Also known as "Sassy" or just plain Sass, Sarah Vaughan grew up in Newark, NJ and was fortunate to be discovered at a young age by Billy Eckstine, as he was putting together a powerful new band in the late '30s. The bebop movement of the '40s would be launched by this group and its members, including saxophonists Charlie Parker and Gene Ammons, trumpeter Dizzie Gillespie, and drummer Art Blakey. Any singer fronting this band needed incredible chops, a wide vocal range, and a musical spirit of adventure. Vaughan had a huge talent even at this point in her late teens, but she still made a point of hanging out late with all the boys in the band, more as an equal than some sort of adornment. Masters of American Music: Sarah Vaughan - The Divine One does a great job of painting the picture of Sassy for modern audiences, as an artist that rose to incredible heights quickly, regularly beating out all the other female vocalists of her time in public opinion polls. The other side of this coin is explored at length in the film, with numerous interviews highlighting the extent to which Vaughan was incredibly private, guarded, and possibly insecure. The decision that Vaughan made to focus on jazz rather than pop may have prevented her from becoming a bigger act, but she is still shown performing later in life with full string orchestras, in huge halls, with the spotlight beaming down on her. She realized stardom to a great extent, but it is fascinating to consider that she might have been less than comfortable wearing her diva persona.
The pace and direction of this edition of Masters of American Music is great, with plenty of segments sans edits, that just let you bask in the greatness of The Divine One. A heartbreakingly beautiful rendition of Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns" creates a kind of musical coda in the film, and you get a chance before that to see Sassy swinging with small groups and big bands, singing standards like "Misty," "Tenderly," and performing "Body and Soul," the song Eckstine heard from her in the '30s that convinced him she was the new vocalist for his band. The only rub is that we don't get to hear as much scat singing, something that Vaughan did better than almost any other female vocalist ever in jazz, with the possible exception of Ella Fitzgerald. Where Fitzgerald tended toward the cute or sweet, Sassy had that ability to pull off blistering bop lines leading to sultry blues shouts, coupled with low melodies connected by her unique brand of portamento. Modern jazz singers like Cassandra Wilson and pop stars like Jill Scott owe Vaughan a debt of gratitude, but you are just as likely to hear instrumentalists praising Vaughan's renditions of favorite tunes. It's impossible to hear players like Von Freeman or Johnny Griffin without acknowledging Vaughan, and fellow Eckstine band member Gene Ammons certainly went on to create some dramatic melodic treatments that sound like instrumental "covers" of Vaughan's work. Masters of American Music: Sarah Vaughan - The Divine One treats the musician, the woman, the mother, and the wife as worthwhile subjects, and we end up with a wonderful compact biography of Sassy. Fans of her music will find some new aspects to appreciate, and anyone new to jazz would be wise to make this his first step toward learning about a female vocalist that in many ways typified jazz, while constantly stretching its boundaries and making her mark.
