This is the first of three volumes that will present her recorded legacy from that first date with Billy Eckstine's band through to her joining her first major label - Columbia - in 1949. Almost all of these recordings are taken from the original 78s. The three volumes encompass 56 recordings.
This is one of my "From the Back Room" posts, featuring recordings that I've been working on for some time, but haven't yet published for one reason or another.
For these items, the transfers, etc., are prepared with the usual care, but my commentary may be less garrulous than usual.
The First Recording
When Billy went out on his own, Sarah joined him. Their only recording session together was in September 1944, where she sang "I'll Wait and Pray," written by Eckstine arranger-trombonist Gerald Valentine. Not a great song, but Sarah must have liked it - she later recorded it for Musicraft.
The Eckstine band - filled with boppers such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker - is raucous on this De Luxe release. Sarah herself is immediately recognizable.
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| Young Billy Eckstine |
With Dizzy Gillespie
Vaughan went out on her own in late 1944, remaining close friends with Eckstine. Her earliest recording date as a solo was with a Gillespie group for the small Continental label. The first number from that session is the contrived "Signing Off," by pianist-promoter Leonard Feather and Jessyca Russell.
Next is the amusing blues "No Smokes," which concerns itself with the cigarette shortage during World War II. There are two versions - one from the 78, and an alternate take from a early LP reissue on Remington.
The final song from this session is the Brooks Bowman standard "East of the Sun."
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| Sarah gets an earful from trumpet immortals Roy Eldridge and Dizzy Gillespie |
For Continental, Sarah and Dizzy covered Peggy Lee's "What More Can a Woman Do," another forgettable Feather-Russell song called "I'd Rather Have a Memory than a Dream," and the standard "Mean to Me."
Stuff Smith, Tony Scott, Dickie Wells, John Kirby
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| Stuff Smith |
Violinist Stuff Smith engaged Vaughan to sing his new composition "Time and Again" with his Trio for the Musicraft label (where she would later record herself). Not a great song, but Sarah handles it confidently.
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| Tony Scott |
Clarinetist Tony Scott brought her in for a date on the Gotham label, where she sang the Duke Ellington standard "All Too Soon," with lyrics by Carl Sigman. Gillespie was on this session as well, identified on the record label as "B. Bopstein."
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| John Kirby, Buster Bailey |
Also with Kirby, Vaughan recorded the Peter DeRose-Bob Russell song "I Can Make You Love Me," which elicits one of her best performances. She must have liked the song; she recorded it again a few months later for Musicraft.
One with Dickie Wells
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| Dicky Wells |
Sarah would soon make several recordings with Dameron for Musicraft; she also would record with the trumpeter on the Dicky Wells session, George Treadwell, whom she would marry later in 1946.
The Musicraft recordings mentioned will be in Vol. 2 of this series. Vaughan would record for that label until she joined Columbia.
Excellent remastering job from you! These transfer sparkle and pop out of my headphone speakers as I am listening to this. These sides are far Jazzier than her later recordings on Mercury or Mainstream, but they are really good. "East of the Sun" did appear on a Masterseal Hi-Fi Sampler from 1957 that I found at a thrift store 40 years later, in 1997. The sound quality on that record was excellent, yet they embellished it with some echo. "I'll Wait and Pray" was sonically kind of rough; that appeared on a Synthetic Plastics Guest Star Billy and Sarah LP that I will have to be looking for. However, my favorites here are "All Too Soon", "Mean to Me" (with both Bird and Diz on the same song!), "Time and Again" (which could have benefitted with a larger orchestra), "Lover Man" and "We're Through", in which the first flashes of Sassys' mature vocal sound come out to play. I was quite impressed at how many misspellings of her name appear on the original 78 labels! There were a handful of tunes that I particularly did not care for or were too Jazzy for my taste; However, this collection gets a solid four-and-a-half star rating out of a possible five from me.
ReplyDeletemusicman - Thanks! This is a good example of why I work from the originals when I can, even though the 78s can be a trial to fix. Sarah was Sarah right from the first note, although she clearly gained skills and confidence as time went by. She doesn't do the things with vibrato here that she would later on with Mercury, etc.
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