah, the person or the voice.