A Women’s History Month Moment: Sarah Vaughan

The magnificently gifted singer Sarah Vaughan, born on March 27, 1924 and raised in the jazz music tradition, sang jazz songs as well as pop and bluesy ones.  However, journalists, the music industry and many of her fans have referred to her strictly as a jazz singer. 

During her long career, Sarah Vaughan performed around the world, including in my native city of Washington, DC.   On the occasion of one of her last performances in the DC area (late May 1989), it was my privilege and pleasure as a writer for Intermission Magazine  to review Sarah Vaughan's performance at Blues Alley in Georgetown.  Vaughan was scheduled to sing a few days later (June 2) at Wolf Trap in nearby Virginia.  She was 65 years-old at the time.  

At Blues Alley, Sarah Vaughan wore a coral organza gown with sequins, and she seemed to float down the club’s staircase and move effortlessly towards the stage.   Her trio (George Gaffney on piano, Bob Mays on bass, and Hal Jones on drums) had been playing a few mellow numbers leading up to her joining them.

 Once she was on stage and seated on a stool, Sarah Vaughan greeted the audience and began singing in her smooth, super controlled voice, moving from soprano to contralto to bass and back as she performed signature songs and ballads for which she was known. 

During most of the hour and a half-long show, the legendary singer remained seated on the stool.  (I learned later she’d been dealing with health issues; so that night she might not have felt well enough to do the entire show standing and moving around on her feet.)

Perched on her stool and looking gracefully out at the audience, Sarah Vaughan sang fan favorites such as "Broken Hearted Melody," and "I’m Through with Love," treating us to her full rich vibrato.  She also sang "The Man I Love," the theme from The Summer of ‘42, and "Misty" among other ballads and songs. 

A generous performer, she told the audience they were a good group and she then opened her act to requests.  Perhaps the audience had not expected The Divine One, as she was called, to allow requests, or perhaps they did not want to interrupt her flow, because they responded to her by simply saying, “Whatever you want to sing.”  They knew she would not disappoint them.

During the same year of that Blues Alley performance (1989), Sarah Vaughan received an NEA Jazz Masters Award (the highest honor awarded to a jazz musician by the National Endowment for the Arts).
 
Sarah Vaughan had been on my list of legendary older artists to see in a live performance while there was still time.  How fortunate for me that I caught her appearance at Blues Alley that evening (even though I was working on assignment); because she died the next year, on April 3, 1990.

The world will always be able to enjoy Sarah Vaughan’s wonderful voice by listening to the many recordings she left with us.  The recordings, along with books and other literature about her life and career will forever preserve her memory and her place in history.