Sassy: The Life Of Sarah Vaughan [Paperback]

Leslie Gourse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 22, 1994

Sarah Vaughan possessed the most spectacular voice in jazz history. In Sassy, Leslie Gourse, the acclaimed biographer of Nat King Cole and Joe Williams, defines and celebrates Vaughan’s vital musical legacy and offers a detailed portrait of the woman as well as the singer. Revealed here is ”The Divine One” as only her closest friends and musical associates knew her. By her early twenties Sarah Vaughan was singining with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Billy Eckstine, helping them invent bebop. For forty-five years thereafter, she reigned supreme in both pop and jazz, with several million-selling hits (among them ”Broken Hearted Melody,” ”Make Yourself Comfortable,” and ”Misty”).But life offstage was never smooth for Sarah Vaughan. Her voluptuous voice was matched by her exuberant appetite for excess: three failed marriages, financial difficulties through many changes in management, late-night jam sessions, liquor, and cocaine. In Sassy, though, we also see the feisty and unpretentious woman who worked hard all her life to support her parents and adopted daughter, and who came to savor the hard-won independence and worldwide acclaim she achieved as the greatest jazz singer of her generation.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a teenager Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990) sang in the churches and nightclubs of Newark, N.J. At 19, she was signed by Earl "Fatha" Hines to sing with his band, amazing such performers as Billy Ekstine and Carmen McCrae with her easy mastery of complex vocalizations. "I drink booze, I smoke cigarettes, I stay high, I stay up all night, I hang out," Vaughan once explained smartly. Music critic Gourse ( Unforgettable: The Life and Mystique of Nat King Cole ) offers no greater insight into Sassy's singular talent, but nonetheless provides an amicable, informative and fact-filled first biography of this unparalleled performer. Gourse relies on interviews with family and associates, newspaper and magazine articles and even album notes to describe her subject's 40-year career, from her discovery at Harlem's Apollo Theatre through her managers, lovers and husbands, her travels, recording sessions and critics' comments. A comprehensive (although not complete) discography is included. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Sarah "Sassy" Vaughan, famous for her rich, versatile voice and her interpretations of "Misty," "Send in the Clowns," and the Gershwin songbook, won Emmy and Grammy Awards and, before her death in 1990, rivaled Ella Fitzgerald. Stitching together newspaper reviews and interviews with Vaughan's peers, Gourse traces her career, from her start with Earl Hines's and Billy Eckstine's bands, through her European tours, to her entertainment of presidents. Gourse contrasts Vaughan's brilliant career with her series of rough marriages. Because she relies heavily on other writers' reviews, Gourse seems distanced from her subject and doesn't offer much original analysis of Vaughan's place in music. Sassy is the first book-length biography of this important jazz figure. Others, perhaps better, may follow. For large jazz collections.
- Paul Baker, CUNA Inc., Madison, Wis.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (August 22, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306805782
• ISBN-13: 978-0306805783
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,242,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Adequate, September 29, 2003

By 

D. Davis (Southern CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sassy: The Life Of Sarah Vaughan (Paperback)

While Gourse's biography of the Divine One traverses Vaughan's life decade by decade, it does so in a very cursory way, so if you know anything at all of Vaughan's life, you've probably already been exposed to most of the contents of this biography. While this book is decent in its cursory examination of Vaughan's life and her wonderful contributions to American and world music, one doesn't go away from this book feeling he or she has encountered Vaughan on an intimate level...the Devil's in the details, but it seems as though many of the details that would have allowed for an ampler and fuller study of Vaughan on a quotidian level were not provided. There are some interesting photographs of Vaughan, her family, her friends, her coterie of fans and colleagues, included in this biography, but those pictures should have been in bold, beautiful color, full pages, allowing the reader to see the vagaries of Vaughan in all her glamour, sophistication, and wit. One will learn more from listening to Vaughan's vast recording history. Still, this book will be of interest to Sass's devoted fans.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Kim Lehmann, September 12, 2003

By 

Kim Germaine Judd (Geneva Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sassy: The Life Of Sarah Vaughan (Paperback)

I just finished reading this book. I've been a Sarah Vaughan fan for many years and I've even met her briefly once at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. As this is the only biography of her, I suppose that I can't really trash it because I'm so grateful somebody wrote one. Nonetheless, it doesn't have nearly enough detail for me, and it gives very little insight into how she developed such incredible vocal talents and why she didn't become more famous as she deserved to be. It's an interesting read, however, for any Sarah Vaughan fan, who, like me, is hungry for information about her. Because she gave so few interviews, I guess it's difficult to really get into her head and this book doesn't do a particularly good job at helping the reader to really understand or know Sarah Vaughan. The chapter covering her illness is sparse at best, and as an African American singer, I would like to know more of how it was for a young Black woman to make her way to the top of her field in such a competitive and male dominated environment. The book touches on these issues sporadically, but certainly doesn't attempt to analyze it or answer any questions the reader may have about it. After reading this book, I have a bit more knowledge about Sarah Vaughan, but I must say that she remains an enigma. Perhaps that's not the fault of the writer, but maybe some people just can't be known. Sarah Vaughan was known to detest interviews and was apparently very private and shy. Perhaps she will always be an enigma. Her singing talent certainly was. I can only hope that more and better biographies are on the way.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Terribly written, August 23, 2009

By 

N. Lucero "El Chilango" (Mexico City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sassy: The Life Of Sarah Vaughan (Paperback)

The only good thing I can say about this horribly written book is that the author's love of her subject comes through.
If only she could write! It sounds like an 8th graders school report. I don't understand how she continues to be published - she's been gracing bookstore shelves with her inept writings for years now...her subjects deserve better.

Buy Sarah's records and let the music speak for itself.