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Music CD - Sarah Vaughan and Clifford Brown: Sarah Vaughan W/ Clifford Brown
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Music CD: Sarah Vaughan W/ Clifford Brown
Artist: Sarah Vaughan and Clifford Brown
List Price: $18.98
Our Price: $12.19
Your Save: $ 6.79 ( 36% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Tracks:
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1. Lullaby Of Birdland (Composite Master Take)
2. April In Paris
3. He's My Guy
4. Jim
5. You're Not The Kind
6. Embraceable You
7. I'm Glad There Is You
8. September Song
9. It's Crazy
10. Lullaby Of Birdland (Partial Alternative Take)
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0731454330527
Format: Extra tracks
Label: Polygram Records
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Polygram Records
Release Date: 2000-02-29
Studio: Polygram Records
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Sassy and Brownie - what more can you ask for?
Comment: What do you get when you team one of the most beautiful voices in the history of Jazz music (or any musical genre for that matter) with perhaps the greatest trumpet player in Jazz history - pure magic! I can throw out all the cliche's and hyperbole in the world trying sway the rest of you out there who don't own this yet to purchase it immediately. However, what am I going to say that will trump all of the critics (both pros and Amazon ams alike) who give this recording five stars w/out hesitating a second after they listen to it the first time?
When my first child was born just recently, I choose three CD's out of my collection of over a thousand to take with me to the hospital and this was one of the three. Believe it or not, everytime our baby boy has a crying fit, this is the only CD that will consistently get him to stop. So obviously it has a huge place in my heart.
I would give this two extra stars if I could.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Timeless Lullaby
Comment: Listening to this collaboration between Sarah Vaughan and Clifford Brown (among others) today makes you feel as if time stood still since it was originally recorded in 1954. Vaughan's voice is as crisp now as it will ever be and brings you a sense of what a truly timeless performance is and what art is all about. Packing classic after classic, you hear her perform jazz standards like it is the first time you've heard the songs, such as the case of "Lullaby of Birdland". Her wide ranging voice will simply never die and will continue to save a place for her in music history as one of the best singers ever.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Vaughan and Brown "speak" the same language on this CD.
Comment: This 2003 release of Vaughan's December, 1954, album (previously released in 1991 as "Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown") is one of her most brilliant collaborations and a fine memorial to the work of Brown, who died eighteen months after recording this, at age twenty-six. With Brown on trumpet, Paul Quinichette on tenor sax, Jimmy Jones on piano, Roy Haynes on drums, and Herbie Mann on jazz flute, the album is a sophisticated partnership among musicians, all of whom are thinking of the whole sound and the whole effect, rather than their own star turns. The mood varies from light to poignantly tender, the tempo is usually slow, and the volume is kept low, highlighting the creativity of each performer's variations while remaining true to the songs and their meanings.
"Lullaby of Birdland" is lightly swingy in Vaughan's hands, with minimal accompaniment and a restrained mood. Vaughan's voice ranges widely, with a lovely contrast between her lowest range and the flute of Mann, as Brown plays a muted trumpet and remains in the background. "April in Paris" is sweetly tender, with Vaughan hesitating as she asks "What have you done to my heart," her accompanists keeping their solos soft. Both "Embraceable You" and "September Song," slow-tempo songs long associated with Vaughan, allow for much improvisation and highlight Vaughan's enormous range while allowing Brown to soar. The "partial alternative take" of "Lullaby of Birdland" features Vaughan's best scat.
"Jim" and "I'm Glad There Is You" are personal favorites. "Jim," a narrative revealing the intimacy of a relationship in which the woman declares she will continue to love a man who will leave her, begins with a duet, Brown's trumpet so close to the timbre of Vaughan's voice that it sounds like another voice, while his later solo, louder than usual, conveys the passion of the song. "I'm Glad There is You" also features a perfect melding of voice and trumpet as Vaughan hits some of her highest notes in one of the most beautiful combinations of voice and trumpet ever.
Vaughan's range, her emotional feel for the music and sensitivity to her fellow musicians, her clarity of voice, her ability to control tempo (delaying her entrance on some phrases, repeating some lyrics as an echo and then "catching up"), and her recognition that one does not have to shriek to improvise or convey meaning are all highlights of this CD. This elegant album is marked by the restraint of the musicians, all of whom are wildly creative while respecting each other and their songs. Mary Whipple
Customer Rating:
Summary: It doesn't take much
Comment: I'm a man of few words, but many CDs. This is in my top 20 secure CD case. All the tracks are excellent, but, September Song is my favorite. GET IT!
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the All-Time Greats from One of the All-Time Greats
Comment: In June of 2004, Frank-John Hadley of "Down Beat" Magazine interviewed 73 of the top jazz singers in the world for the consensus 30 best vocal jazz albums of all time. This wasn't one of them (although Ms. Vaughan's "How Long Has This Been Going on", on Pablo from 1978, was #10).
I listen to this,and I ask why not? How could this miscarriage of justice by omission happen?
Many say that Sarah Vaughan was the greatest pure singer of all jazz singers, past or present (And I mean that literally; not the greatest jazz singer,necessarily, but the greatest pure singer who sings or sang jazz). I wouldn't dispute it; and I'd hold this c.d. up as a good example of that proposition. Never was there a jazz singer who sang more consistently beautifully than Sassy; and never was there a jazz singer who had a wider range of beautiful tones in her or his singing voice. Whether in her chest or head voice, she just sounded gorgeous. And this c.d., recorded in 1954, captured her in her prime.
As I listen and re-listen to this, I wonder why the world's finest don't have this on the same level as John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, or Sinatra's "Sings for Only the Lonely", or Carmen's "Sings Songs of Billie Holiday." Here are two possibilities:
1) The version of this c.d. I have is not this one, but one released on Comet Records entitled "September Song." The sound is subpar. The piano sounds tinny; and in this day of sound engineering, there's no excuse for that. Perhaps the world's finest were listening to the wrong reissue of the album.
2) Sarah Vaughan and Clifford Brown are about two levels above the other 5-6 musicians on this date. It's not that they are subpar, by any means; but listen to Clifford's solos on "Jim" or "April in Paris", for example, compared with the others; he just takes over the bandstand. He has a fatness and a richness of sound that is matched on this date only by Ms. Vaughan. In contrast, for example, on the Coltrane-Hartman date, Tyner, Garrison and Jones were every bit the equal of the two principals.
Well, whatever the reason, I respectfully disagree. This is one of the all-time greats from one of the all-time greats, and ought to be in the top 10. RC
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Editorial Reviews:
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Like a gifted actress, Sarah Vaughan always makes lyrics come alive, whether on poignant ballads or buoyant pop novelties. Vaughan "plays" her voice as if it is a "real" instrument, and on this 1955 marvel, she is matched with musicians of an equally high caliber. On "Lullaby of Birdland," she trades harmonically advanced scat lines with Herbie Mann, Paul Quinichette, and Clifford Brown. Vaughan is hauntingly romantic and Brown is at his most lyrical on "September Song." She shows her unbelievable bop-influenced creativity on "You're Not the Kind"; Brown's hard-swinging solo and Quinichette's Lester Young-styled softness set up an incredible ending cascade from Vaughan. Pianist Jimmy Jones's beautiful chords on the infectious "He's My Guy" show why he was one of the most sought-after vocal accompanists, while Vaughan's phrasing, deliberately behind the time, adds perfectly to the relaxed feel. "April in Paris" reveals her operatic quality as Brown's tingling riffs fill in the space behind her. Throughout, Sassy combines exquisite elegance, impressive range, and an effortless delivery. --Marc Greilsamer
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