Sarah Vaughan - Ultimate

Ultimate

By   Sarah Vaughan

Very Good Condition

Sarah Vaughan was for me, as a high schooler, the beginning and the end of jazz singing. And it was her "Live at Mr. Kelly's" album that alerted me to her command as a vocalist who went beyond "scat" to re-creating melodies, extemporaneous yet whole, usually beginning with the 2nd chorus, when she improvised like an great jazz instrumentalist.

"Ultimate Sarah," selected by Dee Dee Bridgewater, is a representative sampler of the popular and jazz Sarah pre-1970s, and it shows her equally inventive work in either idiom. But it tends to emphasize the excess vibrato that I've discovered "turns off" some of today's listeners. It was actually one of many devices that she used, one that I scarcelessly notice on the "Mr. Kelly's" album and one she would de-emphasize and drop in her recordings during the '70s and '80s (a period not covered in this anthology). I think her early vibrato is traceable to several influences, including: 1. a need to differentiate herself from "First Lady of Song" Ella Fitzgerald;; and 2. her association with "B" (Miles Davis' affectionate designation for bandleader Billy Eckstine), who had one of the biggest vibratos of any pop singer.

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