Sarah Vaughan - "Feelin' Good" (1972, Mainstream)

22.3.09 - Hello to all the New York Times readers who read the story about the man searching for "Just a Little Lovin" ... a friend sent me the article today. My conjecture is that the guy who finally sent him the song a few weeks ago got it from here ... timing seems right ... anyway welcome, enjoy, say hi in the comments ...

Sarah Vaughan's third studio album for Mainstream Records sits somewhere between the lush orchestrations of the Michel Legrand "Sarah Vaughan" album and the pop-jazz stylings of "Send In The Clowns" and "A Time In My Life".

"Feelin' Good" includes both contemporary pop songs and classics with rich orchestrations coming from three groups of arrangers.

This is not my usual jazz - the album arrived in a throwaway box from a retiring DJ. I dismissed it on a quick listen, but revisited it when I noticed that it was missing from the Shad Shack, and several tracks have grown on me since.

At this stage of her career Vaughan is something of a vocal dramatist, and here refines the dynamic range that Legrand's orchestrations had afforded her on the previous album. To my mind, she hits the mark in spectacular fashion on about half of this album ... and sounds like a drag queen channelling Shirley Bassey on the other half.

Michel Legrand's only contribution here is "Deep in the Night", an extraordinary track that builds from a cocktail bar blues into a full scale drama that leaves you breathless, with vocal and instrumental arrangements that trump anything on their previous collaboration - it ended up being tacked on to the CD re-release of the other album.

"Easy Evil" is a great restrained soulful piece, previously covered on this blog on Marcia Hines' album "Marcia Shines". Some nice wah-wah guitar, building brass and evil strings. "Promise Me" is a good ballad, with a nice reverbed second vocal playing call-and-answer with Vaughan's main vocal.

"Take a Love Song" sounds here like a lost Burt Bacharach number that deserves to be found, and is written by Donny Hathaway - just another example of his lost genius, covered from his second studio album.

"Just a Little Lovin' " is the established sample dig here (though I never quite understand why people want to dig holes that have already been dug, isn't that more canine than hip hop, behaviourly speaking? ) Anyway ... a guy named Irfane had a notable, catchy underground success about four years ago when he chopped it over a compressed house pulse, first running into sample clearance problems and then later releasing it on an album under the moniker "Outlines". Here's that track.

Hope you enjoy this album, just watch out for "Alone Again (Naturally)" and a cover of the Bee Gee's "Run To Me", along with a few of the others they're just a little bit scary. This album is guaranteed 50 % killer!

TRACKLIST
01. And The Feeling's Good (4:20)
(N.Gimbel - C.Fox)
02. Just A Little Lovin' Early In The Mornin' (3:07)
(Mann-Weil)
03. Alone Again (Naturally) (4:25)
(R. O'Sullivan)
04. Rainy Days And Mondays (3:42)
(Nichols-Williams)
05. Deep In The Night (3:17)
(Miller-Miriam)
06. Run To Me (3:00)
(Bee Gees - R.Stigwood)
07. Easy Evil (3:04)
(Alan O'Day)
08. Promise Me (4:00)
(Peter Matz - Carol Hall)
09. Take A Love Song (3:25)
(D.Hathaway - N.McKinnon)
10. Greatest Show On Earth (3:00)
(J.Marcellino - M.Larson)
11. When You Think Of It (4:00)
(R. Allen - A.Kent)

PRODUCTION DETAILS
Mainstream Records MRL 379
Producer - Bobby Shad
Conductor, Arranged By:
Allyn Ferguson (tracks 2, 6, 10)
Jack Elliott (tracks 2, 6, 10)
Michel Legrand (tracks 5)
Peter Matz (tracks 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9)

POST CREDITS
Vinyl rip by Simon666
Links in this post go to the Shad Shack and Daytime Lovers.
Thank them for their work if you go there!

DOWNLOAD WAV - MP3

Please say hi in the comments.