Ann Hampton Callaway: From Sassy to Divine: The Sarah Vaughan Project
Ann Hampton Callaway
From Sassy to Divine: The Sarah Vaughan Project
(After 9 / Shanachie)
September 30, 2014
Reviewed by John Hoglund for Cabaret Scenes
Ann Hampton Callaway’s eagerly anticipated album, recorded live at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, pays loving tribute to the great Sarah Vaughan. The results are an outrageously sublime musical love letter to the jazz legend. Surrounded by some of the finest jazz musicians on the circuit, paired with Callaway’s thrilling vocals, it captures this homage to Vaughan’s artistry with unbridled flair. Like her muse, Callaway sings in the moment and kicks the set off with a rousing “I’m Gonna Live Till I Die,” setting a succinct tone for what’s ahead. And, what lies ahead is a disc of epic proportions.
Callaway becomes a pliant messenger of the jazz world according to Sarah Vaughan with free-falling abandon. “In a Mellow Tone” and “Chelsea Bridge” are highlights that follow a consummate “Misty” that borders on the spiritual. Callaway’s peerless vocals alternately become sassy—and divine—with her personalized, unequaled touches. Her musical relationship with Vaughan and this material is concerted and haunting. She is refreshingly playful and provocative on “Whatever Lola Wants,” then cerebral on a lilting “Someone to Watch Over Me. Jobim’s “Wave” is given an original touch that lingers. A staccato “Mean to Me,” with Ted Rosenthal’s eloquent stride piano and the brilliant Randy Sandke’s superb taunting trumpet forays, fused with the vocals—and Callaway’s eerie trumpet-like scat take the CD to another level. And, it’s done effortlessly. The album, which surely ranks near the top of an impressive output, might be her finest—and it isn’t even a studio recording. Beginning in small clubs in Manhattan to now touring the globe and SRO concerts, Ann Hampton Callaway is one of today’s leading exponents of musical interpretation of jazz as she carries the torch with greatness. That same torch was once held by Vaughan and a plethora of giants. Have no doubt, in time, Callaway will be remembered among them. And, rarely does one capture an assemblage of such brilliant musicians on the same stage. Magic.
Category: Music, Music Reviews
