The story behind puzzle No. 40
Sarah Vaughan · Sarah Vaughan · EmArcy · 1954
The song was written as the theme for a New York nightclub. Sarah Vaughan turned it into one of the great jazz vocal records.
Sarah Vaughan recorded Lullaby of Birdland in New York in December 1954 for EmArcy, with arrangements by Ernie Wilkins and a small band featuring trumpeter Clifford Brown. It opens the album Sarah Vaughan.
It was Vaughan's own favorite among her albums through 1980, and it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
George Shearing wrote Lullaby of Birdland in 1952 for Morris Levy, the owner of Birdland, a New York jazz club named in honor of Charlie Parker. Levy wanted a theme that could be played every hour on the hour.
Shearing said he wrote it in about ten minutes. The lyrics came from George David Weiss, who used the pen name B. Y. Forster.
Listen to how Vaughan bends and stretches the melody, and how Brown's trumpet answers her lines.
Herbie Mann's flute and Paul Quinichette's tenor saxophone add color around her voice without ever crowding it.
Who's on it
Keep listening
Hear the tune as an instrumental on George Shearing's 1952 quintet recording, then revisit Joy Spring (puzzle No. 35) for more Clifford Brown.
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