Today sees the release of Sweet Whispers: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan, the fourth album from multi-award-winning singer-songwriter and leading UK jazz vocalist Zara McFarlane.   The album honours the jazz great who inspired Zara on her own artistic journey and whose centenary year is honoured in 2024.

To mark the release, Zara unveils her impassioned interpretation of the Marvin Gaye classic, Inner City Blues, an album focus track among many stand-out tracks. The track was recorded by Sarah Vaughan for her 1972 comeback album, ‘A Time In My Life’ which Gaye had originally released the year before. It would become one of the era’s greatest protest songs.

“Sarah was not afraid to lend her voice to the troubles of the times” notes Zara, “her version was pretty full on, with horns and a large band” she continues, “but we wanted to strip it back, leaving it sparse and intentional with the feel centred around the bass line.  It’s crazy to think how this song still resonates so poignantly today”.

Just as Vaughan’s straight up soul-funk version serves as a reminder of Vaughn’s versatility, Zara’s exceptional brazen, bluesy version does the same.

Nicknamed ‘sassy’ or the ‘Divine One’, Sarah Vaughan was revered not just for her incomparable vocal range, but for the depth, control, emotion and playfulness of her voice. A pioneering woman, she brought bebop to vocal jazz, her contemporaries marvelled at her enviable musicianship and subsequent generations of jazz vocalists have been inspired by her.

Sarah Vaughan’s recording career spanned 50 years notching up almost 60 albums (plus nearly 30 again in compilations and box sets), so it’s not hard to imagine  immense task in selecting the songs for ‘Sweet Whispers’. Yet the album is more than a run-through of some of Vaughan’s most popular songs. Through a thoughtfully chosen selection of songs, formed across months in collaboration with producer, and the album’s clarinettist and saxman, Giacomo Smith – Zara journeys through the musical life of Sarah Vaughan, from her first to last recording, breathing new life into some of her best and less familiar songs. But importantly, the songs that mean the most to Zara.

‘Inner City Blues’ follows the album’s first single, the stunning The Mystery Of Man released in April. It appeared on Vaughan’s 1984 album, The Planet Is Alive...Let it Live that featured the philosophical poems of Pope John II. The song features Zara’s soaring voice and layered harmonies and is an epic track of immense power and spirituality.

Elsewhere, we hearMean to Me, Zara’s favourite Sarah Vaughan song. Appearing on her 1950 debut, the song showcases her technical prowess and bebop leanings. Just as Vaughan did before her, Zara’s swinging version is imbued with emotion and soul and a deft presentation of her stunning jazz voice. If You Could See Me Now, the 1946 jazz standard composed by the great pianist Tadd Dameron especially for Sarah, is another of Zara’s favourites since the lyrics really speak to her.  Zara provides a superb rendition of Obsession taken from Vaughan’s last studio album, 1987’s Brazilian Romance featuring Milton Nascimento. The addition of steel pans provides a nod to Zara’s Caribbean roots. 

The collection includes one original, the title track Sweet Whispers, a divine, short but touching hymn-like ballad swathed in cello, inspired by quotations from Sarah Vaughan uncovered by Zara on the creative journey. With a soft, beguiling voice, this is Zara’s sonic love letter to her inspirational jazz pioneer.

‘Sweet Whispers: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan’ was recorded analogue at Durham Studios, London. Giacomo assembled a stellar cast of musicians - Joe Webb on piano, Ferg Ireland on double bass, Jas Kayser on drums, Marlon Hibbert on Steel Pan and Gabriella Swallow on cello – to record 11 tracks live to tape; with minimal overdubs, the recording has retained a live, vintage feel.

Zara McFarlane said “It was when I started to listen to Sarah Vaughan that I really began to appreciate jazz vocals. She had such control across her range and a vocal command that was cheeky, playful and fun yet sophisticated and articulate. I really wanted to pay homage to her as I feel she has been somewhat overlooked amongst the jazz singers. Although I do love Ella and Billie, it's all about Sarah for me.”

A celebration of Sarah Vaughan could be in no better hands than that of Zara McFarlane, who makes an inspired homage to the ‘Divine One’. Beautifully performed in Zara’s own inimitable style, with her own playful swoops and slides, she has added her own touch to the music. With a silken voice and timbre that brings emotional depth, attitude and personality to this collection of Sarah Vaughan songs, this is a masterful celebration.

To purchase album click here 

https://www.zaramcfarlane.com/