Sarah Vaughan - Precious & Rare: Sarah Vaughan The Complete 1944-1947 (2011)

There are those in jazz whose talents have been manifold. Art Tatum, for instance, could have undoubtedly have been a fine classical pianist should he have chosen a different path. Likewise the singer born Sarah Lois Vaughan. Her voice was magnificent. Vocally she could have been anything she wanted to be. Her range was such that she could have easily moved into opera. Not that Sarah had any such intentions. Born in 1924, she grew up in Newark, New Jersey, singing and sometimes playing piano with the local New Mount Zion Baptist Church choir. But, while still a teenager, she opted for life in a more secular sphere. Ralph Cooper, MC and producer at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre, recalled Sarah making her first appearance at the venue’s legendary Amateur Night in 1942. “She was so thin and so young…I thought about talking her out of it” he recalled in his memoirs. “But as soon as I heard her sing I knew she was an exceptional talent. I wasn’t the only one impressed by Sarah. Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines, was so amazed when he heard her, it took him three weeks to get his mouth closed.” By April, 1943 she’d become a vocalist with Hines’ stellar big band, partnering Billy Eckstine, who reputedly had tipped Hines off regarding Sarah’s performances at the Apollo after she’d won the Amateur contest with a sensational version of ‘Body And Soul’, and been awarded a week on the regular bill as part of her prize. Hines’ band was, at that point, arguably the most creative aggregation in American music. Sarah found herself amid a set of musicians who were changing the course of jazz, a lineup that included bebop mainmen Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. The latter proved as wonder-struck about Sarah’s singing as Eckstine. “She can sing notes that other people can’t even hear” he enthused. With Hines, Sarah flourished. Billy Eckstine, already a star, taught her microphone techniques, and helped enhance her phrasing and presentation. In 1944, when Eckstine left to form his own big band, Sarah went with him, becoming part of one of jazzdom’s most star-studded line-ups, such musicians as Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, Kenny Durham, Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Leo Parker and Art Blakey all contributing to a sound formulated by such arrangers as trombonist Gerald Valentine and tenor sax man Budd Johnson.

Tracklist:
1 01. Sarah Vaughan - I'll Wait And Pray (02:58)
1 02. Sarah Vaughan - Signing Off (02:43)
1 03. Sarah Vaughan - Interlude (02:33)
1 04. Sarah Vaughan - No Smoke Blues (02:29)
1 05. Sarah Vaughan - East Of The Sun (02:54)
1 06. Sarah Vaughan - Lover Man Oh, Where Can You Be (03:26)
1 07. Sarah Vaughan - What More Can A Woman Do? (03:04)
1 08. Sarah Vaughan - I'd Rather Have A Memory Than A Dream (02:45)
1 09. Sarah Vaughan - Mean To Me (02:38)
1 10. Sarah Vaughan - Time And Again (03:23)
1 11. Sarah Vaughan - I'm Scared (02:37)
1 12. Sarah Vaughan - You Go To My Head (03:04)
1 13. Sarah Vaughan - I Could Make You Love Me (02:47)
1 14. Sarah Vaughan - It Might As Well Be Spring (03:02)
1 15. Sarah Vaughan - All Too Soon (02:57)
1 16. Sarah Vaughan - All Too Soon (02:42)
1 17. Sarah Vaughan - A Hundred Years From Today (02:59)
1 18. Sarah Vaughan - If You Could See Me Now (02:53)
1 19. Sarah Vaughan - I Could Make You Love Me (03:05)
1 20. Sarah Vaughan - You're Not The Kind (02:48)
1 21. Sarah Vaughan - My Kinda Love (02:38)
2 22. Sarah Vaughan - You're Blasé (03:03)
2 23. Sarah Vaughan - I've Got A Crush On You (02:59)
2 24. Sarah Vaughan - I'm Through With Love (02:52)
2 25. Sarah Vaughan - Everything I Have Is Yours (02:53)
2 26. Sarah Vaughan - Body And Soul (02:56)
2 27. Sarah Vaughan - Penthouse Serenade (03:13)
2 28. Sarah Vaughan - Don't Worry 'Bout Me (02:58)
2 29. Sarah Vaughan - Time After Time (03:06)
2 30. Sarah Vaughan - September Song (03:05)
2 31. Sarah Vaughan - I Cover The Waterfront (02:56)
2 32. Sarah Vaughan - I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance With You (02:45)
2 33. Sarah Vaughan - Tenderly (03:04)
2 34. Sarah Vaughan - Don't Blame Me (03:12)
2 35. Sarah Vaughan - The Lord's Prayer (02:55)
2 36. Sarah Vaughan - Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child (02:49)
2 37. Sarah Vaughan - I Can't Get Started (02:31)
2 38. Sarah Vaughan - Trouble Is A Man (02:36)
2 39. Sarah Vaughan - Love Or Leave Me (02:58)
2 40. Sarah Vaughan - Love Or Leave Me (03:02)
2 41. Sarah Vaughan - I Get A Kick Out Of You (02:50)