Sarah Vaughn – The Divine One (2010)
Masters of American Music series
Studio: EuroArts 2057128 [Distrib. by Naxos]
Video: 4:3 B&W and Color
Audio: English PCM mono
All-region code
Length: 56 minutes
Rating: ****1/2
(featuring interviews with Billy Eckstine, Roy Haynes, Joe Williams, Marty Paich, George Gaffney, and many others
Sarah Vaughn’s role in American music is unprecedented. From her humble beginning in a Newark church, and a subsequent appearance at an amateur show at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre, she would experience a meteoric rise to prominence as the greatest jazz singer of her era. Possessing a natural contralto voice, and a staggering three-octave range, Vaughn would collaborate with legends such as Earl Hines, Charlie Parker, Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, utilizing her voice as a legitimate musical instrument. She would become a phenomenal solo artist, recording for over five decades, performing with symphonies, as well as combos, showcasing her “concert operatic” interpretation of jazz adaptation.
The Masters of American Music DVD captures the career of this enigmatic diva with great insight and unflinching narrative . Relying on interviews with other jazz artists and family members, the viewer is able to understand the duality of this insecure, but fearless performer. Musicians were in awe of her talent, as well as her ability to improvise with her voice, using it like a horn. She was regarded as an artistic equal, not a “band singer”. There are some amusing anecdotes, including a Dick Cavett interview about using profanity, and a comment that “I start out looking like Lena Horne, and end up looking like Sarah Vaughn”.
The performance footage is revelatory. The filmed concert segments capture the pure physicality of her singing. Every gesture and movement demonstrates her ferocity and complete dedication to her art. On the Johnny Mandel ballad, “The Shadow of Your Smile”, Vaughn is able to severely slow down the tempo and improvise at will. On Stephen Sondheim’s “Send In The Clowns”, she amazingly deepens her voice into a soft, rumbling vibrato. Widely recognized for her bluesy renditions of the Errol Garner opus, “Misty”, Sarah or “Sass” as she was known to her friends, delivers in a big way, with a forceful and creative vocal that includes a segue into The Nat Cole hit, “Tenderly”.
The mono sound is clear and suits the music, while the narrative content is concise and evolves in a linear way. You get a sense of the changes to this artist’s life, whether it’s the 40s or the 70s.
— Robbie Gerson
