Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. I'll Wait and Pray
2. Signing Off
3. Interlude
4. No Smokes Blues
5. East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)
6. Don't Blame Me
7. Lover Man
8. What More Can a Woman Do
9. I'd Rather Have a Memory Than a Dream
10. Mean to Me
11. All Too Soon
12. Time and Again
13. I'm Scared
14. You Go to My Head
15. I Could Make You Love Me
16. It Might as Well Be Spring
17. We're Through
18. Hundred Years from Today
19. If You Could See Me Now
20. I Could Make You Love Me
21. You're Not the Kind
22. My Kinda Love
23. You're Blase
24. I've Got a Crush on You

Disc 2:

1. I'm Through With Love
2. Everything I Have Is Yours
3. Body and Soul
4. Penthouse Serenade (When We're Alone)
5. Don't Worry 'Bout Me
6. Time After Time
7. September Song
8. I Cover the Waterfront
9. I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You
10. Tenderly
11. Don't Blame Me
12. Lord's Prayer
13. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
14. I Can't Get Started
15. Trouble Is a Man
16. Love Me or Leave Me
17. I'll Wait and Pray
18. I Get a Kick Out of You
19. Man I Love
20. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down (And Write Myself a Letter)
21. One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else)
22. Button up Your Overcoat
23. I Feel So Smoochie

Disc 3:

1. Blue Grass
2. It's You or No One
3. It's Magic
4. What a Diff'rence a Day Makes
5. Gentleman Friend
6. Once in a While
7. How Am I to Know?
8. Nature Boy
9. I'm Glad There Is You
10. Bianca
11. As You Desire Me
12. Black Coffee
13. While You Are Gone
14. Tonight I Shall Sleep (With a Smile on My Face)
15. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)
16. Give Me a Song With a Beautiful Melody
17. Make Believe (You Are Glad When You're Sorry)
18. You Taught Me to Love Again
19. Just Friends
20. Lonely Girl
21. You Say You Care
22. Fool's Paradise
23. I Cried for You

Disc 4:

1. You're Mine, You
2. I'm Crazy to Love You
3. Summertime
4. Nearness of You
5. Ev'ry Day
6. I Love You
7. Dedicated to You
8. You're All I Need
9. Our Very Own
10. Don't Be Afraid
11. Ain't Misbehavin'
12. Goodnight My Love
13. Can't Get Out of This Mood
14. It Might as Well Be Spring
15. Mean to Me
16. Come Rain or Come Shine
17. Nice Work If You Can Get It
18. East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)
19. I Love the Guy
20. Thinking of You
21. Perdido
22. Whippa-Whippa-Woo
23. I'll Know
24. De Gas Pipe She's Leakin' Joe

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42336 in Music
• Released on: 2001-09-24
• Number of discs: 4
• Formats: Box set, Import

Album Description
UK box-set highlights the late jazz icon's early material, representing some of the finest moments of her long career, marked by a purity of voice & performance that wouldn't be achieved again. The four CD set comes with a 44 page booklet including her story, rare pictures & discography.

Customer Reviews

Miraculous
This beautifully-prepared box set, a steal for the price, compiles chronologically with the detailed documentation all of Sassy's pre-Columbia work and then the beginning of her Columbia career. All the incredible recordings for Musicraft and the other small labels on which she began are here, including a very unusual unreleased song titled "Blue Grass," and it's all lovingly remastered. It's a joy to finally have all this music in one place and the great mystery of what was recorded when and appeared how finally solved. The Musicraft recordings are stunning in the choice of material and rich orchestrations. The Columbia recordings remind us yet again of what an empty period THAT was in her recording life before she went to Mercury and was reborn as an artist (actually, two artists--the pop Sarah on Mercury, the jazz Sarah on EmArcy). Sarah would have LOVED this collection!

A Must
Sarah Vaughan has been my favorite for a long while, ever since the Acure commercial featuring her "Key Largo". I purchased this boxed set about a year ago, and I have to say that I am ashamed of myself for not reviewing it sooner. At any rate, I of course loved it, as is hopefully evident from my rating, though I must warn those of you looking to collect the entire Sarah Vaughan discography. I'm not entirely sure that this set includes all of her recordings of the period, though it does apparently include all of the studio recordings. That is to say, there are some live recordings that do not appear on this set, but which can easily be found elsewhere, I'm sure. Still, this includes some of Sassy's most glorious recordings ever. And though the sound quality doesn't compare with today's, her voice still sings out clearly.

The early years from 1944 to 1950
This boxed set contains many excellent recordings that show what a superb singer Sarah Vaughan was even while she was still perfecting her craft. It may surprise some to learn that Sarah racked up ten Billboard chart hits during this period (Tenderly, Nature boy, It's magic, Black coffee, That lucky old sun, Make believe, I'm crazy to love you, Our very own, I love the guy, Thinking of you). None of them were really big hits but they are all brilliant. Of course, some of them might have been bigger hits if Sarah didn't have to compete with versions of the same songs by other more established singers. That was often the way of things in an era when song writing was regarded as a specialist job and singers were not expected to provide their own material, though they sometimes did just that even then.

Sarah's outstanding version of It's magic only just missed the top ten despite competition from Doris Day, for whom the song was written. Occasionally, Sarah had the chance to record the original version, as in the case of Tenderly. Brilliant as it is, it only provided Sarah with a modest hit. More successful was Black coffee, which was a top twenty hit for her. Peggy Lee later covered the song but never released it as a single, instead making it the title track of a classic album. The song is now generally regarded as Peggy's but Sarah's version is well worth a listen.

Don't blame me (revived by the Everly brothers in the sixties), Lover man, Mean to me, It might as well be spring, Body and soul, Love me or leave me, I get a kick out of you, I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter, What a difference a day makes, Summertime, The nearness of you, Ain't misbehaving and Nice work if you can get it are just some of the classic songs here. If you're a fan of the old songs from the forties and earlier, you'll know these songs already. Nevertheless, Sarah's versions are most enjoyable.

Sarah's repertoire in these early days of her recording career mixed various styles including pop, R+B and the jazz that later made her legendary. As such, it may not appeal to some jazz die-hards, but Sarah largely avoided the novelty songs that others sometimes recorded, though the final track of the final CD in this set shows that even Sarah wasn't able to avoid them completely. Don't worry about this track because there's so much else to enjoy here.

Yes, this compilation show that Sarah was brilliant right from the start. The only surprise is that she took so long to achieve legendary status.