Sarah Vaughan – Send In The Clowns

One voice, an orchestra of possibilities

Sarah Vaughan can stretch a melody without losing its underlying shape. A change of tone colour, an unexpected accent or a line allowed extra breathing space can alter the meaning of an entire phrase. On Send in the Clowns, that individual freedom meets the coordinated movement of a large jazz orchestra. The interest lies between the two: a singer working through arrangements that answer her, create contrasts and prepare the space for her next entrance.

This is the Pablo album released in 1981 with the Count Basie Orchestra, not Vaughan’s different Mainstream recording of the same name from 1974. Norman Granz produced the Los Angeles sessions. The distinction is musical as well as bibliographical. Under an identical title sit two separate projects; this one brings Vaughan into a large swing setting, joining long-familiar repertoire to a song that became an important part of her later identity.

The Basie orchestra, but a different pianist

The band’s name can suggest an assumption that the credits correct: George Gaffney plays piano here, not Count Basie. Vaughan brought her working trio, completed by bassist Andrew Simpkins and drummer Harold Jones. Rather than arriving alone in front of an unfamiliar accompaniment, she had an established musical core within the larger ensemble. Guitarist Freddie Green adds another individual presence from the orchestra’s own history.

Sammy Nestico and Allyn Ferguson supplied the arrangements. Their contributions invite attention beyond the obvious vocal moments. A brass response need not merely occupy a gap between lines; it can sharpen a statement, anticipate a harmonic turn or change the energy leading into the next phrase. Vaughan’s flexibility becomes especially vivid against these collective gestures. The relationship between a freely shaped vocal line and a precisely placed orchestral accent is one of the record’s lasting pleasures.

An early favourite and a later signature

“If You Could See Me Now,” by Tadd Dameron and Carl Sigman, reaches back to Vaughan’s early successes. Its appearance in 1981 creates a meeting with familiar material after decades of further experience. There is no need to hear that simply as nostalgia. A more rewarding question is how much remains to be discovered inside a melody an interpreter has known for so long.

The title song has a different origin. Stephen Sondheim wrote “Send in the Clowns” for his 1973 musical A Little Night Music. Vaughan places this theatre song among jazz standards without treating it as an incidental addition. At more than six minutes, it is the LP’s longest performance. The programme therefore does more than revisit the past: it shows how a later composition can enter an already distinctive musical language and take on a substantial role within it.

Ten songs, many ways to shape a line

Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler are represented by “I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues” and “Ill Wind.” Other selections include “Just Friends,” “All the Things You Are” and Cole Porter’s “From This Moment On.” These are not merely reliable vehicles for an impressive voice. Their different melodic arcs offer different relationships between words, rhythm and accompaniment, and different opportunities for a singer to place emphasis.

Vaughan had previously recorded with the Basie orchestra in 1958 and 1961. That history gives the later meeting additional depth, but this remains a distinct studio project rather than a re-creation of an earlier album. Try alternating your attention between singer and ensemble: follow a vocal phrase, then notice the response beneath it. Interpretation emerges from both directions. The voice tells the story, while the orchestra helps determine how the next turn in that story will register.

More by Sarah Vaughan: “Sarah Vaughan” · Sassy

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Series: Pablo – all 30 records, musicians and the session book

Musicians

Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.

• Sarah VaughanVocals
• George GaffneyPiano
• Bobby PlaterAlto saxophone
• Danny TurnerAlto saxophone
• Eric DixonTenor saxophone
• Kenny HingTenor saxophone
• Johnny WilliamsBaritone saxophone
• Sonny CohnTrumpet
• Willie CookTrumpet
• Frank SzaboTrumpet
• Bob SummersTrumpet
• Dale CarleyTrumpet
• Dennis WilsonTrombone
• Grover MitchellTrombone
• Bill HughesBass trombone
• Freddie GreenGuitar
• Harold JonesDrums