Posted on 07/25/2017 8:04:31 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Along with Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan is part of the triumvirate of classic jazz vocalists. Together they laid the foundation of contemporary jazz singing and as such, helped to shape all of popular music.
Holiday has been the subject of several significant biographies, and there is at least one authoritative tome devoted to Fitzgerald, with another long-awaited one soon to follow. But Vaughan has not inspired the same attention, which makes Queen of Bebop, by Elaine M. Hayes, all the more necessary and exciting. This comprehensive examination of Vaughans life and work benefits from Hayess technical knowledge of music and her thorough research on the historical context.
In a sense, though, Queen of Bebop is a misleading title. It limits the scope of Vaughans music and the books actual exploration of her career. Although Vaughan established herself as an innovative bebop vocalist, she spent much of her life trying to break free of the limitations of category. Hayes documents this journey with painstaking detail. Having collected a rich trove of material, she organizes her presentation around the concept of crossover, as a way to honor Vaughans flexibility as a performer and the breadth of her career. Following that crossover journey yields a solid narrative that documents Vaughans struggles, triumphs and unprecedented success as a symphonic diva, singing jazz in venues previously reserved for classical music and opera.
As a Newark choirgirl, Vaughan won the Apollos famed Amateur Night and toured with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Billy Eckstine. After her appearance at New Yorks Town Hall in 1947, critics took notice and identified her as the bearer of something new. Here was a vocalist who, like her instrument-playing
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
She’s my favorite of the three singers mentioned.
Too bad no one mentions Connee Boswell, who was Fitzgerald’s favorite singer.
bttt
Sarah Vaughan has to be (at least) tied for the sexiest voice in the history of lasses that sing.
What a voice. My favorites:
Speak Low
Always
Make yourself Comfortable
Dusty Springfield is right up there with Sarah.
.
Yes...very sultry!
I could never argue against Dusty Springfield...another...at least...tied.
She did an album of Micheal Legrand songs. When I was in high school I took it out of the local library and played it to death.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDhwdM-1h8w
You forgot “Broken hearted melodies.”https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Broken+hearted+melodies&&view=detail&mid=482AB3D18FD8EFECC512482AB3D18FD8EFECC512&FORM=VRDGAR
How could you forget this?
Of course...I was just going off what popped into my head!
And how about Brazilian Romance album? As an elderly woman? Incredible!
Stiff, hard on the ears, not melodic.
Of Interest Ping
Thanks. I have a lot of Sassy’s material in my Gershwin retrospective.
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