Sarah Vaughan At Mister Kelly's

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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. Her unerring sense of rhythm carries her through every song on this set, whether the occasion calls for playfulness and wit ("Thou Swell," "Honeysuckle Rose") or a world-wise melancholia ("Willow Weep for Me"). Her accompanists are a valuable anchor, with Haynes' drumming just as precise as Sassy's vocals and Jones' piano solos adding additional vitality. Recorded in Aug 6, 1957 at Mister Kelly's, Chicago Released in 1957 Label: EmArcy (LP) Released in 2007 CD Verve (Catalog # 000940402) with bonus tracks Track Listing 1. "September in the Rain" (Al Dubin, Harry Warren) – 3:30 2. "Willow Weep for Me" (Ann Ronell) – 5:16 3. "Just One of Those Things" (Cole Porter) – 3:18 4. "Be Anything (But Be Mine)" (Irving Gordon) – 4:50 5. "Thou Swell" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) – 2:44 6. "Stairway to the Stars" (Matty Malneck, Mitchell Parish, Frank Signorelli) – 5:06 7. "Honeysuckle Rose" (Andy Razaf, Fats Waller) – 3:39 8. "Just a Gigolo" (Julius Brammer, Irving Caesar, Leonello Casucci) – 4:10 9. "How High the Moon" (Nancy Hamilton, Morgan Lewis) – 4:27 10. "Dream" (Johnny Mercer) – 3:38 11. "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down (And Write Myself a Letter)" (Fred E. Ahlert, Joe Young) – 2:30 12. "It's Got to Be Love" (Rodgers, Hart) – 5:13 13. "Alone" (Nacio Herb Brown, Arthur Freed) – 2:29 14. "If This Isn't Love" (Yip Harburg, Burton Lane) – 2:25 15. "Embraceable You" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 2:47 16. "Lucky in Love" (Lew Brown, Buddy DeSylva, Ray Henderson) – 2:10 17. "Dancing in the Dark" (Howard Dietz, Arthur Schwartz) – 3:36 18. "Poor Butterfly" (John Golden, Raymond Hubbell) – 4:45 19. "Sometimes I'm Happy" (Caesar, Vincent Youmans) – 2:00 20. "I Cover the Waterfront" (Johnny Green, Edward Heyman) – 4:07.

via Last.fm