Vaughan To Be Commemorated with Live Album, U.S. Postage Stamp

By Brian Zimmerman I Mar. 22, 2016

The U.S. Postal Service will honor jazz vocalist Sarah Vaughan (1924–’90) with a commemorative Forever Stamp in a ceremony in Newark, New Jersey, on March 29.
(Photo: Courtesy USPS)

Vocalist Sarah “Sassy” Vaughan will return to the spotlight yet again, thanks to a concert album and a commemorative stamp.

Resonance Records, with the cooperation of National Public Radio, will release Sarah Vaughan—Live At Rosy’s, New Orleans on March 25. The two-CD set comprises newly discovered recordings made for the NPR program Jazz Alive! during the legendary jazz singer’s live performance at Rosy’s Jazz Club on May 31, 1978.

The set comes bundled with a 36-page book, which contains rare photos and interviews alongside two newly commissioned essays by journalist James Gavin and jazz expert Will Friedwald.

Shortly after the album release, the U.S. Postal Service will honor Vaughan’s legacy by issuing a Commemorative Forever Stamp featuring her image. The ceremony will take place at the Sarah Vaughan Concert Hall at Newark Symphony Hall in New Jersey on March 29. The event is free and open to the public, but a ticket is required for admission. (Call Newark Symphony Hall box office at 973-643-8014 for more information.)

A host of major figures from the jazz and political world have signed on to attend the dedication ceremony. Confirmed participants include vocalist Tony Bennett (who will appear in a videotaped tribute), Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Mount Zion Baptist Church Pastor Dr. Gloria White, Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman and Grammy-winning actress Melba Moore.

The event will also feature performances by Jazzmeia Horn, winner of the 2013 Sarah Vaughan Jazz Vocalist Competition, as well as the Mount Zion Baptist Church Choir and the NJPAC Jazz for Teens Ensemble.

Vaughan, a Newark native, was elected to the DownBeat Hall of Fame via the 1985 Readers Poll. A Grammy Award winner and NEA Jazz Master, she died April 3, 1990.

In releasing the Vaughan album, Resonance Records adds to its impressive catalog of archival albums, including In the Beginning (2015), a collection of guitarist Wes Montgomery’s early music; In Paris: The ORTF Recordings (2016), a retrospective on organist Larry Young; and All My Yesterdays: The Debut 1966 Recordings At The Village Vanguard (2016), an assemblage of live recordings from the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra.