Sarah Vaughan - Sarah Vaughan in Hi-Fi

2009 CD collection.

Even though Sarah Vaughan recorded for Columbia between 1949 and 1952, only two LPs were culled from the many tracks she produced during this period: the guitar-bass-vocal-only After Hours, and Sarah Vaughan in Hi-Fi, a more jazz-oriented collection featuring a young Miles Davis and tenor player Budd Johnson, among others.

These are among Vaughan's finest recordings, and the stellar accompaniment is reminiscent of the Teddy Wilson's small groups backing Billie Holiday on her Columbia recordings of the '30s. Here the still youthful Vaughan applies her technical mastery to jazz classics like "East of the Sun," "Come Rain or Come Shine," and "The Nearness of You," complete with startlingly elastic phrasing and sheer loveliness of voice.