After Hours with

Description

Re-mastering by: Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London

Sarah Vaughan signed for Columbia in 1949 & her chart successes continued with the charting of Black Coffee in the summer of 1949. During her tenure at Columbia through 1953, Vaughan was steered almost exclusively to commercial pop ballads, a number of which had chart success.

No matter what shes singing you cant help but notice her amazing control and range. Shes able to float effortlessly from the lowest end of the scale to the highest without effort. Her singing is as much second nature as breathing is to most of us.

I dont know if youve ever heard the term phrasing applied to singing, its not something you hear often anymore. To be honest its not something Im sure I can define. The closest I can come to is it refers to a singers ability to associate the lyrics of a song with the music. However, it means more than just being able to carry a tune. Its how you sing the words and music together. Its the ability to turn your voice into a lead instrument in a band and take one word and extend it over a whole series of notes. However it doesnt just mean the ability to sustain a note, its continuing to sing the melody but with only one or a few words without them losing meaning or throwing the continuity of the song out of whack.

Listen to Vaughan wrap her voice around a word and you begin to understand what is meant by the term. You also realize why you dont hear the term used very often anymore as very few modern singers have this ability. To be fair the music of today doesnt really lend itself to that style of singing either. However hearing a singer of the quality of Vaughan you begin to regret its passing. Im sure there are jazz singers around who have the ability, but we dont hear them on a regular basis.

Of course its this ability which allowed her to be equally comfortable with any style of music she wished to sing. On this LP we hear her sail through a series of smoothly orchestrated pop tunes. Even the version of Gershwins Summertime is given the uptempo treatment. This might have been a collection of rather commercial standards, but she gives them a soulfulness that raises them above the level of just another pop song. She might not be as emotionally raw as Billie Holliday, but that doesnt stop her from being able to imbue even the simplest of songs with the heart necessary to make them soar.
By Richard Marcus