Billy Eckstine & Quincy Jones at Basin Street East, 1961

One of the smoothest and most successful jazz and pop vocalists of the 1940s and '50s, Billy Eckstine was also one of the most forward-thinking, as we can infer from the lineup of his famous orchestra of the mid-'40s, which included soon-to-be famous jazzmen such as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, and Art Blakey, among many others. Not only was Mr. B a fantastic vocalist, but he was also an intelligent man who made his mark socially and politically. As critic Will Friedwald has noted in his Biographical Guide, "before Louis Armstrong or Nat King Cole dared sing anything other than the blues or novelties, Billy Eckstine was among the first to show the world that the black man could be intellectual, passionate, sensitive, literate, articulate, proud—and profound." Indeed, Eckstine was all this, but most of all, he was profound: his voice was rich and deep, and he imbued everything he sang with a depth that very few singers in jazz, pop, or any other style could even dream of achieving. He felt at ease singing different types of music, but he excelled at the art of the ballad, particularly that of the intimate, emotionally deep variety, like his big 1947 hit, "Everything I Have Is Yours." No wonder that his female fans—black and white alike, in a time of open segregation, no less—went wild over him. He was simply just that deep, that emotional, that attractive.

Producer and arranger Quincy Jones.

By October 1961, when he was recorded live at Basin Street East in New York City, Eckstine's hit-making days were pretty much over, yet he was still at his peak vocally. For this engagement at the legendary club, Mr. B assembled a fantastic orchestra including great musicians such as trumpeter Joe Newman, trombonists Curtis Fuller and Melba Liston, and altoist Phil Woods. With Quincy Jones at the helm and taking care of the arrangements, the results couldn't be anything but outstanding. The album kicks off with a spirited R&B-inflected reading of "All Right, Okay, You Win" that makes it instantly clear that Eckstine still has it and that the listener is in for a real treat. After jokingly describing himself as "the Fabian of the forties," Eckstine goes into a lovely medley of three ballads ("I'm Falling for You," "Fool That I Am," and the classic "Everything I Have Is Yours") that show his mastery of the romantic ballad to great effect. Cole Porter's "In the Still of the Night" is infused with a tasteful Latin beat that suits Eckstine's style perfectly. Next comes one of the highlights of the album—a medley of four Duke Ellington standards that work very well together and that Mr. B performs effortlessly, apparently in front of Ellington himself, who was in the audience on that particular night. Eckstine then moves into more contemporary territory, and his interpretation of Nat Adderley's "Work Song" is surprising for its gospel undertones. The album closes with a fun, swinging rendition of the Con Conrad novelty "Ma (She's Making Eyes at Me)" that once again indicates Eckstine's versatility. Released on Mercury as Billy Eckstine & Quincy Jones at Basin Street East, this is one of Eckstine's best live records, and my only complaint about it is that it's entirely too short.

Sarah Vaughan Swings Again, 1967

Not that Sarah Vaughan had quit swinging by 1967, but she had been concentrating on more pop-oriented albums such as Viva! Vaughan, Sarah Vaughan Sings the Mancini Songbook, Pop Artistry, and The New Scene in 1965-66 alone. For her final Mercury outing, she was back on jazz territory with a swinging big band session that was issued under the very appropriate title of Sassy Swings Again. The psychedelic look of the album's cover has more to do with the time period than with the music in its grooves. For this project, Vaughan enlisted the help of four different arrangers—Bob James, J.J. Johnson, Manny Albam, and Thad Jones—but the results are surprisingly consistent, as though only one arranger had been employed. The sessions, held over two days in January 1967, included such top jazzmen as Kai Winding, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Newman, Benny Golson, and Phil Woods, so the sound is powerful and exciting. In the company of these outstanding musicians, Sassy was definitely swinging again.

The energy is evident from the very first track, a scat-filled version of "Sweet Georgia Brown," taken at a characteristically breakneck tempo. The song selection is full of classic standards ("S'posin'," "I Want to Be Happy," "Take the A Train"), all of them sung at a medium or fast pace, without much room for ballads. Vaughan even extracts some swing out of Irving Berlin's "All Alone," which Frank Sinatra had recently used as the title track of one of his lesser-known slow albums, and digs deep for some rarely heard numbers like Richard Rodgers's "The Sweetest Sounds," Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh's "On the Other Side of the Tracks," and Alan Jay Lerner's "I Had a Ball." Sassy's elegantly swinging reading of the Tony Bennett hit "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" is impressive, and she also has a chance to prove that she can tackle a blues standard convincingly on "Everyday I Have the Blues," one of the standout tracks on the LP. This isn't Vaughan's best-remembered album (in fact, it wasn't until a Facebook friend recently alerted me to it that I was even reminded that it existed; thanks Luis!) but it's a wholly satisfying jazz date with some high-class sidemen that deserves a serious listen.

Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie, July 1963

My friend and colleague, Dan Nappo, recently drove up to St. Louis and surprised me by bringing me back a copy of Ella and Basie!, a superb album that I heard quite a bit growing up but that, for some strange reason, never became a part of my jazz collection—until now. Dan's thoughtful gift has given me the chance to listen to it once again all these years later, which made me realize what a fantastic record it is, undoubtedly one of the high points in the long careers of both Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie. The high-powered pairing of the vocal jazz diva and the perfectly oiled swing machine commanded by Basie was caught on tape by Verve Records owner, Norman Granz, over two sessions held in July 1963, and at that time, the band featured such outstanding musicians as trumpeter Joe Newman, trombonists Urbie Green and Benny Powell, reedmen Frank Foster and Frank Wess, drummer Sonny Payne, and trusty guitarist Freddie Green. As if that weren't enough, Quincy Jones was at the helm and provided all the charts, and from the outset, it became clear that the emphasis would be on solid swing rather than slow numbers. As a matter of fact, even the few ballads we find among the 12 selections on the original LP have a certain sexy bounce to them—"My Last Affair" is a good example of this—and on one, "Dream a Little Dream of Me," Basie contributes to the dreamy atmosphere by switching to organ.

Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie.

But we mustn't forget that this is a meeting between two giants of rhythm, and so the repertoire has been chosen accordingly. Ella had introduced "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall" when she cut it for Decca with the Ink Spots in the mid 1940s, but this version with the Basie band is the polar opposite of the earlier recording, allowing Ella to swing freely, as she does on many other tracks, like "Tea for Two," "I'm Beginning to See the Light," and "Ain't Misbehavin'." Quincy Jones understood the Basie outfit perfectly, so his arrangements spotlight the amazing musicianship of the orchestra as a whole, and some of the numbers become vehicles for Ella's exciting scatting. That is the case of "Honeysuckle Rose," "Them There Eyes," and "Satin Doll," on which Ella's scatted contributions turn her into yet another soloist within the band. Both Duke Ellington's "Satin Doll" and Frank Foster's "Shiny Stockings" find Ella swinging at her most elegant and sophisticated, and "On the Sunny Side of the Street," with Ella's playful handling of the Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields tune, is a fitting finale for a marvelous album. The 1997 digipack CD reissue includes several takes of "My Last Affair" and "Robbins' Nest" (the latter not used on the album) which provide some insight into the recording process. Ella and Basie would meet again a number of times in subsequent years, but this first encounter remains the most satisfying.