Q:
Why did you decide to write a biography of Sarah Vaughan, and how many
"musical lives" did she have?
A:
I didn’t discover Sarah Vaughan until college, and I was immediately drawn to
her singing. I loved the way her voice sounded, the musical choices she made,
and the sheer presence she exuded when she sang.
A
couple of years later, I had an opportunity to study her in graduate school.
This is when I learned more about the woman behind the music.
I
was fascinated with how she, often the only woman in the band, immersed herself
in the very masculine world of jazz. How she always stood up for herself and
her musical choices. She insisted on singing the way she wanted, regardless of
what others expected.
And
I admired her lifelong mission to defy categorization, even when the world
around her wanted to label and pigeonhole her. I found this all incredibly
powerful and moving.
But
after finishing my degree, I left Sarah behind. I went off and lived my life
and pursed other projects. I always assumed that someone else would write the
biography Sarah Vaughan deserved. (There were already two attempts, but both seemed
incomplete.) This never happened, so a few years ago, I decided to do it
myself.
Sarah
Vaughan had many musical lives. She really could do it all. As a child, she
sang spirituals in her church choir and played classical piano. In her teens,
as a girl singer in the big bands, she was as at the forefront of bebop, the
new avant-garde style that defined the direction of modern jazz.
She
also sang exquisite romantic ballads and delightful showtunes. She recorded
cheesy pop hits in the 1950s and later made forays into R&B, rockabilly,
rock n’ roll, and disco, though she hated these. In the 1970s and 1980s, she
became a master of Brazilian music and an operatic diva performing with the
word’s finest symphony orchestras. She even did an album where she sang the
poetry of a young Pope John Paul II.
She
was always exploring, stretching, and trying new things. At her core, she was a
singer and creative being.
Queen
of Bebop is organized around three phases, or crossover moments, in Sarah’s
career: her journey from church girl in Newark to big band girl singer; her
transition from bebop innovator to pop star; and finally her transition from
jazz icon to symphonic diva.
Q:
How did you research the book, and was there anything that especially surprised
you in the course of your research?
A:
I love immersing myself in the past and sifting through old newspapers,
magazines, and recordings. It’s like a treasure hunt and you never know what
gems you are going to find.
So
I visited a lot of archives and took full advantage of all of the new databases
of digitized periodicals that have popped up in the past 10 years. I looked at
publications by both the black and white press—be it newspapers from the big
cities and tiny towns where Vaughan toured; trade journals like Variety, Billboard,
Metronome, and Down Beat; or lifestyle magazines like Life and Ebony.
I
then supplemented this wtih my own interviews of her friends and co-workers,
oral histories, tapes of old radio shows, press releases, re-discovered videos
of her live performances, private tapes of her rehearsals and chats with
friends, and, of course, the writings of other historians. In the end, a rich,
very dynamic and vibrant portrait of Sarah Vaughan emerged.
There
were many surprises. Some came in the form of wonderful anecdotes about Sarah
rubbing shoulders with her fellow giants of the day. (I’m not going to spill
the beans on these here!)
Others
were disheartening. I uncovered new stories about the racism she faced and the
true extent of the domestic abuse she experienced. The abuse, in particular,
was very difficult for me to write about.
For
me, however, the most pleasant surprise was re-discovering Sarah’s own voice. When
I first began studying her almost 20 years ago, I couldn’t find that many
interviews with her and biographies really didn’t include many of her own
words. There seemed to be a void.
Sarah
was a quiet, introverted woman, and the interviews that she did give were often
curt, abrupt, and adversarial. So I assumed that she simply didn’t give that
many interviews.
This
was not the case. Thanks to these new, remarkable databases of digital
newspapers, I discovered that Sarah, in fact, did many interviews. (She still
didn’t enjoy them, but she gave them.)
And
here I found more examples of her humor and wit, musings on society and the
music industry, and her place in it. She was remarkably consistent in her
worldviews. Whenever possible, I’ve re-inserted Sarah’s voice into her life
story.
Q:
What are some of the most common perceptions and misperceptions about Vaughan?
A:
One of the most enduring myths about Sarah is that she was the creation of her
first husband-manager. He’s often described as a Pygmalion or Svengali-like
figure who masterminded a dramatic, glamorizing makeover that jumpstarted her
career.
Well,
it’s more complicated than this. This myth was, in fact, the product of an
elaborate publicity campaign devised by her husband to assert more control in
their crumbling personal and professional partnership. Queen of Bebop delves
deeper, separating fact from fiction while considering why this myth has
endured.
Another
aspect of Sarah’s legacy that has been overlooked is her involvement with the development
of bebop, alongside luminaries like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, in the
early 1940s. She was in the thick of it, keeping up with all of the boys, and
she played an important role in popularizing the music of her fellow bebop
instrumentalists.
Today
Sarah is best known for her slow, romantic ballads, which don’t fit our
preconceptions of bebop singing. But much of her musical style—her harmonic language
and how she used her voice—and, most importantly, her worldviews were
established during her early bebop days.
Q:
What is her legacy today?
A:
There is no doubt that Sarah Vaughan has influenced the generations of
vocalists who followed in her wake. When I’m listening to jazz singers, I often
hear a vocal inflection or turn of phrase that reminds me of Sarah.
But
I think a more lasting part of her legacy is that she really changed the way
that vocalists, especially women, thought about their voices, their approach to
making music, and their role in an ensemble.
When
I interviewed singers, they told me how much they learned from watching and
listening to Sarah. They saw the unwavering respect that the guys in the band
had for her, the intimate musical conversations that she had with musicians, how
she owned her musical choices, and it reminded them that they were more than
just a “chick singer.” They were serious musicians too.
Q:
What are you working on now?
A:
I’m still in the land of Sarah Vaughan, which is fine by me. I love her! And
now that the book is out, people are sharing their Sarah Vaughan stories with
me. This has been wonderful. It gives me new ways to think about Sarah, her
legacy, and how she moved her listeners. So don’t hesitate to reach out if you
have a favorite Sassy memory!
I’ve
also been spending more time with my son. He heads off to kindergarten [soon], and I want to treasure these last moments while he’s still my little
boy.
Q:
Anything else we should know?
A:
Well, I’d like to encourage people to listen to more Sarah Vaughan! If you are
already a fan, keep on listening. And if you are new to Sarah, here are a few
of my favorites to get you started:
“Over the Rainbow” (television broadcast, Holland, 1958) Check out what she does at
the 2:54 mark. Amazing!
“Don’t Blame Me” (from One Night Stand: The Town Hall Concert, live 1947)
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
