Customer Reviews

Sarah Vaughan With Count Basie & His Orchestra

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Count Basie/Sarah Vaughan features great words and music by Count Basie and His Band along with Sarah Vaughan--and there are even two tracks with Joe Williams helping out, too! The quality of the sound is wonderful on this digitally remastered CD of a 1961 record album; and the artwork is very nicely done as well.

"Perdido" has Sarah Vaughan singing at her very best; her voice is very rich, warm and rather vibrant. Sarah swings brightly to make her performance really great; and she scats as well as the best of them ever could! The band plays this with style; the brass is used very well and the music perfectly complements Sarah's vocals. "Perdido" is quite a strong beginning number for this album; and the jazzy arrangement is grand. "Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be)" is a fantastic track that showcases Sarah Vaughan's incredible strength as a female vocalist. Sarah sings this with lots of passion and you can tell that she has truly delved into "Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be)" to make her rendition of this ballad shine. The brass and piano arrangements are also very good.

"Alone" gets the royal treatment from Sarah who delivers this with panache; I really like "Alone" and Sarah aces this effortlessly. Sarah's excellent diction and her uncanny sense of timing make "Alone" a wonderful number to enjoy. "Mean To Me" places Sarah Vaughan squarely front and center right next to the sublime musical arrangement by Count Basie and His Orchestra. "Mean To Me" is definitely a major highlight of this album; and I think that you'll like it a lot. In addition, "The Gentleman Is A Dope" sparkles when Sarah Vaughan sings this alongside the Count Basie Band. "The Gentleman Is A Dope" really gives us a great sense of just how wonderfully Sarah Vaughan could sing alongside some of the finest musicians of the day--great!

"You Go To My Head" is a classic love song that Sarah and the band members make so very special; Sarah exercises her entire vocal range on this number and this makes the number so full of feeling it's wonderful. That "Count Basie style" enhances "You Go To My Head" even more. "You Turned The Tables On Me" has Sarah swinging gently; and when she goes into the main lyrics of the song this number takes flight! The Count Basie Band uses its incredible sophistication to infuse this number with a somewhat jazzy arrangement that leaves you wanting more.

And there is more! "Teach Me Tonight" has Joe Williams doing a fantastic duet with Sarah Vaughan as the Count Basie Band plays the music to perfection. Joe Williams is in excellent form and he never sings a superfluous note either. Joe also does a duet with Sarah on "If I Were A Bell;" and the album ends so nicely with Sarah Vaughan and The Count Basie Band performing "Until I Met You." "Until I Met You" is quite a love song and this makes the perfect ending for this album.

The only disappointment, as another reviewer correctly notes, is that Count Basie himself only plays on one track, "Mean To Me." I wish he had participated on all the tracks!

Sarah Vaughan, Joe Williams and The Count Basie Band just couldn't be beaten--and this CD proves it. I highly recommend this album.

If you bought this record just to hear "I Cried For You"--especially the note she hits at the end of the first line "..now it's your turn to cry over me"-- you would feel it was worth the price of the disc. Half a dozen other great arrangements make this a standout. If you love Count Basie and The Divine Sarah, you have to own it.

The thing that always seems to get overlooked in any discussion of Basie's music is his extraordinary taste as an accompanyist. What we all recognize as the classic, minimalist "Count Basie style" of piano playing actually evolved from his role as a supporting commentator to his soloists. In "Basie II," where the whole band became an extension of the leader's style, it comes as no surprise that the Basie Band became the premiere big band for accompanying singers. EVERYBODY, from B. B. King to Frank Sinatra, wanted to record with the Basie Band. So, putting Sarah Vaughan out front of the orchestra proves to be a particular stroke of genius.
Sarah was, as everybody knows by now, an "unlimited" vocalist, with complete control over her incredible 3 1/2 octave range. She came up in the same Earl Hines Band that was "the incubator of bebop," producing such talents as Lucky Thompson, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey, to name just a few. Dizzy's famous "A Night In Tunisia" was originally written as a vocal feature for Sarah Vaughan. Her chops on all of these songs combine with a rare gift for getting to the emotional and musical core of things that is simply astounding. Even superficial show-tunes, like "The Gentleman Is a Dope," emerge as major revelations the way she sings them. Meanwhile, the Basie Band supports her with just the right mix of drama and tone color throughout. Basie insists on honest JAZZ performance on every number, so that even the more sentimental numbers emerge as standout vocal stylings. There is none of the pop schmaltz which too often invades Sarah's recordings with others. So, what we get here is perhaps the most unlimited jazz singer ever, doing what only she can do, while the Basie Bands supports her with powerful, punchy, TASTEY charts, executed with the usual phenomenal precision.
Give one listen to "You Turned the Tables on Me" and you'll know why this CD belongs in your collection.

I'm a huge Sarah Vaughan fan (as well as Count Basie), so my rating is in comparison to her other albums. Despite the fact that the album features lush orchestrations, tightly played, one is tempted to call this "Big Bland"--for the most part, the instrumental section plays it fairly safe and conservative.

Some will enjoy the arrangements, and a convincing argument can be made that the soloist is Ms. Vaughan. While "I Cried For You" has a tasty sax break, I wish there were more solos, given the Basie line-up that played on these 1960-1961 recording dates. These include Thad Jones(tr), Joe Newman(tr), Al Grey(tm), Marshall Royal(as), Frank Foster(ts), and Freddie Green(dr).

That said, Sarah Vaughan is the reason to buy the album, and she's reason enough. Her voice is smooth and velvety, the phrasing original, always interesting, and right on target, and she can swing a song, or deliver the full emotion of a ballad (e.g., "YOU GO to my Head"). She has an incredible range, although she seems to play more with the high notes (as opposed to the low) here than on some other albums. Examples include "Mean to ME" and "The Gentleman is a Dope" --the funny "answer" song to "The Lady is a Tramp." There's also fewer operatic pyrotechnics here, the swoops and bends that were occasionally overdone. As such, this might be a good album for people who previously have appreciated her voice, but perhaps not her style.

Other highlights include a playful and dynamic version of the seldom heard "You Turned the Tables on Me," and, especially, the exhilarating duets with Joe Williams on "Teach Me Tonight," and "If I were a Bell" Details: 46:43 minutes, arrangements (except for "Little Man(You've Had a Busy Day)" and "Teach Me Tonight") by Thad Jones. The liner notes are excellent.

It's been a very long time since I've listened to this record.I played it tonight, and Sassy's voice knocked me completely out.Such a sense of swing,such a perfection, this is simply terrific.I revere Billie Holliday maybe more than any other jazz artist,except Lester Young; I treasure Dinah Washington,who's voicing is so far from Billie's; they both are miles and miles away from every other jazz singer. That's why I often listen to them,and that's why I forgot Sarah. Of course,I listen sometimes to her Emarcy's "swinging easy" album,a colossal masterpiece.But I forgot this one. It was a mistake.
Recorded between April and May 1960,this outstanding session offers the opportunity to listen to Sassy backed by Count Basie and his Orchestra; what a jewel-case ! And just look at the tunes: "Lover man","I cried for you","mean to me","tou go to my head": this four tunes were Billie's,and it surely would have been extremely difficult for a singer to try them after the Queen's versions. And Sarah manages to do it and turns them into masterpieces.And there are other masterpieces: Duke Ellington's "Perdido" (in fact,composed by Juan Tizol,one of Duke's trombone players), an amazing version of "Alone",in which Sarah sings with the sexiest voice ever heard; etc, etc.
Basie's band includes Joe Newman,Thad Jones,Snooky Young,tp,Al Grey,Benny Powell,tb,Marshall Royal,Frank Wess,Frank Foster,saxes,Sonny Payne,dms,and the magnificent Freddie Green,guitar.Freddie was the heartbeat of the band for some fifty years.You'll never hear him play a solo,but he's as essential as your daily food.The band couldn't exist without him.He was a fantasctic man,and I had the opportunity of meeting him twice in Paris,France,in the early eighties;Sam Woodyard introduced me to him.I'll still have a marvelous souvenir of these moments.But let's come back to Sassy : she's splendid,marvelous,she's at her peak,this record is a masterpiece. So don't miss it !!!

True giant of jazz singing working with one of the best big bands - this should produce outstanding results, but Basie's band, without Bill at the piano and almost entirely without solo space for the players only occasionally hints at greatness...
This is indeed a Sarah Vaughan album and there are two main reasons why I don't give it 5 stars:

1. The cover misleads the buyers: it promises Basie and Sarah, it delivers Sarah (with "Basie")
2. Sarah shines at many songs IN SPITE, not because the Basie orchestra (whereas Ella really works with the band on the album "On the sunny side of the street", arranged by young Quincey Jones).

And, yes, duets with Joe Williams are very charming, "Perdido" is a riot, "You Turned the tables on me" is also great, but Sarah has done better even without such a great band - with Basie this album should be outofthisworldly.

If you're a Vaughan fan, don't miss it, if you're a Basie fan you don't really need it.

this is a great CD. the only reason it does not get five stars is because while it features a great lineup of the Basie Band, the Count does not actually even play on this album (with the exception of track number six, "Mean To Me", for which he does not even get credited!)! This lineup of the Basie Band is the one from the Roulette Records years in the very early sixties (which includes Frank Wess, Frank Foster, Sonny Payne, Freddie Green, Joe Williams, Thad Jones, Snooky Young, among others). Sarah Vaughan never sounded better. Like Sinatra and Ella, she actually used her voice as a musical instrument. The arrangements are tight and the band swings (as usual). Highly recommended.

Sarah's performance here is among her most original and creative. This was one of the first albums of hers that I owned, and for a long time I didn't really like it because the arrangements and Sarah's melodies take considerable listening to before you hear their genius. But its one that never grows old and continually amazes. Her two duets with Joe Williams feature the both of them at the top of their game. As for the band, I think they and Sarah complement each other perfectly.

Vaughan and Basie are both in absolutely top form on this -- great swinging Basie arrangements, with fabulous vocals by mid-1950s Sarah Vaughan at the top of her game. I have lots of CDs by both artists, and you can't do better than this CD.

Although Count Basie gets top billing, he actually does not appear on this CD!

But, that's OK. His orchestra uses a light touch to support Sarah Vaughan's fine performance. Vaughan sometimes feels a little too mannered when compared with the earthier stylings of Ella Fitzgerald or the fragile quaver of Billie Holiday, but she has a tremendous range and excellent phrasing.