Diva/Mensch pair for Jan 22, 2025

I was thrilled to see my chosen jazz diva, Sarah Vaughan, on the list of 1982 Grammy winners. She won Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female for her album Gershwin Live! with Michael Tilson Thomas and the LA Phil.

The highlight of the album is "The Man I Love." Her singing and especially the Marty Paich arrangement of the song are a total diva trip, diva in extremis. So her performance and the arrangement are this week's diva. I'm going a little out there and giving the song itself a mensch nod. A lovely song, an essential standard, but not the sonic and expressive explosion of the Vaughan/Paich version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNCVT0GlkrU