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Reel-to-reel: NEW! 2-TRACK - SARAH VAUGHAN/ BILLY ECKSTINE: IRVING BERLIN -7 1/2 IPS REEL TAPE
78.00 USD
0.01 USD
30 Jan 2022
23 Jan 2022
14 bids
1524
5461
United States
Brand New
Jazz
1950s
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UNPLAYED / ‘SEALED’ N.O.S.
7-1/2 IPS 2-TRACK REEL TAPE
MERCURY MDS2-9
BILLY ECKSTINE & SARAH VAUGHAN
SING THE BEST OF IRVING BERLIN
We test every reel tape we list on eBay except for Unplayed / Sealed N.O.S. tapes in paper-sealed, shrink-wrapped, and sometimes, unsealed boxes.
This reel tape is Unplayed, New Old Stock.
Please take a look at the photos; you will see that the tape appears to be unplayed, the square cut start end of the tape is still held down to the back side of the reel with what appears to be the original — and obviously-undisturbed — adhesive tab.
This reel tape came with a small batch of NOS 2-track tapes and is is sealed with a short section of 1/4”-wide adhesive-backed paper tape on the reel - it is Unplayed, New Old Stock.
We acquired a used copy of this reel tape along with this as-new copy; you can read the test/review below:
I love Sarah Vaughan’s style! I can take or leave Billy Eckstine usually, but partnered with Sassy he’s A-OK. Needless to say Irving Berlin’s songs are pop classics. This was a fun tape to test.
The sound quality of this 7-1/2 i.p.s. tape, as usual for Mercury, is excellent and the stereo presentation is decent.
This 2-track played from start to finish without any glitches of any sort.
The tape is still fresh, it’s supple, shiny and flat.
A new long leader and tail were spliced onto the ends.
The tape is wound flat on the reel.
This reel tape is wound tail-out as all 2-track and quad tapes should be - it will need to be re-wound to play.
Please see the photos to check the condition of the box and reel.
Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstine Sing the Best of Irving Berlin is a 1957 studio album featuring Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughan, and the songs of Irving Berlin.
Although Vaughan had made many recordings with Eckstine, this was their only complete album together.
The AllMusic review by Stephen Cook awarded the album four stars and said that "Sometimes surpassing their splendid solo sides, Vaughan and Eckstine obviously revel in each other's company here, seamlessly blending their voices on most every track...A highlight from the land of vintage vocal jazz.".
- “ Alexander’s Ragtime Band " – 4:02
- “ Isn’t This a Lovely Day? " – 3:53
- “ I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me WarmI " – 4:14
- “ All of My Life " – 3:16
- “ Cheek to Cheek " – 2:46
- “ You’re in Love " – 3:42
- “ Remember " – 2:19
- “ Always " – 2:37
- “ Easter Parade " – 3:14
- “ The Girl That I Marry " – 2:59
- “ Now It Can Be Told " – 3:43
All songs written by Irving Berlin.
- Sarah Vaughan – vocals
- Billy Eckstine – vocals and solo on All of My Life and The Girl That I Marry
- Hal Mooney – arranger, conductor
Sarah Vaughan’s heavenly vocalizing and Billy Eckstine 's velvety deep tone proved an ideal match during the late '40s and throughout the '50s. This 1957 Irving Berlin collection qualifies as the high point of that collaboration. Sometimes surpassing their splendid solo sides, Vaughan and Eckstine obviously revel in each other's company here, seamlessly blending their voices on most every track. Draped in Hal Mooney 's fine and unobtrusive charts, the singers particularly shine on such well-tread Berlin fare as "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" and "Cheek to Cheek"; there are equally splendid readings of the rarely covered "Easter Parade" and "Now It Can Be Told" as well. A highlight from the land of vintage vocal jazz.
Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer.
Nicknamed "Sassy” and “The Divine One”, she won four Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award. She was given an NEA Jazz Masters Award in 1989. Critic Scott Yanow wrote that she had "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century".
Parallels have been drawn between Vaughan's voice and that of opera singers. Jazz singer Betty Carter said that with training Vaughan could have "...gone as far as Leontyne Price.” Bob James, Vaughan's musical director in the 1960s said that "...the instrument was there. But the knowledge, the legitimacy of that whole world were not for her ... But if the aria were in Sarah's range she could bring something to it that a classically trained singer could not."
In a chapter devoted to Vaughan in his book Visions of Jazz, critic Gary Giddins described her as the "...ageless voice of modern jazz – of giddy postwar virtuosity, biting wit and fearless caprice". He concluded by saying that "No matter how closely we dissect the particulars of her talent ... we must inevitably end up contemplating in silent awe the most phenomenal of her attributes, the one she was handed at birth, the voice that happens once in a lifetime, perhaps once in several lifetimes."
Her obituary in The New York Times described her as a "singer who brought an operatic splendor to her performances of popular standards and jazz.” Jazz singer Mel Tormé said that she had "...the single best vocal instrument of any singer working in the popular field." Her ability was envied by Frank Sinatra who said, "Sassy is so good now that when I listen to her I want to cut my wrists with a dull razor." New York Times critic John S, Wilson said in 1957 that she possessed "what may well be the finest voice ever applied to jazz." It was close to its peak until shortly before her death at the age of 66. Late in life she retained a "youthful suppleness and remarkably luscious timbre" and was capable of the projection of coloratura passages described as "delicate and ringingly high”.
Though usually considered a jazz singer, Vaughan avoided classifying herself as one. She discussed the term in a 1982 interview for Down Beat: I don't know why people call me a jazz singer, though I guess people associate me with jazz because I was raised in it, from way back. I'm not putting jazz down, but I'm not a jazz singer ... I've recorded all kinds of music, but (to them) I'm either a jazz singer or a blues singer. I can't sing a blues – just a right-out blues – but I can put the blues in whatever I sing.
In 1989, Vaughan's health began to decline, although she rarely revealed any hints of this in her performances. She canceled a series of engagements in Europe in 1989, citing the need to seek treatment for arthritis of the hand, although she was able to complete a series of performances in Japan. During a run at New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club in 1989, she was diagnosed with lung cancer and was too ill to finish the last day of what would turn out to be her final series of public performances.
Vaughan returned to her home in California to begin chemotherapy and spent her final months alternating stays in the hospital and at home. She grew weary of the struggle and demanded to be taken home, where at the age of 66 she died on the evening of April 3, 1990, while watching a television movie featuring her daughter.