They called her Sassy because of her off-stage attitude. Musicians loved her because of her pitch, her tone, her timing. While Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday defined an earlier generation of jazz singer, Sarah Vaughan took it all in, added all she had, and raised the bar so high no one has reached it since.
"Fly Me To The Moon" in a setting that makes me wish I was sitting in a dark club somewhere, late at night, sipping a vodka martini, and all conversation has stopped because the music is so overpowering.
Here she is with Dizzie Gillespie's orchestra, singing "Mean to Me/What More Can A Woman Do"
Here she is doing a sexually charged version of "I Can't Give You Anything But Love". Listen to the arrangement, and you know what she's talking about . . .
Next week, Steely Dan. . .
