Jazz Week
The Song of the Day is:
Sarah Vaughan – “Autumn Leaves”
From the album Crazy and Mixed Up (1982)
The falling leaves drift by the window
The autumn leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sun-burned hands I used to hold
Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I’ll hear old winter’s song
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fallJacques Prévert – Joseph Kosma – Johnny Mercer
There are no shortage of female jazz singers, however I’ve always felt that there’s a certain elite trio consisting of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. Sarah Vaughan might be the least known of the three, but that’s not because of a lack of talent or anything (because she has boatloads of that). I figure that her comparative lack of recognition owes to the fact that she has recorded so many songs and has such a large catalog that it can be a bit intimidating to get acquainted with. After all, she had a fifty year recording career and just as many albums, lasting from the early 1940’s to her 1990 death. I’ve included the traditional lyrics to “Autumn Leaves” above, but as one listen could prove, Ms. Vaughan didn’t really take interest in them. She scat-sang her way through the whole song. It’s notable that this is late in her career, as a lady in her mid-fifties, but she still sounded young and vital, a quality that she was well celebrated. She was well known for he scat-singing ability and having much of the same skill and ability of opera singers. Even Frank Sinatra was verbally in awe of her singing. She was known to perform with Billy Eckstein and Earl Hines, as well as being frequently backed by Count Basie. On this particular album, Vaughan was backed by legendary guitarist Joe Pass, a singular talent in jazz. The standard itself is also particularly well-known and has been recorded by most of the well known names in jazz music, as well as singers of popular song (and even rock musicians such as Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and the Everly Brothers). Of course given the time of year, this song choice is especially on point. Johnny Mercer, who is one of the most celebrated Tin Pan Alley lyricists, wrote the English lyrics for “Autumn Leaves”. Vaughan, aka the Divine One or Sassy, died in 1990 after a brief battle with lung cancer. Though she was never able to bear her own children, she did adopt a daughter in 1961.
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A more traditional reading of “Autumn Leaves” by Nat King Cole:
Hear Today, Grown Tomorrow 