Sarah Vaughan
vocals
Jazz singer of the bebop era; in Barry’s memories she is the star whose arrival at 1:30 a.m. could pack Detroit’s Bluebird club before closing time, and she was named an NEA Jazz Master in 1989, the same year as Barry.
- mentions
- 5
- recordings
- 4
- Barry speaking
- 3
What Barry says
Barry calls the Bluebird in Detroit a magic place. It closed at two, yet if Sarah Vaughan walked in at half past one, the empty room would be packed within minutes. Nobody ran to the telephone; word simply travelled, like a grapevine.
Detroit Jazz: Ancient to the Future31:5832:32Interview: the Bluebird in Detroit0:34Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶186Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶13
Asked about Detroit’s Paradise Theater, Barry says nearly every town had a theatre like it, names the Apollo as a jazz house where Sarah Vaughan and many others got their start, and uses it to argue that the music has since been cut off from dancing.
When the interviewer names Hank Jones and Sarah Vaughan as fellow 1989 NEA Jazz Masters, Barry is struck to find himself in Hank Jones’s company.
Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶339Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶340Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶341
In his own words
The Bluebird closed as 2 o’clock, and at 1:30 Sarah Vaughan would come in or Bird would come in. And do you know what? Before ten minutes that joint would be packed with people.
We had the Apollo. The Apollo was a jazz place. That’s where Sarah Vaughan and a lot of people got started — in the Apollo.
from 1.30 to 2... that’s just like a half an hour. An empty joint would suddenly be packed full of people because Sarah [Vaughan] came in
Every mention
5 moments in the recordings, 3 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Detroit Jazz: Ancient to the Future
Interview: the Bluebird in Detroit
- 0:34
The same Bluebird story in the 1981 clip; her name is captioned ‘Ceylon’.
Barry Harris, Red Rodney, Charles McPherson, Ray Drummond, Ben Riley - 1992-08-29, Riverside Park
- 34:13
Someone else
A narrator says Barry stocked a Port Authority bowling-alley jukebox with Vaughan, Hawkins, Monk and Lee Morgan.
My Chat With Chris Parks From Things I Learned From Barry Harris
- 12:30
A student
A former student learning Barry’s rare tunes sought straight melody singers, not Vaughan’s or Billie Holiday’s versions.
In the interviews and notes
Barry compares the Bluebird to Marvin Gaye’s grapevine song: when Sarah Vaughan or Bird turned up half an hour before closing, the club filled within ten minutes, though nobody had telephoned anyone.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶186Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶13
Asked about Detroit’s Paradise Theater, Barry says every town had such a theatre, points to the Apollo as the place where Sarah Vaughan began, and laments that music and dancing have been separated.
Discussing his 1989 NEA Jazz Masters award, Barry hears that Hank Jones and Sarah Vaughan were honoured the same year and marvels at being alongside Hank Jones.
Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶339Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶340Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶341
In a section on bebop and dance, de Lima cites Vaughan’s memory, from Dizzy Gillespie’s autobiography, of playing dances where the few who understood the new music kept dancing in a corner while everyone else stood staring at the band.