During the mid-'50s, Sarah Vaughan spent most of her time recording songbook standards backed by a large orchestra in florid arrangements, with only the occasional breath of fresh air like her masterpiece, 1954's Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown. Four years after that milestone, another landed with the live album At Mister Kelly's. Recorded quite early in the days of the live LP, the album captured Vaughan at her best and most relaxed, stretching out on a set of late-night torch songs and ballads. With a trio including Jimmy Jones on piano, Roy Haynes on drums, and Richard Davis on bass, Vaughan is simply captivating, easily disproving the notion that, to be entertaining, singers needed inventive arrangements and multiple voices (instrumental or otherwise) behind them…

This 4CD set brings together eight of jazz vocalist and pianist Sarah Vaughan's finest albums from the 1950s, a period often regarded as her best.

Sarah Vaughan Bop's greatest diva, Sarah Vaughan was among jazz and popular music's supreme vocalists. She treated her voice as an instrument, improvising melodic and rhythmic embellishments, using her contralto range to make leaps and jumps, changing a song's mood or direction by enunication and delivery, and altering her timbre. She turned sappy novelty tunes and light pop into definitive, jazz-based treatments. She had a distinctive swinging quality and intensity in her style, and was also a great scat singer. Vaughan was a dominant performer from the late '40s until the '80s, when illness forced her to cut back her appearances. Vaughan's recorded legacy stands with anyone in modern jazz history. She sang in the Mt. Zion Baptist Church choir as a child and became its organist at 12.

From a label with no shortage of first-rate jazz material come this very attractive vocal sampler. Staying true to the Compact Jazz ethos, Best of the Jazz Vocalists favors quality over hits and comes with a budget price tag. The majority of songs are from the label's prime '50s and '60s run, including a cloud-bound "Summertime" by Helen Merrill and one of the all-time great versions of "If You Could See Me Now," compliments of Billy Eckstine. Continuing with this balancing act between the sexes, the collection also includes fine work by Bill Henderson, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Abbey Lincoln, Jon Hendricks, Shirley Horn, and Anita O'Day; latter-day entries include Lincoln's "I've Got Thunder and It Rings" from her 1990 Verve debut and Horn's "I Got Lost in His Arms" from 1988's Close Enough for Love. Nicely wrapped up with Nina Simone's Afro-percussion clarion call "Come Ye," this Verve roundup works as the perfect primer for more adventurous trips through the label's fertile stores of essential jazz.

This set features the great Sarah Vaughan in a typically spontaneous Norman Granz production for Pablo with pianist Oscar Peterson, guitarist Joe Pass, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Louie Bellson. Sassy sounds wonderful stretching out on such songs as "Midnight Sun," "More Than You Know," "Teach Me Tonight," and "Body and Soul," among others. All ten of the melodies are veteran standards that she knew backwards but still greeted with enthusiasm. A very good example of late-period Sarah Vaughan.

44 original recordings from iconic Brazilian artists and American jazz & pop legends: Antonio Carlos Jobim, Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, João Gilberto, Flora Purim, Nacho Méndez, Dave Brubeck, Charlie Byrd, George Benson, Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis, Dextor Gordon, George Duke, and many many more… 3CDs, housed in a fold out card digipack case.

Multi-award-winning singer-songwriter and leading UK jazz vocalist Zara McFarlane releases Sweet Whispers – Celebrating Sarah Vaughan on 14th June. The album honours the jazz great who inspired her on her own artistic journey and whose centenary year is marked in 2024.

One of the most inventive singers of the 20th century, Sarah Vaughan's voice was simply one of the wonders of the world. Unfortunately, her producers (particularly early in her career) all too often gave her trivial material to record, but when she got a hold of quality songs, no one could outsing her. This set has several examples of Vaughan's immense talent, including the old standard "I'll Be Seeing You," which Vaughan transforms into a vocal masterpiece. Notice how her singing coasts elegantly over the varied rhythms of the bop classic "Green Dolphin Street" almost as if she were a member of the horn section. There are more extensive single-disc collections of Vaughan on the market, and this one is hardly essential, but it does make a decent introduction to a great singer.

As one of the few Sarah Vaughan compilations to make it onto the shelves of most music stores (until it too is supplanted), MCA's 20th Century Masters collection has large shoes to fill. Since MCA owns the Mercury catalog – for which she recorded during the '50s and '60s – listeners shouldn't worry that they're purchasing substandard material. Still, the compilation doesn't present a complete picture of what made Vaughan special; it focuses on the big-time standards that found Vaughan backed by pillowy productions (half of the selections come from the crossover dates Vaughan With Voices and Vaughan and Violins).

2 CD, 50 greatest hits. Petula Clark, Joan Baez, Brenda Lee, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Linda Ronstadt, Nina Simone, Connie Francis, Carole King, Cher, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Gloria Gaynor, Shirley Bassey, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Barbra Streisand, Sarah Vaughan, Olivia Newton-John, Judy Garland, Billy Holiday, Mahalia Jackson and more, and more…

This two-CD set contains all of the music that Sarah Vaughan recorded during her Tokyo concert for Mainstream. The 49-year-old singer is heard at the height of her powers, really digging into the standards and making magic out of such numbers as "Poor," "'Round Midnight," "Willow Weep," "My Funny Valentine," "Summertime," and "Bye Bye Blackbird." This two-fer (which finds Sassy accompanied by pianist Carl Schroeder, bassist John Gianelli, and drummer Jimmy Cobb) gives one a definitive look at the brilliant (and sometimes miraculous) singer.

"To celebrate the centenary of the divine Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990) here is the best double-CD survey available of her career during her golden heyday, displaying the full range of her phenomenal artistry in both jazz and popular settings. “The Divine One” (as she was known) was quite simply one of the great vocalists of the last century. As a jazz singer of the post-war era, Ella Fitzgerald was her only rival, yet she achieved even greater success when she breathed life into romantic ballads. With her wide vocal range, precise timing, perfect pitch, command of colour, effortless swing and ability to interpret a lyric she was indeed a phenomenon.

Possessing one of the finest singing voices of the 20th century, Sarah Vaughan was already an established solo star when she signed with Mercury Records in 1954, and between then and 1958, she recorded pop material on the label's main imprint and jazz material on the subsidiary EmArcy Records, although there was some overlap between the two. This lovingly conceived box set collects all of the jazz sessions Vaughan did under the Mercury umbrella during this stay (she returned to the label for a second run between 1963 and 1967) spread over four discs, including Images, originally released as a 10" and then reissued as a full LP with the addition of five more cuts as Swingin' Easy, the self-titled Sarah Vaughan (with Clifford Brown, Herbie Mann, and Paul Quinichette), In the Land of Hi-Fi (with Cannonball Adderley), a live set, Sarah Vaughan & Her Trio at Mister Kelly's…

The "Complete Sarah Vaughan Masters 1944-1952" album is a comprehensive collection that showcases the early career of legendary jazz vocalist Sarah Vaughan. Released in 2024, this extensive compilation includes 121 tracks, highlighting Vaughan's work from her debut recordings in the mid-1940s through to the early 1950s.The album features many of her classic tracks, such as "East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)," "Lover Man," "Summertime," and "Black Coffee." These tracks illustrate Vaughan's versatile vocal style and her ability to convey deep emotion through her music. The compilation not only captures her solo performances but also includes collaborations with other notable jazz musicians of the era​.

Like other entries in Blue Note's excellent Ballads series, this collection features Sarah Vaughan on a number of mellow standards. The songs originate from a number of sessions Vaughan completed for Roulette between 1960-1963, and they are uniformly lovely. The settings range from the guitar/bass backing on "All or Nothing at All" to the orchestra backing on "Dreamy." Vaughan sings the tastefully arranged "You Go to My Head" with the help of the Count Basie Orchestra and the intimately quiet "In a Sentimental Mood" with guitarist Mundell Lowe and bassist George Duvivier. She slowly caresses each syllable of "'Round Midnight," "Solitude," and "Lover Man," delivering fresh takes on these commonly sung classics. A certain warmth also permeates "In a Sentimental Mood" and "If I Had You," filling each note with an air of regret. The reflective material seems tailor-made for that late hour when one's guests have departed and the cocktail glasses have been cleared. Ballads gathers 13 exquisite recordings in one place and captures Vaughan in exceptional voice. It's also enlightening to listen to how she approaches similar material when the arrangements are so divergent. To those unfamiliar with her Roulette work, Ballads offers a fine introduction.~Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.