After Hours – SARAH VAUGHAN****

My Favourite Things/Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye/Wonder Why/You’d Be So Easy To Love/Sophisticated Lady/ Great Day/Ill Wind/If Love Is Good To Me/In A Sentimental Mood/Vanity/Through The Years

After Hours is an intimate collection of songs from jazz vocalist Sarah Vaughan focussing on ballads with minimal backing. It should not be confused with her 1955 Columbia album with the same title.

“Accompanied solely by Mundell Lowe on guitar and George Duvivier on bass, Sarah shows why she's considered one of the greatest jazz singers. The choice of songs focuses on ballads. The two musicians offer the ideal arrangements for Sarah. Perfect swing and romantic ballads, with Sarah singing wonderfully.”

“This collection of songs shows the quiet and meditative side of Sarah, as she tones down after her somewhat over-the-top early recordings. She croons here with only a bass and guitar, and although at first I was sceptical, I soon became delighted and began to marvel at the control she so easily exhibits.”

“In this most unusual album, Sarah Vaughan conjures up images of after hours performances in smoke-filled clubs, where a few sad and lonely people nurse their drinks and listen to a solitary singer crooning softly. Here Vaughan sings 'pure', without a big band behind her, without sharing the stage with a jazz superstar, and without any restrictions on her own interpretations. Accompanied only by a guitar and a bass, both of which play quietly in the background, Vaughan turns in a remarkable performance, recording her most intimate album, one in which she makes the listener feel as if each song is sung for no one else.”

“The 'real' Sarah Vaughan is totally in charge here, singing her mellowest, smoothest, and most intimate album ever. There is a moody, blue Sarah in many songs, and the album is for quiet times, not celebrations. If you are a lover of Sarah and wished her to sing a private concert for you alone, this is your chance.”

“Well as always there is only one Sarah, she is divine on this session. She makes all the so called pop singers of today look like the most incompetent amateurs. You can easily visualize the setting; cigarette smoke curling in eddies to create a blue haze that serves as an aura to Sarah, the occasional clink of bottles and glasses in jazz rhythm to her satin smooth sound; the unbroken silence of the raptly attentive audience to every mesmeric note.”