Essential Sarah Vaughan, The

This two-CD set would be more properly titled "The Essential Early Sarah Vaughan," as it consists solely of recordings from 1944 to 1953. That's a small point, but a significant one. The non-experts these anthologies are primarily targeted toward might assume from the grand title that it's a true "best of," and it isn't, lacking any of her big hit singles from the mid- to late-'50s, any of her recordings with Clifford Brown, or any of her post-'50s efforts. That sticky detail dispensed with, The Essential Sarah Vaughan provides a pretty good survey of the jazz singer's early work, and it's a good value, as well, fitting 50 songs onto two discs. Top jazz musicians are all over the place in the varying backup ensembles, including Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Ben Webster, Teddy Wilson, Billy Eckstine (who duets with Vaughan on "I Love You"), and Miles Davis. The less critically respected orchestras of Mitch Miller and Percy Faith are also heard, and some of the orchestrated material has more standard pop in the arrangements than some of the tracks featuring noted jazz stars. The recording quality varies too, getting significantly better on the later sides. None of that affects the musical merits of the performances much, Vaughan settling into her style on a collection with a lot of standards, including "September Song," "What a Difference a Day Made," "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child," "Body and Soul," "Summertime," "Ain't Misbehavin'," "It Might As Well Be Spring," "Nice Work If You Can Get It," and "Nature Boy" (the last of which uses only the voices of the Earl Rodgers Choir as accompaniment, as it was recorded during the 1948 musicians union strike). ~ Richie Unterberger|