WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.660 Okay, let's jump right in. Welcome back to the 00:00:03.660 --> 00:00:06.400 Deep Dive. Today we are looking at a stack of 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:09.859 notes, articles, and I mean whole history about 00:00:09.859 --> 00:00:14.640 a figure who is, well, she's just monumental. 00:00:15.080 --> 00:00:17.179 Truly. It's hard to find the right word sometimes. 00:00:17.539 --> 00:00:19.440 It is. And I want to start with a quote that 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:22.859 I think, well, honestly, it shocked me when I 00:00:22.859 --> 00:00:25.280 first read it. It's from Frank Sinatra. Oh, I 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:26.500 think I know the one you're talking about. It 00:00:26.500 --> 00:00:30.219 is. Visceral is the word. It's so intense. So 00:00:30.219 --> 00:00:32.299 Sinatra is talking about the subject of our deep 00:00:32.299 --> 00:00:35.859 dive today. And he says, quote, Sassy is so good 00:00:35.859 --> 00:00:37.880 now that when I listen to her, I want to cut 00:00:37.880 --> 00:00:40.060 my wrists with a dull razor. And you have to 00:00:40.060 --> 00:00:42.439 understand that's a compliment, a massive one 00:00:42.439 --> 00:00:46.000 coming from him. A very dark, very dramatic compliment. 00:00:46.100 --> 00:00:48.119 But it tells you everything, right? It tells 00:00:48.119 --> 00:00:50.479 you something about the power of the woman we 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:53.119 are talking about today. Sarah Vaughan. Also 00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:55.159 known as Sassy. Also known as the Divine One. 00:00:55.299 --> 00:00:58.439 The Divine One. And arguably the possessor of, 00:00:58.500 --> 00:01:00.420 I mean, what some people call the single greatest 00:01:00.420 --> 00:01:02.759 voice in the history of American music. That 00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:05.299 is a huge claim, but it's one I think the evidence 00:01:05.299 --> 00:01:07.959 really supports. Is it, though? I mean, the greatest. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:12.230 That's a high bar. It is. But when you look at 00:01:12.230 --> 00:01:14.750 the source material we have today, biographies, 00:01:14.750 --> 00:01:17.109 critical essays from people like Gary Giddens, 00:01:17.189 --> 00:01:20.409 just the sheer timeline of her career, it's a 00:01:20.409 --> 00:01:22.810 claim that really holds up. I mean, the critic 00:01:22.810 --> 00:01:24.890 Scott Yanow, he called her as one of the most 00:01:24.890 --> 00:01:28.829 wondrous voices of the 20th century. But the 00:01:28.829 --> 00:01:33.170 tragedy or maybe the central tension of her life 00:01:33.170 --> 00:01:35.230 was that the world didn't always know what to 00:01:35.230 --> 00:01:37.790 do. with a voice that big right and that's what 00:01:37.790 --> 00:01:39.549 i kept seeing in the research she's constantly 00:01:39.549 --> 00:01:41.109 getting pulled in these different directions 00:01:41.109 --> 00:01:44.269 is she a pop star is she a jazz improviser she's 00:01:44.269 --> 00:01:46.290 an opera singer who just took a wrong turn somewhere 00:01:46.290 --> 00:01:49.709 exactly so our mission today i think is to figure 00:01:49.709 --> 00:01:52.849 out how a girl from newark new jersey ended up 00:01:52.849 --> 00:01:55.310 with that kind of reputation we're going to look 00:01:55.310 --> 00:01:58.409 at how she navigated this incredible almost constant 00:01:58.409 --> 00:02:00.870 tension between being a high art musician and 00:02:00.870 --> 00:02:04.200 i mean high art and a commercial pop star Because 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:06.060 reading through this, it seems like she was constantly 00:02:06.060 --> 00:02:08.819 being pulled in two directions at once. And that's 00:02:08.819 --> 00:02:10.840 because she wasn't just a singer. I think that's 00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:12.560 the first thing we really need to get straight 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:15.060 in our heads. She was a musician who happened 00:02:15.060 --> 00:02:17.740 to use her voice as her primary instrument. Like 00:02:17.740 --> 00:02:20.599 a horn player. Precisely. Yeah. And she stood 00:02:20.599 --> 00:02:23.620 right at this perfect intersection in time where 00:02:23.620 --> 00:02:26.439 the birth of bebop met the absolute height of 00:02:26.439 --> 00:02:28.960 pop music. She had a foot in both worlds. And 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:31.520 she collected the hardware to prove it. I mean, 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:33.539 two Grammys, but she was nominated for nine, 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:37.740 an NEA Jazz Masters Award. Beyond the awards, 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:40.199 it's the story of the voice itself that's just, 00:02:40.259 --> 00:02:43.539 it's mind blowing. It really is. So let's dive 00:02:43.539 --> 00:02:45.479 right into that. Section one, the instrument. 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:47.560 Because we have to understand what we're actually 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:49.360 working with here before we can understand the 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:50.800 career. Let's do it. So where do you want to 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:52.939 start with the voice? The range. The range has 00:02:52.939 --> 00:02:55.039 to be it. When people talk about Sarah Vaughan, 00:02:55.099 --> 00:02:56.879 they don't just talk about singing. They talk 00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:00.349 about this. This insane range. We're talking 00:03:00.349 --> 00:03:03.310 about four octaves. Which is incredibly rare. 00:03:03.509 --> 00:03:06.449 I mean, for a jazz or pop singer, it's almost 00:03:06.449 --> 00:03:08.669 unheard of. And we need to really visualize what 00:03:08.669 --> 00:03:11.009 four octaves mean. Right. It's not just a number. 00:03:11.349 --> 00:03:14.289 No. Most pop songs, you know, the ones you hear 00:03:14.289 --> 00:03:15.949 on the radio, they sit in a very comfortable 00:03:15.949 --> 00:03:18.930 one and a half octave pocket. Maybe two, if the 00:03:18.930 --> 00:03:21.490 singer's feeling ambitious. Sure. Sarah. She 00:03:21.490 --> 00:03:23.210 was building a skyscraper while everyone else 00:03:23.210 --> 00:03:26.439 was building single -story ranch houses. She 00:03:26.439 --> 00:03:29.240 can move from a soprano high C all the way down 00:03:29.240 --> 00:03:32.699 to a female baritone. And notice I said baritone, 00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:35.740 not just alto or contralto. That's low. That's 00:03:35.740 --> 00:03:38.500 like cello low. I can't even fathom making that 00:03:38.500 --> 00:03:41.219 sound. It's very, very low. In her later years, 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:45.780 critics described that lower register as a burnished 00:03:45.780 --> 00:03:48.500 contralto. Burnished. I like that word. It sounds 00:03:48.500 --> 00:03:51.020 warm and rich. Exactly. One critic from the New 00:03:51.020 --> 00:03:53.659 York Times wrote that hearing her use that lower 00:03:53.659 --> 00:03:56.370 register was like... dipping into a deep, mysterious 00:03:56.370 --> 00:03:59.250 well to scoop up a trove of buried riches. I 00:03:59.250 --> 00:04:01.229 love that image. It's not just about hitting 00:04:01.229 --> 00:04:03.030 a low note. It's about finding something down 00:04:03.030 --> 00:04:05.250 there. It implies there's a texture and a weight 00:04:05.250 --> 00:04:08.469 to it, not just a pitch. Precisely. There's character 00:04:08.469 --> 00:04:10.930 in the note. And then in the very same song, 00:04:11.050 --> 00:04:13.789 maybe even the next phrase, she could just flip 00:04:13.789 --> 00:04:16.370 to the upper register and deliver these incredibly 00:04:16.370 --> 00:04:20.649 delicate and ringingly high coloratura passages. 00:04:21.050 --> 00:04:23.250 Okay, so coloratura, that's an opera term, right? 00:04:23.350 --> 00:04:25.649 What does that actually mean? It basically means 00:04:25.649 --> 00:04:29.449 highly ornamented, florid singing. Think of fast 00:04:29.449 --> 00:04:32.490 runs, trills, a lot of notes packed into a short 00:04:32.490 --> 00:04:35.589 space. It's vocal gymnastics, essentially. And 00:04:35.589 --> 00:04:37.769 she could just do that without formal training 00:04:37.769 --> 00:04:40.050 for it. It seems so. It wasn't just that she 00:04:40.050 --> 00:04:42.310 could hit the notes. It was the texture. It was 00:04:42.310 --> 00:04:45.410 described by one source as thick as cognac, but 00:04:45.410 --> 00:04:48.350 capable of soaring like a violin. How can something 00:04:48.350 --> 00:04:50.689 be both of those things at once? That's the mystery 00:04:50.689 --> 00:04:52.779 of it. And you mentioned opera, which comes up 00:04:52.779 --> 00:04:54.620 a lot in the research. There's this constant 00:04:54.620 --> 00:04:57.560 comparison to opera singers. There is. And it 00:04:57.560 --> 00:04:59.720 wasn't just critics making the comparison. Betty 00:04:59.720 --> 00:05:01.980 Carter, another legendary jazz singer who knew 00:05:01.980 --> 00:05:04.300 a thing or two about vocals, she actually noted 00:05:04.300 --> 00:05:06.300 that with training, Sarah Vaughan could have 00:05:06.300 --> 00:05:08.860 gone as far as Leontine Price. Leontine Price, 00:05:09.180 --> 00:05:13.480 the opera legend. That's peer review at the absolute 00:05:13.480 --> 00:05:15.579 highest level. It is. It's like a great novelist 00:05:15.579 --> 00:05:17.420 saying another writer could have been Tolstoy. 00:05:17.560 --> 00:05:20.100 So the obvious question is, why didn't she? Why 00:05:20.100 --> 00:05:22.399 didn't we get Sarah Vaughan at the Met? If she 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:24.639 had the pipes for it, why do we find her in smoky 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:27.079 jazz clubs instead of opera houses? That is a 00:05:27.079 --> 00:05:29.180 fascinating question, and it gets to the core 00:05:29.180 --> 00:05:32.439 of who she was as an artist. Bob James, who was 00:05:32.439 --> 00:05:34.339 her musical director for a while in the 60s, 00:05:34.360 --> 00:05:36.920 had a really interesting take on this. What did 00:05:36.920 --> 00:05:39.699 he say? He said the legitimacy of that whole 00:05:39.699 --> 00:05:42.980 world, the opera world, it just wasn't for her. 00:05:43.060 --> 00:05:47.000 It wasn't her vibe. It was too rigid. To structured? 00:05:47.079 --> 00:05:49.480 You sing what's on the page exactly as it's written. 00:05:49.660 --> 00:05:52.060 Exactly as it's written, every single time. She 00:05:52.060 --> 00:05:54.199 wanted to mess with the notes. You can't improvise 00:05:54.199 --> 00:05:56.019 in Puccini. If you change the notes in the aria, 00:05:56.060 --> 00:05:58.579 you get fired. In jazz, if you change the notes 00:05:58.579 --> 00:06:01.439 in a creative way, you're a genius. So she chose 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:03.800 freedom over structure. She had the instrument, 00:06:03.899 --> 00:06:05.680 but she wanted to use it differently. She wanted 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:07.980 to color outside the lines. Right. It's about 00:06:07.980 --> 00:06:10.180 the application of the instrument. It's the difference 00:06:10.180 --> 00:06:12.759 between being a world -class architect who builds 00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:15.139 from a blueprint and a world -class sculptor 00:06:15.139 --> 00:06:17.199 who finds the form in the marble as they go. 00:06:17.300 --> 00:06:20.000 I like that. And this brings us to her technique, 00:06:20.120 --> 00:06:23.319 which some critics actually kind of weirdly referred 00:06:23.319 --> 00:06:27.180 to as her schtick. Yeah, schtick. Sounds a bit 00:06:27.180 --> 00:06:29.319 dismissive, doesn't it? Like she's doing a magic 00:06:29.319 --> 00:06:31.120 trick or something that cheapens the art. It 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:33.620 does. It sounds like a comedy routine. But in 00:06:33.620 --> 00:06:36.560 her case, it was about her unique mannerisms 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:39.379 that became her signature, things nobody else 00:06:39.379 --> 00:06:41.660 could do. For example, she had this ability to 00:06:41.660 --> 00:06:46.180 fray or bend notes at the very extremities of 00:06:46.180 --> 00:06:49.339 her range. What does fray a note mean? It's like 00:06:49.339 --> 00:06:51.500 she'd hit the note perfectly and then just at 00:06:51.500 --> 00:06:53.139 the end let it get a little rough around the 00:06:53.139 --> 00:06:55.399 edges, give it this human, imperfect quality. 00:06:55.839 --> 00:06:58.019 She'd also slide into a note, scoop up to it, 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:00.560 color it, vibrate it. Her vibrato was just a 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:03.180 world unto itself. The vibrato, right. It wasn't 00:07:03.180 --> 00:07:05.660 that polite little shimmer. No. It was described 00:07:05.660 --> 00:07:09.240 as voluptuous and heavy. It wasn't that... perfect 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:11.699 metronomic vibrato you learn in a conservatory. 00:07:11.720 --> 00:07:14.560 It was alive. It was visceral. It had its own 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:17.019 personality. And she had this very specific way 00:07:17.019 --> 00:07:19.139 of working the microphone, right? I've seen footage 00:07:19.139 --> 00:07:21.600 of her holding the mic way out at arm's length. 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:24.120 It looks really dramatic, almost like she's pushing 00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:26.019 the song away from her. That wasn't just for 00:07:26.019 --> 00:07:28.660 show, though. That was a tool. That was physical 00:07:28.660 --> 00:07:31.680 volume control. Ah, okay. She used the microphone 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:34.139 as part of the instrument. Her voice had such 00:07:34.139 --> 00:07:37.560 a huge dynamic range, from a whisper to a roar, 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:40.279 that the sound equipment of the era just couldn't 00:07:40.279 --> 00:07:42.459 handle it. The sound engineers couldn't ride 00:07:42.459 --> 00:07:44.740 the faders fast enough. So she just did it herself. 00:07:45.160 --> 00:07:48.459 She became her own mixer. By moving the microphone 00:07:48.459 --> 00:07:50.959 physically closer for intimacy, further away 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:53.560 for power, she could alter the texture and the 00:07:53.560 --> 00:07:56.180 volume in real time. It was a very conscious 00:07:56.180 --> 00:07:58.740 technical performance style. It's like a guitarist 00:07:58.740 --> 00:08:01.319 using a wah -wah pedal or a volume pedal, but 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:03.500 she's doing it with space and air. That's a great 00:08:03.500 --> 00:08:06.300 analogy. That's exactly what it was. All of this, 00:08:06.300 --> 00:08:08.660 the range, the texture, the technique, it led 00:08:08.660 --> 00:08:11.100 the critic Gary Giddens to call her the ageless 00:08:11.100 --> 00:08:14.560 voice of modern jazz, of giddy post -war virtuosity, 00:08:14.759 --> 00:08:18.279 biting wit, and fearless caprice. Fearless caprice. 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:20.519 I like that. It sounds like she was having fun 00:08:20.519 --> 00:08:22.220 with her own talent. Like, she knew she was driving 00:08:22.220 --> 00:08:24.040 a Ferrari, and sometimes she just wanted to see 00:08:24.040 --> 00:08:26.459 what it could do on the curves. She absolutely 00:08:26.459 --> 00:08:28.579 was. You can hear the joy of discovery in her 00:08:28.579 --> 00:08:31.060 improvisations. She knew exactly what she could 00:08:31.060 --> 00:08:32.919 do, and she knew she could do things no one else 00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:36.539 could. Okay, so we have this. This four -octave 00:08:36.539 --> 00:08:39.679 wonder. This vocal Ferrari. But she didn't just 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:42.639 appear out of nowhere fully formed. Let's rewind. 00:08:42.759 --> 00:08:44.899 We have to go back to the origin story. Section 00:08:44.899 --> 00:08:49.340 2. Newark, New Jersey, 1924. A very humble beginning. 00:08:49.639 --> 00:08:52.519 Her father, Edward Jake Vaughan, was a carpenter. 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:56.139 Her mother, Ada, was a laundress. But there was 00:08:56.139 --> 00:08:58.700 music in the house. Oh, absolutely. Her dad played 00:08:58.700 --> 00:09:00.840 guitar and piano by ear. Her mom sang in the 00:09:00.840 --> 00:09:02.860 church choir, so the raw material was there. 00:09:02.980 --> 00:09:05.519 The musical DNA was present from day one. And 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:07.700 religion was in the house. The church was central. 00:09:07.980 --> 00:09:10.820 Very much so. The Mount Zion Baptist Church in 00:09:10.820 --> 00:09:13.440 Newark. That's really where it all started for 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:16.399 her. Sarah began piano lessons at the age of 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:19.909 seven. She sang in the choir, but crucially, 00:09:19.950 --> 00:09:22.830 she also played piano for rehearsals and for 00:09:22.830 --> 00:09:25.450 services. And I feel like the piano part is something 00:09:25.450 --> 00:09:27.570 people forget. They think of her standing in 00:09:27.570 --> 00:09:30.190 front of a band, but she was a player first. 00:09:30.350 --> 00:09:32.850 She was a musician before she was the singer. 00:09:33.029 --> 00:09:35.470 And that is the absolute key to understanding 00:09:35.470 --> 00:09:37.950 her later style. She understood harmony from 00:09:37.950 --> 00:09:40.570 the keys up. She knew why the notes worked together. 00:09:40.629 --> 00:09:42.830 She wasn't just a singer relying on her air to 00:09:42.830 --> 00:09:45.590 find a pretty melody. She was a musician who 00:09:45.590 --> 00:09:48.710 understood the math behind the music, the architecture 00:09:48.710 --> 00:09:50.860 of the chords. Which let her break the rules 00:09:50.860 --> 00:09:52.879 later, because she knew what the rules were. 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:54.860 You have to know the rules to break them effectively. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:57.500 But, you know, like many great pastors, daughters, 00:09:57.580 --> 00:09:59.820 and church organists, there was a rebel element. 00:09:59.940 --> 00:10:01.720 Oh, do tell. Well, by the time she was in her 00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:04.240 mid -teens, she was venturing out, illegally, 00:10:04.539 --> 00:10:07.539 into Newark nightclubs. We're talking about places 00:10:07.539 --> 00:10:09.120 like the Piccadilly Club, the Newark Airport. 00:10:10.039 --> 00:10:11.799 She was sneaking out of the house to perform. 00:10:12.139 --> 00:10:14.899 As a singer. As a pianist and a singer. Getting 00:10:14.899 --> 00:10:16.860 a feel for a different kind of music, a different 00:10:16.860 --> 00:10:19.220 kind of audience. So she's mixing the sacred 00:10:19.220 --> 00:10:21.799 and the profane before she was even out of high 00:10:21.799 --> 00:10:23.720 school. Exactly. Playing hymns in the morning 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:26.600 and jazz standards at night. And that duality, 00:10:26.600 --> 00:10:30.080 that tension, it defined her whole life. And 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:32.000 it leads us directly to the moment that changed 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:36.299 everything. The Apollo Theater, 1942. Now this 00:10:36.299 --> 00:10:38.620 is a legendary story, but the details in our 00:10:38.620 --> 00:10:40.440 source material are actually really specific 00:10:40.440 --> 00:10:42.679 and kind of funny. She didn't go there to become 00:10:42.679 --> 00:10:45.139 a star, did she? No. Not at all. That's the best 00:10:45.139 --> 00:10:47.200 part of the story. She went there to play piano. 00:10:47.340 --> 00:10:49.340 She had a friend named Doris Robinson. Sarah 00:10:49.340 --> 00:10:51.500 thought Doris had a great voice and should enter 00:10:51.500 --> 00:10:54.179 the famous amateur night contest. So Sarah just 00:10:54.179 --> 00:10:56.159 went along to be the accompanist. So she's the 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:58.019 sidekick. She's in the background, literally 00:10:58.019 --> 00:11:00.299 sitting behind her friend. She's the sidekick. 00:11:00.519 --> 00:11:03.679 Doris Robinson gets up, sings her song, and wins 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:07.080 second prize. Not bad at all. Not bad for amateur 00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:09.840 night at the Apollo. But then, a week later, 00:11:10.019 --> 00:11:12.110 Vaughn decides, you know what? I'm going to go 00:11:12.110 --> 00:11:14.669 back and try this myself. I can take these people. 00:11:15.190 --> 00:11:17.730 She had the confidence. And she didn't play piano 00:11:17.730 --> 00:11:20.190 this time. No. She went back as a singer. She 00:11:20.190 --> 00:11:22.690 got up on that legendary stage and she sang Body 00:11:22.690 --> 00:11:25.889 and Soul. Wow. That is not an easy song to sing. 00:11:26.009 --> 00:11:28.529 That is a terrifying song to sing for an amateur 00:11:28.529 --> 00:11:31.809 contest. The chord changes are so complex. Incredibly 00:11:31.809 --> 00:11:34.490 complex. And she won. She blew them away. And 00:11:34.490 --> 00:11:39.309 the prize, wait for it, was... $10. $10, that's 00:11:39.309 --> 00:11:42.230 it. $10 and a promise of a week's engagement 00:11:42.230 --> 00:11:45.090 opening for Ella Fitzgerald. Okay, the $10 is 00:11:45.090 --> 00:11:48.389 insulting, but the week opening for Ella? That's 00:11:48.389 --> 00:11:50.870 the real prize. Talk about a return on investment. 00:11:51.250 --> 00:11:53.970 $10 and a career. It's incredible. And that week 00:11:53.970 --> 00:11:55.889 at the Apollo is where the next chapter begins. 00:11:56.330 --> 00:11:59.269 Because in the audience, or backstage, depending 00:11:59.269 --> 00:12:01.389 on which source you believe, were the people 00:12:01.389 --> 00:12:03.720 who would shape the entire future of jazz. And 00:12:03.720 --> 00:12:06.840 this moves us perfectly into Section 3, the incubator 00:12:06.840 --> 00:12:09.820 of bebop. Because she didn't just join any old 00:12:09.820 --> 00:12:11.879 big band. She fell into the most important, most 00:12:11.879 --> 00:12:14.820 revolutionary band of the entire era. The Earl 00:12:14.820 --> 00:12:17.259 Hines Band. Now, there are conflicting stories 00:12:17.259 --> 00:12:19.559 about exactly how she got hired. Earl Hines himself 00:12:19.559 --> 00:12:22.519 claimed he discovered her. But Billy Eckstein, 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:24.940 who was the star singer for Hines at the time, 00:12:25.059 --> 00:12:27.639 says he was the one who heard her and told Hines, 00:12:27.799 --> 00:12:30.700 you have to hear this girl. So a little bit of 00:12:30.700 --> 00:12:33.379 a turf war over who gets the credit. A little 00:12:33.379 --> 00:12:36.340 bit. But however it happened, she gets the gig. 00:12:36.600 --> 00:12:38.759 But there was a catch, right? There was a union 00:12:38.759 --> 00:12:41.539 issue. Yes, and this is a great detail that shows 00:12:41.539 --> 00:12:43.460 you the business side of things. It's what one 00:12:43.460 --> 00:12:45.460 of our sources calls the Trojan horse hiring. 00:12:45.740 --> 00:12:47.960 Okay, explain that. So you had different unions. 00:12:48.220 --> 00:12:51.299 The Musicians Union had jurisdiction over instrumentalists, 00:12:51.419 --> 00:12:53.980 but the American Federation of Radio Artists, 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:57.340 AFRA, had jurisdiction over vocalists. There 00:12:57.340 --> 00:12:59.860 was a strike or a quota issue. It's complicated 00:12:59.860 --> 00:13:02.639 1940s labor politics, but the bottom line was 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:04.879 Hines couldn't hire another singer. His singer 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:06.919 slot was filled by Billy Eckstein. Right, so 00:13:06.919 --> 00:13:09.809 what did he do? He was clever. Earl Hines hired 00:13:09.809 --> 00:13:13.029 Sarah Vaughn as a pianist. Ah, so he could bring 00:13:13.029 --> 00:13:15.210 her in under his existing musician contracts 00:13:15.210 --> 00:13:18.809 and just wink, wink, let her sing. Exactly. So 00:13:18.809 --> 00:13:20.870 she's technically the second pianist. She comes 00:13:20.870 --> 00:13:22.970 in on the piano bench, but everyone knows she's 00:13:22.970 --> 00:13:24.830 really there to sing. But the most important 00:13:24.830 --> 00:13:27.490 part of this is thinking about who else was in 00:13:27.490 --> 00:13:29.570 that band. Who are we talking about here? This 00:13:29.570 --> 00:13:31.850 is the crucial part. We are talking about the 00:13:31.850 --> 00:13:35.629 absolute incubator of bebop. Dizzy Gillespie 00:13:35.629 --> 00:13:39.210 was on trumpet. Charlie Parker was on... saxophone 00:13:39.210 --> 00:13:41.929 playing tenor, actually not his usual alto, which 00:13:41.929 --> 00:13:44.710 is a whole other story. This band was ground 00:13:44.710 --> 00:13:48.169 zero for the revolution in jazz. Wait, hold on. 00:13:48.250 --> 00:13:51.570 So in the same room, on the same bus, every single 00:13:51.570 --> 00:13:54.029 night, you have Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Bird 00:13:54.029 --> 00:13:56.960 Parker. Yes. And Sarah Vaughn is sitting there, 00:13:57.019 --> 00:13:59.399 maybe 10 feet away, listening to them reinvent 00:13:59.399 --> 00:14:02.320 music, listening to Charlie Parker deconstruct 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:04.539 melodies and play a thousand notes a minute. 00:14:04.679 --> 00:14:06.759 So she's basically going to grad school for bebop 00:14:06.759 --> 00:14:08.759 while she's on the road. That explains so much. 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:11.399 Her phrasing, her timing. If you're listening 00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:13.220 to Charlie Parker play saxophone every night, 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:15.019 you're hearing someone treat a melody like it's 00:14:15.019 --> 00:14:17.799 made of rubber. She's living it. She's breathing 00:14:17.799 --> 00:14:21.700 it in. And then when Billy Eckstein decides to 00:14:21.700 --> 00:14:23.860 leave and form his own band, which was even more 00:14:23.860 --> 00:14:26.230 modern. Sarah follows him. And that band was 00:14:26.230 --> 00:14:28.509 even more stacked, if that's possible. It is 00:14:28.509 --> 00:14:30.990 possible. The Billy Eckstine Orchestra included, 00:14:31.230 --> 00:14:33.990 at various times, Miles Davis and Art Blakey. 00:14:34.009 --> 00:14:36.330 That is an insane lineup. That's like the 1992 00:14:36.330 --> 00:14:39.289 dream team of jazz. It's not a band. It's a collection 00:14:39.289 --> 00:14:42.269 of future legends. It is. And this is why Sarah 00:14:42.269 --> 00:14:43.950 Vaughan sounded different from all the singers 00:14:43.950 --> 00:14:46.679 who came before her. She was completely immersed 00:14:46.679 --> 00:14:50.320 in the complice harmonies of these instrumentalists. 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:52.860 She learned to use her ear like a horn player. 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:54.779 So she wasn't just thinking about the words. 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:57.440 Not at all. She was thinking about the chord 00:14:57.440 --> 00:14:59.740 changes. She was navigating the harmony just 00:14:59.740 --> 00:15:02.179 like Charlie Parker would on his sax. Most singers 00:15:02.179 --> 00:15:04.240 breathe in a certain way. They hold notes for 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:06.679 the lyrics to make story clear. Sarah would break 00:15:06.679 --> 00:15:08.700 a word in half if it meant hitting the right 00:15:08.700 --> 00:15:11.200 syncopation, the right rhythmic accent, the way 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:13.659 a trumpet would. So when we say she used her 00:15:13.659 --> 00:15:15.740 voice like an instrument, it's not just some 00:15:15.740 --> 00:15:18.600 poetic metaphor. It's literally because she was 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:21.320 trained by the greatest instrumentalists of her 00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:23.500 generation. She was one of the guys. Precisely. 00:15:23.539 --> 00:15:25.559 And this is also where she got the name. Sassy. 00:15:25.740 --> 00:15:29.200 Yes. The pianist in the band, John Malachi, gave 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:34.000 her the moniker Sassy because, well, it matched 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:35.879 her personality. She was young. She was confident, 00:15:36.019 --> 00:15:38.019 maybe a little fresh, a little bit of a smart 00:15:38.019 --> 00:15:39.980 aleck on the tour bus. She could hang with the 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:42.639 boys. She could. And she liked the name. She 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:45.220 even spelled it sassy in letters sometimes. But 00:15:45.220 --> 00:15:48.000 sassy is the one that stuck. So she has the name. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:50.559 She has the skills. She has the credibility that 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:53.480 money can't buy. But now she has to make a living 00:15:53.480 --> 00:15:55.960 as a solo artist. And this brings us to the real 00:15:55.960 --> 00:15:58.539 struggle, section four, the commercial struggle. 00:15:58.700 --> 00:16:00.519 And this is the defining tension of her entire 00:16:00.519 --> 00:16:04.029 career, pop versus jazz. Art versus commerce. 00:16:04.690 --> 00:16:07.309 Bebop is high art. It's musically intellectual. 00:16:07.730 --> 00:16:10.529 It's often frantic and complex. Does it sell 00:16:10.529 --> 00:16:12.750 records to housewives in the Midwest in 1948? 00:16:13.029 --> 00:16:14.970 I'm going to go with a hard no on that one. No. 00:16:15.409 --> 00:16:17.850 And Sarah Vaughan needed to make a living. So 00:16:17.850 --> 00:16:20.529 she launches her solo career in the mid -40s. 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:22.919 and she gets an early hit with a song called 00:16:22.919 --> 00:16:25.580 Tenderly. Tenderly was a huge moment for her. 00:16:25.639 --> 00:16:27.360 She was actually really proud to be the first 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:30.059 one to record that song, which became a massive 00:16:30.059 --> 00:16:32.519 jazz standard. It was an unexpected pop hit for 00:16:32.519 --> 00:16:35.820 her in 1947. Ah, beautiful ballad. And then she 00:16:35.820 --> 00:16:38.149 had another hit with Nature Boy. Right. But Nature 00:16:38.149 --> 00:16:40.289 Boy had that weird production story, didn't it? 00:16:40.309 --> 00:16:43.149 Something about a strike. It did. There was a 00:16:43.149 --> 00:16:46.230 musicians union recording band at the time, basically 00:16:46.230 --> 00:16:48.730 a strike against the record labels. So instruments 00:16:48.730 --> 00:16:50.830 couldn't be legally recorded for a period. So 00:16:50.830 --> 00:16:52.730 how do you make a record with no instruments? 00:16:53.169 --> 00:16:55.370 You recorded a capella with a choir. That's a 00:16:55.370 --> 00:16:57.490 flex. I don't need a band. I'll just use a bunch 00:16:57.490 --> 00:16:59.610 of other voices as my orchestra. And it worked. 00:16:59.730 --> 00:17:03.139 It was a hit. But this success. This ability 00:17:03.139 --> 00:17:06.160 to cross over, it attracted the big labels. And 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:08.740 that's where things got really complicated. In 00:17:08.740 --> 00:17:12.099 the 1950s, she ends up with a very unique and 00:17:12.099 --> 00:17:14.460 some would say schizophrenic contract arrangement 00:17:14.460 --> 00:17:17.440 with Mercury Records. Tell me about this strategy, 00:17:17.500 --> 00:17:19.039 because it sounds like they're trying to split 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:21.500 her personality right down the middle. They literally 00:17:21.500 --> 00:17:24.359 were. Her manager at the time, her first husband, 00:17:24.460 --> 00:17:28.099 George Treadwell, he negotiated this deal. The 00:17:28.099 --> 00:17:30.940 idea was she would record the commercial. string 00:17:30.940 --> 00:17:33.799 -laden, pop -oriented material for the main Mercury 00:17:33.799 --> 00:17:35.839 label. That was for the radio. And the other 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:38.440 stuff, the jazz. She would record the real jazz 00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:41.000 stuff, the stuff she actually loved, with small 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:44.640 groups, for Mercury's subsidiary label, Emmercy. 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:48.000 It was their dedicated jazz imprint. So Mercury 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:50.950 for the money, Emmercy for the soul. That's the 00:17:50.950 --> 00:17:53.690 simplified version, yes. And in theory, it's 00:17:53.690 --> 00:17:55.789 brilliant. It allowed her artistic freedom on 00:17:55.789 --> 00:17:58.569 one side, but it also contractually forced her 00:17:58.569 --> 00:18:01.009 to record songs she absolutely detested on the 00:18:01.009 --> 00:18:03.349 other. It's like an actor doing Shakespeare by 00:18:03.349 --> 00:18:05.470 day and soap operas by night. And we have a prime 00:18:05.470 --> 00:18:07.670 example of a song she hated, right? A song that 00:18:07.670 --> 00:18:10.450 just made her skin crawl. Oh, yes. Broken -hearted 00:18:10.450 --> 00:18:13.130 melody. Groans. I listened to it before we started 00:18:13.130 --> 00:18:15.490 recording today. It's catchy, I'll give it that, 00:18:15.589 --> 00:18:17.970 but it is incredibly cheesy. It sounds like a 00:18:17.970 --> 00:18:20.440 nursery rhyme with a backbeat. It is the definition 00:18:20.440 --> 00:18:23.059 of cheesy. It's pop fluff of the highest order. 00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:26.339 Sarah Vaughan called it corny. She did not want 00:18:26.339 --> 00:18:28.599 to record it. She fought the label on it. But 00:18:28.599 --> 00:18:31.039 they made her. And guess what? It was the biggest 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:34.000 hit of her career. Her first gold record. It 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:36.240 was her biggest commercial peak, released in 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:39.880 1959. And the ultimate irony is, because it was 00:18:39.880 --> 00:18:42.200 such a massive hit, she had to keep singing it 00:18:42.200 --> 00:18:44.619 in concerts for years and years. That must be 00:18:44.619 --> 00:18:48.750 actual torture. Being the divine one, this incredible 00:18:48.750 --> 00:18:51.609 musician capable of improvising on the level 00:18:51.609 --> 00:18:53.950 of Charlie Parker and having to go out and sing 00:18:53.950 --> 00:18:56.369 this corny pop song every single night because 00:18:56.369 --> 00:18:58.150 that's what the audience paid to hear. It's the 00:18:58.150 --> 00:19:00.150 price of fame. It's the definition of golden 00:19:00.150 --> 00:19:02.970 handcuffs. And later, when she moved to Columbia 00:19:02.970 --> 00:19:05.190 Records, they steered her almost exclusively 00:19:05.190 --> 00:19:07.910 toward commercial ballads. There's a real sense 00:19:07.910 --> 00:19:09.609 in the source material that she was constantly 00:19:09.609 --> 00:19:12.549 fighting to maintain her artistic integrity against 00:19:12.549 --> 00:19:14.930 the industry's relentless need for radio hits. 00:19:15.420 --> 00:19:17.819 You mentioned George Treadwell, her manager and 00:19:17.819 --> 00:19:20.599 husband, and that segues us perfectly and somewhat 00:19:20.599 --> 00:19:23.180 tragically into Section 5, love, management, 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:25.759 and money. This is the pattern that emerges when 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:28.519 you look at her life offstage, and it's just 00:19:28.519 --> 00:19:31.039 heartbreaking. She had this recurring tendency 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:33.980 to marry men who would then take over her management. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:36.759 The classic manager -husband syndrome, mixing 00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:39.140 business and pleasure. And in her case, almost 00:19:39.140 --> 00:19:42.539 always with disastrous financial results. Let's 00:19:42.539 --> 00:19:45.339 start with husband number one. George Treadwell. 00:19:45.700 --> 00:19:47.960 He was the trumpeter. He was the one who managed 00:19:47.960 --> 00:19:50.500 that Mercury -Emercy deal, so he was smart about 00:19:50.500 --> 00:19:52.660 some things. He was a sharp operator, for sure. 00:19:52.779 --> 00:19:55.680 He really managed her image. He managed her career 00:19:55.680 --> 00:19:59.759 from 1946 to 1958. He had her teeth capped to 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:02.420 close a gap she was self -conscious about. He 00:20:02.420 --> 00:20:04.579 got her a new wardrobe, taught her how to carry 00:20:04.579 --> 00:20:07.000 herself on stage. He polished the image of the 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:08.819 Divine One. He built the Sarah Vaughan brand. 00:20:08.980 --> 00:20:11.079 He built the car, but he also kept the keys and 00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:13.900 the title. He absolutely did. But he also managed 00:20:13.900 --> 00:20:16.690 all money. When they finally divorced in 1958, 00:20:16.930 --> 00:20:18.950 after a decade of her being a legitimate superstar, 00:20:19.190 --> 00:20:21.910 years of constant touring, hit records, gold 00:20:21.910 --> 00:20:24.970 records, Treadwell claimed that only $16 ,000 00:20:24.970 --> 00:20:29.609 remained. $16 ,000? After 10 years of being a 00:20:29.609 --> 00:20:32.190 household name, where did it all go? That's what 00:20:32.190 --> 00:20:34.849 he claimed. They split it. She was left with 00:20:34.849 --> 00:20:37.890 $8 ,000. That is, I don't even have a word for 00:20:37.890 --> 00:20:40.210 it. It's just outright theft. It certainly feels 00:20:40.210 --> 00:20:42.400 that way. But you'd think she would learn a lesson 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:44.539 from that, right? Don't mix your love life with 00:20:44.539 --> 00:20:46.960 your finances. You would think. But she didn't. 00:20:47.420 --> 00:20:50.660 Enter husband number two, Clyde C .B. Atkins. 00:20:51.299 --> 00:20:53.579 The source material describes him as a man of 00:20:53.579 --> 00:20:56.559 uncertain background, which is polite historian 00:20:56.559 --> 00:20:59.619 speak for he was a shady character. Very shady. 00:20:59.940 --> 00:21:02.380 She met him in Chicago. He had absolutely no 00:21:02.380 --> 00:21:04.140 experience in music management, no connections, 00:21:04.380 --> 00:21:07.059 nothing. But she fell for him and she put him 00:21:07.059 --> 00:21:09.500 in charge anyway. She seemed to want that husband 00:21:09.500 --> 00:21:11.619 -manager dynamic again. And how did that one 00:21:11.619 --> 00:21:14.900 go? Worse. Much, much worse. For starters, the 00:21:14.900 --> 00:21:17.779 relationship was reportedly violent. And financially. 00:21:17.799 --> 00:21:21.059 He was a gambler. A heavy gambler. He spent wildly. 00:21:21.420 --> 00:21:24.359 When they finally split up, he had put her $150 00:21:24.359 --> 00:21:29.160 ,000 in debt. $150 ,000 in the early 60s? That's 00:21:29.160 --> 00:21:32.380 an astronomical amount of money. It is. And it 00:21:32.380 --> 00:21:36.759 gets worse. She lost her house. The IRS seized 00:21:36.759 --> 00:21:39.559 her home in Inglewood Cliffs, New Jersey because 00:21:39.559 --> 00:21:41.500 the taxes hadn't been paid for years. She was 00:21:41.500 --> 00:21:43.339 even broke. She had to work her way back from 00:21:43.339 --> 00:21:46.900 absolute zero. Imagine being Sarah Vaughan, the 00:21:46.900 --> 00:21:49.359 Divine One, a global star, and you're basically 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:51.579 homeless and broke because your husband gambled 00:21:51.579 --> 00:21:54.799 away every penny you ever earned. It's just devastating. 00:21:54.940 --> 00:21:56.880 You have this God -given talent. You're working 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:59.400 constantly. And the people who are supposed to 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:01.559 be protecting you are the ones draining you dry. 00:22:02.220 --> 00:22:04.440 It's amazing she kept performing. I think a lot 00:22:04.440 --> 00:22:06.359 of people would have just quit. She couldn't 00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:08.579 quit. She had to perform to pay off the debts. 00:22:09.319 --> 00:22:13.380 But there is a silver lining in the 1970s. Not 00:22:13.380 --> 00:22:15.900 a husband this time, but a lover and manager 00:22:15.900 --> 00:22:18.299 named Marshall Fisher. And where did she find 00:22:18.299 --> 00:22:20.500 him? He wasn't another musician, was he? No. 00:22:20.890 --> 00:22:23.230 She found him at a concession stand in Las Vegas. 00:22:23.369 --> 00:22:25.250 He was a fan who worked there. Wait, a concession 00:22:25.250 --> 00:22:29.190 stand employee? Yes. And unlike the polished, 00:22:29.250 --> 00:22:32.390 slick businessman who came before him, Fisher 00:22:32.390 --> 00:22:35.710 was just genuinely devoted to her. He moved in 00:22:35.710 --> 00:22:38.089 with her. He treated her with kindness and respect. 00:22:38.289 --> 00:22:41.410 And he started managing her career meticulously. 00:22:41.410 --> 00:22:44.309 Did he have any experience? Zero. Absolutely 00:22:44.309 --> 00:22:47.269 zero music business experience. But he cared 00:22:47.269 --> 00:22:49.680 about her. And it turns out that was the most 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:51.940 important qualification. He stabilized things 00:22:51.940 --> 00:22:53.700 for her. That's a nice change of pace. Shout 00:22:53.700 --> 00:22:55.599 out to Marshall, the concession stand guy. Sometimes 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:57.940 you just need a normal person who actually appreciates 00:22:57.940 --> 00:23:00.680 you. Exactly. I should say, eventually she did 00:23:00.680 --> 00:23:03.740 marry a third time to a trumpeter named Wayman 00:23:03.740 --> 00:23:06.500 Reed, who was 16 years her junior. But Fisher 00:23:06.500 --> 00:23:08.500 was the one who really righted the ship during 00:23:08.500 --> 00:23:11.079 a crucial transition period for her career. And 00:23:11.079 --> 00:23:13.400 that transition leads us right into section six, 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:16.089 the Renaissance. Because after that rough patch 00:23:16.089 --> 00:23:18.589 in the 60s where jazz in general was struggling 00:23:18.589 --> 00:23:20.769 against the rise of rock and roll, she comes 00:23:20.769 --> 00:23:23.369 back swinging in the 70s. She returns to recording 00:23:23.369 --> 00:23:26.170 after a bit of a hiatus. She signs with a label 00:23:26.170 --> 00:23:28.960 called Mainstream Records. And again, there's 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:31.339 this attempt to pivot to a more contemporary 00:23:31.339 --> 00:23:34.380 pop sound. She's covering Bob Dylan, John Lennon, 00:23:34.380 --> 00:23:36.359 Marvin Gaye. Which brings us to the clown story, 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:39.819 Send in the Clowns. Ah, yes. The song that would 00:23:39.819 --> 00:23:41.900 become her signature for the rest of her life. 00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:44.779 Yeah. But the album it was on caused a huge, 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:47.720 huge controversy. Why? What was the problem? 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:50.900 The cover art. Sarah Vaughan absolutely hated 00:23:50.900 --> 00:23:54.309 it. It depicted a clown with an afro. Oh, no. 00:23:54.470 --> 00:23:57.809 That sounds terrible. Yeah. It was the 70s. But 00:23:57.809 --> 00:24:00.250 even for the 70s, it was a bad choice. She felt 00:24:00.250 --> 00:24:02.170 it was undignified. It looked like a caricature. 00:24:02.309 --> 00:24:04.589 She had worked so hard to build this image of 00:24:04.589 --> 00:24:07.769 elegance and sophistication. And the label puts 00:24:07.769 --> 00:24:10.009 a cartoon on the cover. What did she do? She 00:24:10.009 --> 00:24:12.269 actually sued the label owner, Bob Shad, over 00:24:12.269 --> 00:24:14.950 it. She sued him over the album art. She did. 00:24:15.069 --> 00:24:17.650 She was furious. But the song itself. The song 00:24:17.650 --> 00:24:20.740 she kept. She loved the song. It's a Stephen 00:24:20.740 --> 00:24:23.000 Sondheim song from the musical A Little Night 00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:25.740 Music. She learned it on the piano, again, remember 00:24:25.740 --> 00:24:29.079 she's a pianist first, and she altered the harmonies, 00:24:29.099 --> 00:24:31.880 changed the phrasing, and basically rewrote it 00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:34.349 to fit her style. It became her new masterpiece. 00:24:34.650 --> 00:24:37.369 So she hates the album cover, sues the guy who 00:24:37.369 --> 00:24:39.190 owns the label, but keeps the song and makes 00:24:39.190 --> 00:24:41.650 it legendary. That is a power move. She takes 00:24:41.650 --> 00:24:44.430 this Broadway ballad and she just deconstructs 00:24:44.430 --> 00:24:46.789 it. She hits notes that are nowhere on the sheet 00:24:46.789 --> 00:24:48.829 music. She makes it sound like she wrote it at 00:24:48.829 --> 00:24:51.750 3 a .m. in a smoky jazz club. Absolutely. And 00:24:51.750 --> 00:24:54.660 this era. also ushered in what we can call her 00:24:54.660 --> 00:24:57.299 symphony years. This is where the high art side 00:24:57.299 --> 00:24:59.920 of her personality really takes over and gets 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:01.940 the recognition it deserves. She started working 00:25:01.940 --> 00:25:03.980 with major orchestras, right? Finally getting 00:25:03.980 --> 00:25:06.900 the big, lush setting for that big, lush voice. 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:09.759 Yes. Michael Tilson Thomas, the famous conductor, 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:12.640 was a huge fan, a true devotee. He brought her 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:14.660 in to perform with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. 00:25:14.940 --> 00:25:17.299 She did a Gershwin program with the New Jersey 00:25:17.299 --> 00:25:19.940 Symphony that was broadcast on PBS. And she won 00:25:19.940 --> 00:25:23.650 an Emmy for that show in 1981. She did. And then 00:25:23.650 --> 00:25:26.410 a Grammy in 1982 for the album that came from 00:25:26.410 --> 00:25:29.509 it, Gershwin Live. It was this incredible validation. 00:25:29.930 --> 00:25:31.910 She was finally being presented in the setting 00:25:31.910 --> 00:25:34.690 her voice deserved, not in front of a small combo, 00:25:34.849 --> 00:25:37.809 but surrounded by a full 80 -piece symphony orchestra. 00:25:38.369 --> 00:25:40.829 Finally, she was in a tuxedo setting that matched 00:25:40.829 --> 00:25:42.890 the sheer elegance of her instrument. But she 00:25:42.890 --> 00:25:45.069 wasn't just doing Gershwin and the American Songbook. 00:25:45.130 --> 00:25:47.390 She also fell in love with a completely different 00:25:47.390 --> 00:25:50.500 sound around this time. Brazil. Ah, yes, the 00:25:50.500 --> 00:25:52.779 Brazilian connection. This is my absolute favorite 00:25:52.779 --> 00:25:55.579 era of her music. Sarah traveled to South America 00:25:55.579 --> 00:25:58.619 and just fell head over heels for Rio de Janeiro. 00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:00.519 She said it was the greatest, most beautiful 00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:02.799 place she'd ever been. And naturally, she wanted 00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:04.819 to record that music. Bossa Nova seems like a 00:26:04.819 --> 00:26:08.099 perfect fit for her voice. That cool, complex 00:26:08.099 --> 00:26:10.900 harmony, the sophisticated melodies. It was a 00:26:10.900 --> 00:26:12.680 match made in heaven. She went into the studio 00:26:12.680 --> 00:26:15.339 and recorded an entire album called I Love Brazil. 00:26:15.619 --> 00:26:18.180 It featured legends of Brazilian music like... 00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:21.700 Antonio Carlos Jobim and Milton Nascimento. It 00:26:21.700 --> 00:26:23.240 was a passion project. And it must have been 00:26:23.240 --> 00:26:26.700 a huge hit. You would think. But. And here is 00:26:26.700 --> 00:26:28.519 that industry struggle rearing its ugly head 00:26:28.519 --> 00:26:31.279 again. She took the finished album to her label 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:33.900 at the time, Atlantic Records, and they rejected 00:26:33.900 --> 00:26:36.380 it. They rejected an album with Sarah Vaughan 00:26:36.380 --> 00:26:39.319 singing Jobim. Why? They said it had no hits. 00:26:39.559 --> 00:26:41.579 They listened to it and said they couldn't hear 00:26:41.579 --> 00:26:44.019 a single. They wanted another. brokenhearted 00:26:44.019 --> 00:26:47.099 melody. Unbelievable. That's just musical malpractice. 00:26:47.099 --> 00:26:49.000 They have Sarah Vaughan singing Antonio Carlos 00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:51.779 Jobim and they pass. They pass. So she walked, 00:26:51.880 --> 00:26:54.140 she took the master tapes and gave them to Norman 00:26:54.140 --> 00:26:56.819 Grants, who was famously Ella Fitzgerald's manager. 00:26:57.160 --> 00:26:59.460 He released it on his own label, Pablo Records. 00:26:59.799 --> 00:27:02.240 And of course, the album was a... critical and 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:04.839 commercial success and got nominated for a Grammy. 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:07.339 It seems like there's a clear pattern here. Every 00:27:07.339 --> 00:27:10.140 time she trusted her own artistic gut, she won. 00:27:10.299 --> 00:27:11.920 And every time she listened to the suits, she 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:15.019 was miserable. That is a very, very accurate 00:27:15.019 --> 00:27:17.819 summary of her entire career. Okay, let's move 00:27:17.819 --> 00:27:20.609 to the final act, section seven. We're in the 00:27:20.609 --> 00:27:23.950 late 1980s now. Her health is starting to decline, 00:27:24.190 --> 00:27:27.490 but she is not slowing down. Not at all. She's 00:27:27.490 --> 00:27:29.730 a grand dame of music now. She's receiving major 00:27:29.730 --> 00:27:31.930 honors. She gets a star on the Hollywood Walk 00:27:31.930 --> 00:27:35.130 of Fame. But musically, she's still taking these 00:27:35.130 --> 00:27:38.250 incredible risks. And there's this project involving 00:27:38.250 --> 00:27:41.390 the Pope. What was that about? Yes, it was a 00:27:41.390 --> 00:27:44.130 project called The Planet is Alive, Let It Live. 00:27:44.599 --> 00:27:47.759 It's a very unusual symphonic piece based on 00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:50.160 poems that were written by Pope John Paul II. 00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:52.920 That is not something you see on the Top 40. 00:27:53.019 --> 00:27:55.900 That is a deep cut, even for her. Definitely 00:27:55.900 --> 00:27:58.420 not. And then there's the South Pacific recording. 00:27:58.660 --> 00:28:00.799 This is a great story. Gives you such a visual. 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:03.839 She was brought into a studio to sing Happy Talk 00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:06.279 and Bali Hai for a new all -star recording of 00:28:06.279 --> 00:28:08.740 the musical. Who else was on it? Actual opera 00:28:08.740 --> 00:28:12.420 stars, Kiriti Kanawa and... Jose Carreras. The 00:28:12.420 --> 00:28:14.420 opera world again coming back to her. Right. 00:28:14.539 --> 00:28:17.000 But Sarah, while the opera singers stood there 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:19.779 stiffly at their microphones, she sat down on 00:28:19.779 --> 00:28:22.059 the studio floor to sing her parts. Just completely 00:28:22.059 --> 00:28:24.339 relaxed, grounded, doing her thing. That is so 00:28:24.339 --> 00:28:26.259 cool. It's like she's saying, I'm at home here. 00:28:26.339 --> 00:28:28.160 This is my world. Just sitting on the floor, 00:28:28.259 --> 00:28:32.440 out singing everybody. And then we have the full 00:28:32.440 --> 00:28:35.940 circle moment. The perfect ending to the story, 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:38.920 really. It's 1989. Quincy Jones is recording 00:28:38.920 --> 00:28:41.670 his massive crossover album. Back on the Block. 00:28:41.849 --> 00:28:44.390 This was a huge album. Everyone who was anyone 00:28:44.390 --> 00:28:47.410 was on it. Ray Charles, Ice -T, Chaka Khan, Big 00:28:47.410 --> 00:28:50.289 Daddy Kane. It was a cultural event, and he brings 00:28:50.289 --> 00:28:53.190 in Sarah Vaughan for one track, a scatting duet 00:28:53.190 --> 00:28:56.390 with Ella Fitzgerald. The woman she opened for 00:28:56.390 --> 00:28:59.410 at the Apollo all the way back in 1942. 46 years 00:28:59.410 --> 00:29:01.609 later, it was their only studio recording together. 00:29:02.269 --> 00:29:04.970 And very sadly, it was Sarah's final studio recording 00:29:04.970 --> 00:29:07.210 ever. Because she was sick by this point. She 00:29:07.210 --> 00:29:09.549 was. In 1989, while she was in the middle of 00:29:09.549 --> 00:29:11.289 a run of shows at the Blue Note Jazz Club in 00:29:11.289 --> 00:29:13.789 New York, she collapsed and was diagnosed with 00:29:13.789 --> 00:29:16.960 lung cancer. It moved very fast. She died on 00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:19.539 April 3, 1990, at her home in California. She 00:29:19.539 --> 00:29:22.220 was only 66. That feels so young. So young for 00:29:22.220 --> 00:29:24.480 a voice that sounds so timeless. It really is. 00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:27.099 For a voice that timeless, it feels like we were 00:29:27.099 --> 00:29:29.779 robbed of a whole third act. The sources say 00:29:29.779 --> 00:29:32.160 she was at home watching a TV movie that featured 00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:34.079 her adopted daughter, Paris Vaughn, when she 00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:35.940 passed away. And her funeral was back in New 00:29:35.940 --> 00:29:38.579 York, right? Back where it all began, at Mount 00:29:38.579 --> 00:29:41.539 Zion Baptist Church, the same place she played 00:29:41.539 --> 00:29:44.500 piano for rehearsals as a little girl. Wow. From 00:29:44.500 --> 00:29:47.240 Mount Zion to the Apollo to all the world stages 00:29:47.240 --> 00:29:49.779 and then back to Mount Zion. It's a complete 00:29:49.779 --> 00:29:52.819 journey, a perfect circle. So let's try to wrap 00:29:52.819 --> 00:29:55.059 this up. When we look back at the legacy of Sarah 00:29:55.059 --> 00:29:57.500 Vaughan, what's the big takeaway for you? What 00:29:57.500 --> 00:29:59.819 stands out? I think we have to go back to that 00:29:59.819 --> 00:30:03.700 nickname, the divine one. It sounds so grandiose, 00:30:03.720 --> 00:30:06.079 maybe even a little silly, but in her case, it 00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:09.119 fits. We're talking about, as Gary Giddens described 00:30:09.119 --> 00:30:11.900 her voice, a four -octave muscle of infinite 00:30:11.900 --> 00:30:14.460 flexibility. It wasn't just a voice. It was a 00:30:14.460 --> 00:30:17.000 superpower. It was something that didn't quite 00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:19.420 seem humanly possible. But more than that for 00:30:19.420 --> 00:30:23.039 me is that she refused to be boxed in. In a 1982 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:24.819 interview, she said something that I think is 00:30:24.819 --> 00:30:27.359 so telling. She said, quote, I don't know why 00:30:27.359 --> 00:30:29.259 people call me a jazz singer. I'm not putting 00:30:29.259 --> 00:30:31.200 jazz down, but I'm not a jazz singer. I like 00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:33.779 all kinds of music. She defied the labels. The 00:30:33.779 --> 00:30:35.859 industry wanted her to be one thing, a pop singer, 00:30:36.039 --> 00:30:39.880 a jazz singer. But she was all of it. Pop, jazz, 00:30:40.259 --> 00:30:43.200 opera, Brazilian. She just sang Sarah Vaughan 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:46.460 music. She defied the algorithm before algorithms 00:30:46.460 --> 00:30:48.940 even existed. Exactly. And that's the takeaway. 00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:52.140 She contained multitudes. So here is our final 00:30:52.140 --> 00:30:54.680 provocative thought for you, the listener. We 00:30:54.680 --> 00:30:56.160 want you to go listen to one of her signature 00:30:56.160 --> 00:30:59.759 songs. Go listen to Send in the Clowns or Misty 00:30:59.759 --> 00:31:02.299 or, if you're feeling brave, even Brokenhearted 00:31:02.299 --> 00:31:05.440 Melody. But... Don't just listen to the melody 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:08.200 or the lyrics. Listen to the mechanics. Listen 00:31:08.200 --> 00:31:11.140 to the very end of a phrase. Hear how she bends 00:31:11.140 --> 00:31:13.779 the pitch just slightly, almost imperceptibly. 00:31:14.019 --> 00:31:16.460 Hear how she moves the microphone away from her 00:31:16.460 --> 00:31:19.160 mouth to create a fade out that no fader on a 00:31:19.160 --> 00:31:22.160 mixing board could ever replicate. Listen for 00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:24.720 that shift from the deep burnished contralto 00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:27.779 up to that delicate ringing soprano, sometimes 00:31:27.779 --> 00:31:29.559 in the same word. Treat it like you're listening 00:31:29.559 --> 00:31:31.740 to a masterclass in physics and art combined, 00:31:31.940 --> 00:31:33.339 because when you listen to Sarah Vaughan, that's 00:31:33.339 --> 00:31:35.400 exactly what it was. It truly was the divine 00:31:35.400 --> 00:31:37.700 one. Thanks for diving deep with us today. We'll 00:31:37.700 --> 00:31:38.339 catch you on the next one.