At Mister Kelly's [Live]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
After a rather shaky start (she can't find her key on "September in the Rain," knocks over a microphone stand, and stumbles on some lyrics during "Willow Weep for Me"), it doesn't take Sarah Vaughan long to overcome these glitches and deliver a nuanced, intimate performance on this live gig. Recorded in August 1957, this date features pianist Jimmy Jones, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Roy Haynes. As should be expected, their solid performance is strictly accompaniment and, for the most part, unspectacular. The show, of course, belongs to Sassy. She swoops, soars, whispers, and belts it out. Her range is jaw dropping; her control and vibrato are simply beyond compare. And although Vaughan asks for her mic to be turned up throughout the performance, she is mixed up front and quite high in the recording--right where she deserves to be. --S. Duda

Tracks:

September In The Rain
Willow Weep For Me
Just One Of Those Things
Be Anything But Darling Be Mine
Thou Swell
Stairway To The Stars
Honeysuckle Rose
Just A Gigolo
How High The Moon
Dream
I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter
It's Got To Be Love
Alone
If This Isn't Love
Embraceable You
Lucky In Love
Dancing In The Dark
Poor Butterfly
Sometimes I'm Happy
I Cover The Waterfront

Amazon.com essential recording

After a rather shaky start (she can't find her key on "September in the Rain," knocks over a microphone stand, and stumbles on some lyrics during "Willow Weep for Me"), it doesn't take Sarah Vaughan long to overcome these glitches and deliver a nuanced, intimate performance on this live gig. Recorded in August 1957, this date features pianist Jimmy Jones, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Roy Haynes. As should be expected, their solid performance is strictly accompaniment and, for the most part, unspectacular. The show, of course, belongs to Sassy. She swoops, soars, whispers, and belts it out. Her range is jaw dropping; her control and vibrato are simply beyond compare. And although Vaughan asks for her mic to be turned up throughout the performance, she is mixed up front and quite high in the recording--right where she deserves to be. --S. Duda

Customer Reviews:

A Master At Work.......2003-02-08

I never got to hear Sassy perform live, but two albums changed that: this one at Mister Kelly's in Chicago and "Sassy Swings The Tivoli" in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The biggest difference is that "At Mister Kelly's" features Sarah Vaughan with her trio of stellar musicians - no Quincy Jones. Her usual thang, just her and her fellas - and the synergy is fantastic and warm. The whole CD is great (half of the songs weren't even on the original album) and my favorites are "Stairway To The Stars", "Be Anything But Darling Be Mine", "Dancing In The Dark" and "Poor Butterfly" (it is wonderful when she replaces some of the lyrics with 'Thank You!'). In the liner notes, Lee Jeske says "that's the way she most liked to work, and that's the context in which she consistently did her finest singing." This CD makes that quite apparent.

Live small group jazz at its finest!.......2002-10-04

Jazz takes many forms, and this is one of the best live vocalist plus trio albums ever. Vaughan's interplay with the audience, soundman and her trio gives this album a depth and richness often lost in today's overproduced, slick musical world. Her voice is lyrically stupendous and displays incredible range. Her attitude is often playful, sometimes worldly wise. To me, this is jazz at its best: live, small ensemble, rich, real and, of course, Sarah...

...humanly divine...(blemishes and all)..........2002-03-21

...at first lissen, i thought a fight or somethin had broke out...(in my overactive imagination, i thought that maybe ella fitzgerald was bumrushin the stage in protest or somethin)...
but all that happened was that ms. vaughan had knocked somethin over...(dag! that all!?!?!)...
whatever mishaps or miscues occur over the course of this outting (and there are a few!) sista sarah holds it down!!
she aint jus 'sassy' here, she's funny and sincere and completely professional...she's for real and honest and that is somethin that studio recorded albums sometimes miss out on...

(maaan, thank god nobody with a camera or recorder was around when i was makin my mistakes!!! i couldnt be this graceful!!! it might've gotten ugly if it was me...somethin like "maaan, you betta gimme that tape!!")

sometimes adversity breeds somethin beautiful...and while this is far from being sista sarah's technical best, it most definitely is one of her warmest recordings and i enjoy it more than her other so-called 'soulful' performances...yall cant go wrong with this one...

Some Albums should remain in the archives........2001-12-06

If this were any other vocalist, a rating of 5 stars would be well-deserved, but it is not. This album is sung by one of the world's greatest singers! Remarkably, she somehow manages to get through these songs with the help of lyric sheets.

Sarah is not familiar with over half of the songs: she forgets words to standard tunes; the pianist starts the song, "Willow weep for me" in the wrong key--she also knocks over a music stand during this song; she banters with the audience and demands, loudly, that the microphone's volume be turned up; there are obvious slurs and articulation concerns--it is hoped by now we get the drift.

It is sad and exploitive that every out-take, every snippet and every audible word by an artist is produced for public comsumption. Granted, some out-takes and composition break-downs are of educational use, and should only be intended for historians and students of Jazz. Only one of the songs (Embraceable You), is really worthy of a listen, and even here, this tearful rendition brings up concerns.

This album is not a good representation of Sarah Vaughan's singing; most of the songs presented here are below par. I only recommed this album for historians and students of Jazz.

ANOTHER ESSENTIAL.......2001-09-12

Even technical problems can't take a hold on a talent like SARAH VAUGHAN ,who manages to improvises in the process of delivering WILLOW WEEP FOR ME and HOW HIGH THE MOON.The fact that she always enjoyed recording in a trio setting tells a lot about her stature as a singer.SARAH doesn't need to be surrounded by horns and strings;she most of the times use her voice like a musician in a true display of an incredible range that was admired by the likes of opera singers.If you've heard I'M GONNA SIT DOWN AND WRITE MYSELF A LETTER and DANCING IN THE DARK done by CROSBY or SINATRA,theses songs are treated in the so called SASSY mold;she slows them down and realizes a totally original interpretation,so that it is almost unrecognizable.An ordinary singer could not have done that,but as you know,SARAH VAUGHAN was no ordinary singer.