Jazz
Sarah Vaughan
Hal Mooney Arranger, Conductor
James Decker French Horn
Milt Bernhart Trombone
Joe Howard Trombone
Ronnie Lang Alto Saxophone
Ted Nash Tenor Saxophone
Champ Webb Woodwinds
Israel Baker Violin
Benny Gill Violin
Paul Robyn Viola
Edgar Lustgarden Cello
Katherine Julyie Harp
George Greeley Piano
Barney Kessel Guitar
Larry Breen Bass
Louis Singer Drums
Bob Shad Producer
These performances-- all but four done in five days, October 29-November 2, 1956 under the leadership of Hal Mooney-- are a near-ideal testing ground for any notions of who Vaughan was and what she was about. And whatever one thinks of the arrangements, for the most part, they are exquisitely played-- which is no mystery given that the string ensemble included on at least a dozed tracks is the members of the Hollywood String Quartet, one of the greatest American string quartets.
There are four performances here that are jazz-vocal masterpieces-- Little Girl Blue, Bewitched, Dancing in the Dark, and It Never Entered My Mind, where the ascending stepwise phrase that goes with the words "and now I even have to scratch my back myself" is transformed by Vaughan into the musical equivalent of an Art Nouveau staircase. Every one of these performances is a ballad taken at a slowish tempo with touches of rubato or out-of-tempo phrasing from both Vaughan and the orchestra-- yet each is marked by a sense of swing on Vaughan's part that is quite overwhelming. Indeed, she swings harder and more freely here than she does on all but one of the medium- to up-tempo tracks, where she is accompanied by brass and reeds or brass and reeds plus strings big bands.
session
Original recordings produced by Bob Shad. Reissue supervised by Michael Lang. |
