Search - Sarah Vaughan :: Finest Hour

Sarah Vaughan recorded for Norman Granz's Mercury label throughout the 1950s and early '60s, performing brilliantly on material that ranged as far afield as her three-octave voice. She was an effective pop singer, handily adding substance to the most casual lyric, and a superb ballad singer, finding emotional and musical nuances that few could match. As a jazz singer, she could improvise with an ebullient inventiveness that was a match for the most gifted instrumentalists. This hour-long introduction to her work touches on many of those bases, from the light pop of "Make Yourself Comfortable" to Billy Strayhorn's world-weary "Lush Life" to the hard-swinging scat of "Shulie a Bop" and "Sassy's Blues." Along the way, she gets to match wits with some great soloists, like Clifford Brown and Cannonball Adderley, while members of her regular trios, like pianist Bob James, drummer Roy Haynes, and bassist Joe Benjamin, offer exemplary support. --Stuart Broomer