Sarah Vaughan

[Ed S]

I'm getting the itch to pick up a Mosaic vocal set. Of the currently available sets, it's between Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington as I have the other currently available releases.

I've listened to the Vaughan clips and love 'em. I dig the Washington clips as well. Problem is, I've heard/read negatives about both. I've already read through the Dinah thread but could not find anything on Vaughan (though I thought I remember a thread)

At any rate - any comments on the Vaughan?

[clandy44]

As much as I dig Sarah, I rarely spin her Mosaic. It is filled with Sarah the singer songs, not Sarah the jazz singer...way too many "Send in the Clowns" quality stuff. I have only listened to the first cd of Dinah, but I liked it and will listen again. She is mostly backed by jazzers and the songs are jazz arrangements-I heard few strings or accordions. Full disclosure: D's voice always gets in my wheelhouse, no matter how mundane the song or the setting, while Miss V's voice is a thing of beauty but just not as compelling for me. I have a number of the Mercurys and, while the Mosaic will not compete with the young, raw D's voice on those sets, it works for me. Unfortunately, Dinah did her best work when young, like many others.

[Ed S]

Thanks for the comments. I'm leaning toward the Dinah Washington set right now.

How I hate "Send in the Clowns". I saw Dianne Reeves with the Buffalo Philharmonic last year in a tribute to Sarah Vaughan. Every song was great - except "Send in the Clowns". Did I mention I hate that song?

[Jim R]

As much as I dig Sarah, I rarely spin her Mosaic. It is filled with Sarah the singer songs, not Sarah the jazz singer...

I don't think it's that cut & dried. There's a good amount of jazzy Sarah on Roulette- some of it indespensible, IMO. "Sarah +2", the Benny Carter sessions, the Basie sessions, "Sarah Sings Soulfully"... some very nice stuff. I would admit that if someone already has some of the better Roulette material in their collection, there may not be any point in getting the Mosaic in order to get it all (there are some duds in there, just like in the Mercury set), but for somebody with little or no Sarah, I would give it a . I don't have the Dinah set, but I suspect from what I've read that it might be as worthy as the Sarah (and I'm thinking about it too, because I too love Dinah's voice in various settings).

[clandy44]

Jim, fair comment. Sarah Sings Soulfully is a superb album. Trouble is is that there is so much awful stuff-either maudlin songs like "Send in the Clowns" or horrific arrangements which sound like 200 violinists/cellists escaped from Mantovani's prison and were hired to back Sarah. But, you raise an excellent point-there are a number of Mosaics (for example, Berigan and Bailey) where you have to separate the wheat from the chaff on every disc.