30 years ago, Sarah Vaughan left us…

By: Joe Farmer Follow

On April 3, 1990, one of the four large black stars of the 20th century disappeared at the age of 66. Her name was Sarah Vaughan. Like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone, she was a major performer in the African-American repertoire. She grew up in the Baptist churches of her community in Newark (New Jersey) before trying her luck at the Harlem Apollo where she won the jazz song prize in a competition in which her illustrious elder Ella Fitzgerald also participated, 10 years earlier.

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This sign of fate will lift her to the summit of glory. Sarah Vaughan will quickly become the darling of the young instrumentalists of the time, the Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie… In 1944, she was only 20 years old but already shining alongside the great figures of the time, Earl Hines, Billy Eckstine, Teddy Wilson. In the mid-1940s, Sarah Vaughan's career was launched. His youth, his freshness, his pretty face, but above all his voice capsize the hearts of his counterparts jazzmen and, soon, the general public who lets himself be carried away by this crystalline and so romantic tone. By interpreting popular tunes from the great tradition of the American Music Hall, Sarah Vaughan widens her audience and becomes the emblem of silky melodies. On December 16, 1954 in New York, Sarah Vaughan did not know it yet, but she interpreted a composition which would become a classic in the history of jazz. With the trumpeter Clifford Brown orchestra conducted by Ernie Wilkins, she listed Lullaby of Birdland in the repertoire of popular music standards.

Many years have passed since the original recording of this classic of "The Epic of the Black Music" and yet this work has withstood the erosion of time. She even inspired other voices. Thus in 2001, singer Dianne Reeves decided to salute the memory of her godmother at heart through, "The Calling", an album entirely dedicated to Sarah Vaughan.

Dianne Reeves' tribute to Sarah Vaughan in 2001. Blue Note Records

"Devoting an album Sarah Vaughan was very exciting for me because she is the person who opened the way for me in this profession and having the opportunity to pay tribute to her today is essential to me. She was the first to make me want to know more about this music. I was obviously influenced by other great voices that had an impact on my destiny but Sarah Vaughan was the very first and the one who built the foundations of what I am today. She had in her this celebration of different vocal colors, this understanding of vocal art. This is what I first felt in her. She was an exquisite artist who passed from one octave to the other without effort, which appropriated any melody thanks to its voice , while preserving this spontaneity, this risk in the interpretation, this creativity each time on stage. And even if all the great jazz diva s have this ability to improvise, Sarah V aughan was the first who moved me at the very beginning of my career. Her eclecticism, this facility to adapt to all styles of music, while remaining herself, was a real inspiration. She was very attentive to the torments of her time, of what I touched her , and for me, it is a beautiful example of assertion of the personality, to be yourself, without concession, and to know how to move forward with assets there ". (Dianne Reeves - 2001)

In addition to the excellence of her harmonic ornaments, Sarah Vaughan also perfectly mastered the scat, this famous singing technique which, it is said, had been invented in 1926 by Louis Armstrong in the studio, quite accidentally, since he had improvised onomatopoeias during the recording of the title Heebie Jeebies . Sarah Vaughan, like Ella Fitzgerald, became a scat queen even if she hinted that the melodious song and the chosen words were her preference. One of his other heiresses is called Oleta Adams. Although she was long classified in pop singers for having notably shone within the British group Tears for Fears, she claims her gospel past and her taste for jazz. In 1996, she received a tempting offer from drummer and singer Phil Collins. He was looking for a big black voice, in the spirit of Sarah Vaughan, for his big band project.

Sarah Vaughan, New York, in 1980. Brownie Harris / Corbis via Getty Images

"It all happened by chance. Phil Collins was a spectator of my concerts and let me know that he appreciated my music. He actually wanted me to bring to his repertoire the black musicality that I had created with my own trio, in order to inject Soul-Music into their pop universe. It’s difficult to classify myself in a particular genre. I brought spice to his music. It was a very enriching experience. Jazz is music that Phil Collins knows how to stage perfectly. As I love big bands, it was a pleasure to sing in his orchestra. He was so generous with me. It allowed me to extend my vocal qualities. instead of confining myself to gospel, I could taste other musical perfumes. I loved it. As I don't know scatter like Ella Fitzgerald, I see myself more like Sarah Vaughan. closer to Sarah Vaughan's. I'm a fan of this great lady. Ell a and Sarah were queens. Finding myself in front of a big band with such a section of brass was a great pleasure. " (Oleta Adams - 2013)

The last publication dedicated to Sarah Vaughan dates back to 2016. It is a recording made in 1975 during the Laren jazz festival in Holland. If this disc divinely resuscitates the fervor of this immense artist on stage, her admirers prefer to quote the album "Sassy Swings The Tivoli", produced by Quincy Jones and captured in Copenhagen in Denmark in 1963. Dianne Reeves listens to it elsewhere in loop: "I love this record. There is a lot of humor in this recording. There is so much freedom and musical enjoyment. You really feel the pleasure that all these musicians take on stage. You close your eyes and you there you are ! "

30 years after her disappearance, Sarah Vaughan remains a reference for many of her followers or disciples. Time definitely has no hold on the emotion of a voice…

Some essential Sarah Vaughan albums. (Columbia / Roulette / Emarcy Records) (Columbia / Roulette / Emarcy Records)

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