Sarah Vaughan Still Lives
8y C e ter A. Hi Sr.
Cllpilol News Service
'c; 'WilY all' quit dat noise,
Miss Lucy-
Put dat music book away;
What's de u e to keep 011
tryin ''!
EI,ou practise twell you're
gray,
You cein't sta': 110 notes a
flyin'
Lek de ones dat rants alld
rings
F''om de kitchen to (the)
big woods
When Malilld, Sing. '
-Paul Laurence Dunb r
WA5HINGTOti. DC-' Sarah
Vaughn i de d.
To s Y it, i at once to ac
knowledge, yet blunt and
perh p ultimately deny, an
unpalatable fact.
No one who ever met her
or reall Y» sure 'nough lis
tened to her sing, can
believe that Death and the
Divine One had anything in
common.
For Sarah wa about life
and all its gloriou and
animated celebration.
Whenever I hear her sing,
Dunbar' beautiful poetry is
evoked. Strange. For Sarah
did not sing in the idiom our
illi crate but poetic,
enslaved forebear. Indeed,
her enuciation was clear, im
peccable.
U LE. HE WAS
deliberately Sliding over
lyrical pa sages in a scat
number. Her range? Three,
four octaves? What docs it
maucr when sh transports
you from an a toni hing bot
tom growl to dizzying, soar
ing heights in the upper
regi ters?
Dunbar, a turn-of-the-cen
tury Black poet whose
parents wer born in lavery
-his father e caped to '
, Ohio; hi mother freed by
the Civil War, al 0 came to
Ohio where Paul was borp
captures and makc you feel
Black life in 'those dark
days. He m ke. 'you feel it.
a W.O. Howell 0 ptly
Iy • "esthetic II y. (becau e
Paul) expres es it 0 lyrical
ly".
Sarah's artistic brush
makes broader strokes. Her
focus i all humanity. But
. he also feels human liCe es
thetic lIy and cxpre se it
ith a vivid. velvet lyricism
rarety matched in ong
before.
When new of her death
came-I had heard weeks
before through friends that
Mi s Vaughan wa dying of
cancer-I pulled out some of
myoid Mercury, Emba sy
and Columbia LP -them-
elve a dying renditions of
"Misty,", "Deep Purple",
"Someone To W tch Over
Me". "Sweet Georgia
Brown", "East o( the Sun".
"Come Rain Or Come
Shine", and "Summcrtime".
I easily imagined het alive
and performing at Chicago's
Roberts Show Lounge, the
Sutherland, or New York's
Royal Box ..
For the past three or more
decades, Sarah has drifted in
and out of my life like an
enchanted dream- just as
she must have in yours.
I do not ever remember
being formally introduced to
her. Suddenly she was there
in per.formance in Chicago.
Detroit. New York, New Or
lean. Los Angele , San
Fransclco, and there I was
going backstage to greet her
after a scintillating show.
SARAH WAS EARTHY,
robust, but never crude. She
was a warm, enagaging com
panion who re-donned her
regal dignity onstage and
wa every inch "the Divine
One". A fading photo of me
and Miss Vaughan backstage
at a Chicago show lounge,
my arm around her waist,
gently mugging for the
camera, is a treasure in my
picture album. It was taken
25 year ago when we both
ere babies!
The hea rt ac hes with
remembrances. How could
she be no more? In LP and
f:D I will hear this glorious
voice for as long as I live.
There are Aretha, still,
and Nancy, and Ella; there
were Billie, and Mahalia and
Be ie- a thous nd Black
American classical divas
whose images are reflected
in an infinity of mirrors
back to the very beginning
of time in the founding of
work pf! t the 4 annu
. ig Compoeers Concert to be
h.ld WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6 at'
7:30pm. The concert pre.. d
yearty by the . and Performing.
ArtI Department and Friend. of
the Ubrary, in cooperation with th
Lyric Chamber Enlemble. FREE. Call
the Mu.ic .nd P.rformlng Art •.
Depaltment. 833-1.,.
CUL TUAAUFOlK
FESTIY
The American African
Council at tWtford Mlfnorllal
Church will hold Its eth Annual
Ameftc8n AfrIcM CutIuraI/FOIk Fa-
on SAT'lJADAY, 30 day.
There be vendorI
and food, for agel' Held at Hartford
.morial Bapti t Church, 18700
Couzens Dr., Detroit. Can 881-
1300.
o
RECYCLEI
Detroit r. . d n m.y bring the fo .
10 ing it.",. to the Ch ne-Ferry
Recycling Center: pt ic; mil d
bey r ge con inert; • dear.
green and amber, and r nee;
, food and con-
tain. mUlt b. rin •• d; p.p.r,
our country, enriching all of
our lives.
Aero s generation , Dun
bar evokes Sa s. Both share
the same blessed artistic
qualities. They come only
once in several lifetimes.
On reflection: a race of
people who can produce
such gifted humanily- can
it ever be called inferior?
And why can't the terri�ly
bent and self-destructing,
young Black ghetto tough ,
hung' up on "poor self im
ages", see this unas ailable
ract? .
Dunbar .sums up Sarah:
"Ain ': you'llevah hyeahd
MaUlld]?
Blessed soul, tek up de
cross! .
Look hyeah, ain': you
jakin', hOlley?
Well, you don ' know what
you los'.
Y'oughl to hyeah dal gal a
wa' blin ',
Robins, III 'ks, all' ·all dem
things,
Heisb dey moufs alld hides
dey lace,
When Malind, ings.
'Eas 'nougn fu ' [olks III
hollah,
Lookin' at de lilies an dots,
Whell de, aln'! 110 one kill
enc« it,
A,,' tI� ckun« comes in, in
spots;
But fu 'real melojous music,
Dot jes' strikes you ' be« 't
alld clings,
Jes' you stan' and listen
wif me me
When Malind, Sings. "
Sarah Dead'!
Compo er, pianist par ex
cellence Billy Taylor who
knew her well, ays it best:"
She ha left us (the c .scnce
of herself)- her voice."
SARAH LIVES!
OAK HOP
t..m the T to the
art of African mov.ment. Adult
CI •••• : Mon- Thur from 1-
� au..: . from 2-
5pm. Joeeph Comm
Centlr, 6431 Aoaa Patb BIYd. &
Eudid. Cd 481·5210.
MAP I
AARP meets the SECOND
FRIDAY MONTHLY at S
E.pi copal Church, Holbrook and
Woodward. Chapter Pr •• d t I.
Elizab.th Park.r and Chair of
Programming Co • I. Sybi
KM\nedy.
MICHIGA
p
l�: ... _�_ ..... �_ ...... _....;. ;...._
PARE TS HE OED . .
Help writ. artict I for promotional
packets, make hone c'III to
prospectiv donor, or organize a
group of volunt for th Chann I
56 Auction.
YOUTH ASSIS
aA Bridge To T
n.lghborhood ba
I OTHERCmES
HIGHLAND PARK,
T PREPARAnON
RKSHOP
SATURDAY, MAY 12,
n Community Col .,. off ng
W()rIcshop . gned prepare high
IC 001 .tud.nts to take the
SA IACEJPSAT t . Th worbhOp
at the ea..... Lounge and
ence Room 107 MCC from
8aI1'I-12noon.$20. Reg bycaJllng
1T1-02S0 aection no. #6421.
FALLEN STAR
aHo To Find A Fal n Sta",
TUESDAY EVENINGS at 7pm beg n
ning April 17 and contin through
TUESDAY, JUNE 5 .t Carr-F •
P tat urn, Ioca on CC
C8""u •. Call 777-0288, 8am-4pm
ys.
ltu4:tentl to n •
newty atppOtt group deIIg-
natld to addr .pedaI ooncem
and need u they pu •
education. ng lChedul«t
for the ARST TUESDAY of EACH
MONTH 'ng at 1:15pm on cam
pu . Call (616)777-0216 for more n
form
Send I announoeme and In-
formation to:
SHEBA L MCKI EY
P.O. Box 03560
12541 Second S .
g Paf1(, oC8203
Or I (313) 85-0033.