The Divine Sarah Vaughan: The Columbia Years 1949-1953

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These two CDs are not Sarah Vaughan's complete Columbia recordings from 1949 to 1953, when she recorded 60 songs for the label. Rather, this is a genuine "best of" from the label. Weaker pop material is gone, and what remains is largely superior renderings of ballads with Vaughan's rich voice tastefully enhanced by good orchestration. There's a particularly successful session from 1949 with a big band that includes her pianist, Jimmy Jones, and trumpeters Billy Butterfield and Taft Jordan offering dynamic backing on "Summertime" and three other songs. Generally, the material is best when it appeals to Vaughan's strong jazz instincts, including "Black Coffee," "Just Friends," and "Perdido." When strings begin to predominate in the later selections, arranged by Percy Faith, Vaughan still sounds good, but her spark of spontaneity is lost. Divided between the two CDs are eight tunes recorded on May 18-19, 1950, with small jazz groups. They're simply extraordinary, with "Ain't Misbehavin'" among the finest vocal jazz tracks ever recorded, showing how truly majestic Vaughan's talent was. Her voice is allowed to move at faster than ballad speed and the rhythm sections give her room to soar. Mundell Lowe's guitar seems to caress Vaughan's voice, and there are inspired solos and counter lines by Miles Davis, clarinetist Tony Scott, and tenor saxophonist Budd Johnson. --Stuart Broomer, ISBN13: B0000026IS ISBN10: B0000026IS Material Type: audioCD