Sarah Vaughan - The Ultimate Sarah Vaughan [1997]
Review by Nikica Gilic
Although giving too much emphasis on various big-bands combinations (she made such beautiful music with smaller groups), this CD gives a good intro to the magic of Sarah Vaughan, the first singer that crops to my mind when I think which modern singer could compare to Billie Holiday…
Although Sarah didn’t stick just to jazz in her performances, even when there is more than a hint of hit parade ambitions in her recordings, she still had more rhythm, melody and substance (in her sound) than all the Diana Kralls and Norah Joness of the world can muster when put together to sing in the jazziest manner available to them.
My personal favorites on this CD are, of course, “Shulie-a-bop” (with John Malachi, Roy…Haynes and “Crazy Joe Benjamin”) and brilliant “No Count Blues”, where she and Basie’s New Testament big band bring out the best of each other… At this song even us amateurs can hear why the players considered her one of the boys (musically and in other respects).
Additionally, since Dee Dee Bridgewater is such a fine and versatile singer, it is interesting to see what songs she picked from Vaughan’s repertoire (could she stray much outside the Verve-PolyGram owned records?)
Full Album Tracks Listing
[MP3 Direct Download]
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1. The Sweetest Sounds
2. Misty
3. Shulie A Bop
4. Summertime
5. Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars
6. I’ll Be Seeing You
7. Just One Of Those Things
8. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
9. Broken Hearted Melody
10. Poor Butterfly
11. Doodlin’
12. Detour Ahead
13. Little Girl Blue
14. Dreamsville
15. My Man’s Gone Now
16. No Count Blues
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