1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 15. Sarah Vaughan – At Mister Kelly’s (1958)


Fifteen albums down, and we get our first woman at last (not counting Keely Smith, who doesn’t get a billing with Louis Prima). And I’m ashamed to say I’ve never heard of Sarah Vaughan given what a big figure she was in the musical field over her lifetime. Going by the number of covers of well-known songs from all genres that she’s done, I’ve probably heard her version of *something* at some point, but not realised. 

This is a live album, complete with an announcement at the start about it being recorded, and an amusing aside during Willow Weep For Me where Vaughan weaves “I’ve really fouled up this song” into her singing. There’s a thump of something being moved on stage that the recording picks up, but she keeps going, and I didn’t notice that she’d forgotten the words or something like that, so kudos to her stage professionalism. And for How High The Moon, she sings along how she doesn’t know the words or how it goes, but Ella Fitzgerald sings it and she’s going to give it a go – all while singing along to the tune. Which she then proceeds to scat rather than sing actual lyrics and shows off her vocal range – great stuff! 

And funny that I should mention Prima, as Vaughan does a very slow and soulful version of Just a Gigolo greatly in contrast to Prima’s. I don’t think I’ll be tackling her version for my karaoke turn, couldn’t follow that. 

Although it's not exactly my musical cup of tea, I really liked how Vaughan's personality shone through, and her voice, oh so good.

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