Sarah Vaughan - The Divine One (Masters of American Music)

Customer Reviews:

Nice DVD intro to Sarah Vaughan.......2007-08-05

Great intro into the life and art of one of the greatest vocal artists of jazz...
If there were a bit more jazz and a bit less life I would be even more pleased (and the customer who complains about the quality of the recording is not completely of the point), but still, if you're a sassy fan, don't miss on this one...

Sassy. . . ........2006-11-11

This DVD of Sarah Vaughan provides a good overview of "The Divine One's" life and music. To be honest, it does leave you wishing it were longer, but there are some impressive clips of her in concert (including some rare 70's footage of her brilliantly accompanying herself at the piano as a guest of Dick Cavett). With a voice that approached operatic proportions, Sarah Vaughan lived with as much gusto as she sang. It is also interesting to see how much Sarah Vaughan's life and music compares and contrasts with that of her contemporary, Ella Fitzgerald, who was the only other jazz singer of the same era who possessed as great a musical gift. Amazingly, Vaughan ate copiously, drank, smoked, partied hard--activities that would normally kill a voice well before its time. Yet she STILL retained her magnificent instrument! If anything, I swear she got better with age--I caught one the last performances before her death in New York City at the infamous Blue Note!

This bio also features the requisite interviews with friends, musical peers and family (her mother and only child, her daughter Paris, are also notably featured). While "The Divine One" clearly leaves you wanting more, it is still a great collector's item--a bird's eye view of one of the two greatest jazz singers--the other of course being Ella Fitzgerald--of the 20th century.

Sassy' voice did not deserve to be butchered..........2005-08-01

I'm sorry to say this: THIS DVD SHOULD NEVER HAD BEEN RELEASED.
If you notice they call it a videocassette in the inital copy warnings, twice... Video quality is pretyy much NTSC VHS.

I'm a great fan of Sarah since 1973, when I heard her, at the Cascais Jazz festival, weeping and apologizing for a failure that occurred in the sound system, and own 13 LP's of her great art. All of them sound better that the Dolby crap on this DVD, including above all the "Mono" Mercury with Clifford Brown. The 1978 "How Long has this been going on" is a treasure..

Sarah Vaughn is to be heard and to TO BE FELT. This DVD contains too little music, too much babbling, no PCM Audio, no Subtitles.

It is pure exploitation and BMG should be ashamed of publishing it.
If there is no better video/film footage of Sarah available anywhere, do no publish any video, leave us blind. I'm only sorry for the earing impared, but what can I do?...

The Divine One - says it all.......2004-10-05

I have loved this video-biography of Sarah Vaughan, from the day I first viewed it. I have two copies on VHS and one on DVD. If I have to fault this video, it is that the live performance clips are far too short, leaving you wanting more. They offer nothing more than a tantalizing glimpse of Sarah Vaughan's musical genius.

By far my most favourite excerpt is "The Shadow of Your Smile". This live performance outdoes any other recording I have ever heard by another artist and even outdoes Sarah Vaughan's studio recording with Mercury Records. I wish I could obtain the complete performance of this live rendition.

It sounds trite I know, but this is a must have for any self-respecting Sarah Vaughan fan.

MY IDOL..MY MENTOR... Sassy Sarah.......2003-10-20

This DVD retains the life of Sarah in the presence of audiences worldwide. Notice how smooth she appears and how graceful she is as she performs. SMOOTH as fine chocolates and wine! Sass' vocal range is well over the five octaves found on a 88-key piano! What a fine singer Sarah (Sass) Lois Vaughan was. Sass will always be my idol and mentor forever in spirit; she is well missed. And, this DVD highlighting the Divine One's life from start to end is a long-lasting treasure for those (like me) who adored Ms. Sarah Lois Vaughan known also as Sassy Sarah. This is from a fan forever. **Angie**

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