March 27: Sarah Vaughan Birthday

When I sing, trouble can sit right on my shoulder and I don’t even notice.
~Sarah Vaughan

—
Possessor of one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century, Sarah Vaughan ranked with Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday in the very top echelon of female jazz singers.
~Scott Yanow (allmusic.com)

“Misty” Live 1964:

Wikipedia

Birth name	Sarah Lois Vaughan
Also known as	“Sassy” “The Divine One” “Sailor”
Born	March 27, 1924 Newark, New Jersey, United States
Died	April 3, 1990 (aged 66) Hidden Hills, California
Genres	Vocal jazz, bebop, cool jazz, traditional pop
Occupations	Singer
Years active	1942–1989
Labels	Columbia, Mercury, Roulette,Pablo

Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having “one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century.”

Nicknamed “Sailor” (for her salty speech), “Sassy” and “The Divine One“, Sarah Vaughan was a Grammy Award winner. TheNational Endowment for the Arts bestowed upon her its “highest honor in jazz”, the NEA Jazz Masters Award, in 1989.

Lullaby of Birdland:

Grammy Hall of Fame

Recordings of Sarah Vaughan were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have “qualitative or historical significance.”

Grammy Hall of Fame
Year Recorded	Title	Label	Year Inducted
1954	Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown	Mercury	1999
1946	“If You Could See Me Now“	Musicraft	1998

“I don’t know why people call me a jazz singer, though I guess people associate me with jazz because I was raised in it, from way back. I’m not putting jazz down, but I’m not a jazz singer. Betty Bebop (Carter) is a jazz singer, because that’s all she does. I’ve even been called a blues singer. I’ve recorded all kinds of music, but (to them) I’m either a jazz singer or a blues singer. I can’t sing a blues – just a right-out blues – but I can put the blues in whatever I sing. I might sing ‘Send In the Clowns’ and I might stick a little bluesy part in it, or any song. What I want to do, music-wise, is all kinds of music that I like, and I like all kinds of music.
~Sarah Vaughan

Album of the day

Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown (1955)

In whichever incarnation it’s reissued, Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown is one of the most important jazz-meets-vocal sessions ever recorded.
~John Bush (allmusic.com)

Other March-27

• Ian Robins Dury (12 May 1942 – 27 March 2000) was an English rock and roll singer, lyricist, bandleader, artist, and actor who initially rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and New Wave era of rock music. He is best known as founder and lead singer of the British band Ian Dury and the Blockheads, who were one of the groups of the New Wave era in the UK.
  —
• Anthony George “Tony” Banks (born 27 March 1950) is a British composer and multi-instrumentalist, primarily known for being thekeyboardist and a founding member of the progressive rock group Genesis. He is one of only two members (the other being bassist/guitarist Mike Rutherford) who have been with Genesis throughout its entire history.

-Egil