Track: September in the Rain//Willow Weep for Me//Just One of Those Things//Be Anything But Darling Be Mine//Thou Swell//Stairway to the Stars//Honeysuckle Rose//Just A Gigolo//How High Is The Moon?//Dream//I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself A Letter//It's Got to Be Love//Alone//If This Isn't Love//Embraceable You//Lucky In Love//Dancing in the Dark//Poor Butterfly//Sometimes I'm Happy//I Cover the Waterfront
Ah! These things move in packs. Now we have another stripped-back set by an excellent interpreter of songs, albeit this time in the jazz and pop vein rather than country and blues. And damned if it isn’t good – this might well be the item for which the phrase “understated charm” was coined. See also: "deceptive simplicity"; "unselfconscious grace".
Sarah Vaughan’s voice is certainly gorgeous. She navigates the rhythms of her small backing band perfectly, and dips up and down her register with complete fluidity. There’s very much a sense here of the voice as instrument, with the lyrics a vehicle for the singer as opposed to being the point of the song. I’m sure the lyricists who authored Vaughan’s selections would appreciate your paying some attention to what’s being said, but I find with this album that I’m far less interested in the “what” than the “how”. Vaughan’s got phrasing that’d put a sax to shame, and she takes advantage of the fact that she’s mostly singing languorous torch songs to stretch out and let her voice go places. Not that she ever has any Mariah Carey moments, mind. You can hear Vaughan putting care and thought into each little twist of her voice, rather than indulging in spontaneous masturbation. It’s kind of an interesting contrast to Ella Fitzgerald’s album which is coming up tomorrow, where Ella has obviously tried to clearly and cleanly interpret the songs of Gershwin and has completely sapped them of individual personality in the process (although it’s still a good album).
And speak of the Devil (or the first lady of song, at least) – there’s actually a tribute to Ella on this album. You see, it’s a live recording, made at the Mr. Kelly’s night club of all places, and as a consequence there are quite a few muddles and missed notes. In “How High the Moon”, for example, Vaughan forgets the word halfway through and starts doing comical scatting a la Ella to fill out the time. And then you’ve got “Willow Weep for Me”, where she ends-up with a few bars to spare and starts cracking jokes. And then you have all the little bits of inter-song banter, none of it as fancy as the stuff on the Jack Elliot album, but still very charming nonetheless. Flirting with the audience and such. The thing that’s most fascinating is hearing the contrast between her singing voice, with it’s considerable range, and her small and squeaky speaking voice.
So, this is a very nice album. Maybe not a great album, I suppose, but a lovely antidote to all the over-orchestrated nonsense that we’ve been having lately. And then, what is a "Great Album" anyway? This makes me smile, damn it! It's pretty! And such a wonderful late night album! The tracks may blend into each other a bit at times, and sometimes the lyrics get lost behind the performances, but isn’t that at least sort of what you want from a late night album? I’ve listened to this half a dozen times, and never any earlier than ten o’clock at night. It’s an anodyne to worn nerves and a pick-me-up for the downtrodden. It’s, at base, just a woman with a pretty voice singing some silly love songs, but it’s also a really pretty voice. Hell it might even be the prettiest voice! It’s damn near perfect! You get the swinging tunes and the torchy tunes and it's all so happy and smooth.
So! This is a very charming, joyful album, and one that I am very happy to welcome into my library. It’s simple and simply wonderful, with every song a delicate little machine running its course into the next and so on till the end. Nothing much to say about it, nothing much to criticise. A blissful album! Sustenance for the soul. It makes you happy to be alive, I argue.
8.5/10
Download: Sarah Vaughan - Thou Swell Mp3
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