SARAH VAUGHAN – 1949-1950 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1166 (2001) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This fourth installment in the Classics Sarah Vaughan chronology demonstrates her extraordinary versatility during the first stages of a fully blossoming artistic maturity. Four exquisite sides with the Joe Lipman Orchestra are followed by an MGM session in duet with crooner Billy Eckstine, backed by Lipman's Orchestra and strings. Given the fact that it was Eckstine who gave Vaughan her first break in showbiz, the pairing has a special charm. Aside from this MGM deviation, Vaughan was a Columbia recording artist during this time period. By far the best jazz on this disc was recorded on May 18 and 19, 1950, with accompaniment by pianist Jimmy Jones and his band. The front line of Miles Davis, Benny Golson, Budd Johnson, and Tony Scott, backed by the rhythm section of Jones, bassist Billy Taylor, J.C. Heard, and either Mundell Lowe or Freddie Green, matches the vocalist's every nuance to perfection. The combination of Miles Davis and Sarah Vaughan is a marvel not to be missed. There is some confusion between discographies regarding various brassy big band sides, as some tracks are credited both to the Norman Leyden Orchestra (with Bud Powell at the piano!) and to Mitch Miller & His Orchestra. Miller, of course, was no stranger to modern jazz, having also participated in some of Charlie Parker's With Strings sessions. Whoever actually headed the band, Sarah Vaughan's "Perdido" is delightful and invigorating. This interesting disc closes with a wild surprise in the form of "De Gas Pipe She's Leakin' Joe," a campy calypso spoof on the topic of suicide, so atypical of Sarah Vaughan that it could easily fool almost anyone in a blindfold test. The word again is "versatility." arwulf arwulf  
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