Zara McFarlane on Sarah Vaughan’s legacy: “She has both the emotional aspect that Billie has and the technical aspect that Ella has”

In the realm of jazz vocalists, few have left an indelible mark quite like Sarah Vaughan. Her virtuosic range, elegant phrasing, and ability to imbue even the most familiar standards with profound emotion made her a true icon of the art form. For Zara McFarlane, one of the UK’s pre-eminent jazz vocalists and composers, Vaughan’s influence has been nothing short of profound.

“She made me really listen to jazz standards and the American songbook in a way that elevated the songs and made me truly feel something, which is ridiculously hard when dealing with such familiar material,” McFarlane shared earlier this year as part of her contribution to our ‘Divining The Divine Sarah’ (Jazzwise April 2024). “There is something about her delivery that makes your ear cling desperately to the very end of each phrase.”

To celebrate the centenary of Vaughan’s birth, McFarlane has paid heartfelt homage to her musical muse with Sweet Whispers: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan (reviewed last issue), an album that breathes new life into some of the timeless songs that defined Vaughan’s illustrious career.

For McFarlane, the journey to this tribute album began with a single revelatory track. “It was ‘Lullaby of Birdland’. I loved what she was doing on that. And then I delved further into the record with Clifford Brown,” she recalls. From there, McFarlane found herself drawn deeper into Vaughan’s artistry, captivated by the singer’s unique blend of technical prowess and emotional depth.

“Sarah has a certain elegance and sophistication,” McFarlane observes. “She has both the emotional aspect that Billie Holiday has and the technical aspect that Ella Fitzgerald has. And then, over and above that, I absolutely love her tone – it’s just dreamy. And she was fluid across her whole range. You can almost hear a classical lilt to her voice as well.”

With Vaughan’s vast discography spanning over 50 years and nearly 60 albums, whittling down the song selections for Sweet Whispers was no easy feat. McFarlane worked closely with musician and producer Giacomo Smith, engaging in “lots of conversations and lots of back and forth” to curate a track list that would capture the breadth of Vaughan’s career.

“There were different ways we could approach it – just doing the obvious songs that everybody knows, ‘Misty’ and ‘Embraceable You’, ‘Send in the Clowns’. But then we looked at telling more of a story about her 50-year-long career – trying to take some elements from across that whole time period and maybe find some songs that are a little bit more obscure like ‘The Mystery of Man’ from her album based on the poetry of Pope John Paul II. Then we also had some of the more traditional ones – ‘September Song’ and ‘Stardust’ are two of Giacomo’s favourites. And ‘Mean to Me’ is my all-time favourite of hers.”

While paying homage to Vaughan’s legacy, McFarlane also sought to infuse the album with her own unique perspective, such as on Marvin Gaye's iconic ‘Inner City Blues’, as she explains. “It still felt very relevant now, unfortunately. We changed the structure slightly, we elongated the verses to really get deeper into the emotional element of the storytelling of that piece.”

McFarlane also infused her Jamaican heritage into the album, notably on her interpretation of ‘Obsession’, taken from Vaughan’s final studio album, Brazilian Romance: “I was introduced to ‘Obsession’ through listening to Dianne Reeves. It felt very natural to put a little bit of the Caribbean flavour on that particular song with the steel pan. I’ve wanted to work with a steel pan player for a long time, so it was great to work with Marlon [Hibbert] on that, a young steel pannist coming up through the scene.”

The album’s sole original, the touching and hymn-like title track, provides a reverent ode to Vaughan’s enduring influence. “I wanted to have something that had more of a classical lilt to it,” McFarlane explains. “Sarah came up through the church, so we had ‘Great Day.’ And then we also wanted to have something that took a little nod towards Marian Anderson, her idol, something with more of a classical feeling. And then, lyrically, I looked at different Sarah quotes over the years and constructed the song based off her quotes.”

As she reflects on the making of Sweet Whispers, McFarlane’s fondest memories are of the collaborative process itself, working alongside kindred spirits who shared her reverence for the material.

“Giacomo understands the music, he’s a lover of traditional jazz music, so he was the right person,” she reflects. “I knew that he would completely understand what needs to be done. And I think I opened up his ideas a bit further, thinking a bit more outside the box with the arrangements.”

An alumna of the prestigious BRIT School, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the remarkable Tomorrow’s Warriors development programme, and with Jazz FM and MOBO awards to her name, McFarlane’s own artistic journey has been marked by a diverse array of pursuits. With a sound that seamlessly blends influences from jazz, reggae, folk, and neo-soul, she has explored the realms of theatre, appearing as a featured singer in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2017 production of Anthony and Cleopatra, as well as starring in Howard Moody’s community opera, Agreed, which premiered at Glyndebourne in 2019.

Her passion for musical theatre has been a constant thread throughout her career, and the idea of writing her own musical remains a tantalising prospect.

“I was lucky enough to get put into a programme a few years ago with Theatre Royal Stratford East,” she says. “to learn to write a musical for non-musical theatre writers and I am still toying with the idea. It’s a big task because I want to write everything – the book, the score, and the script. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I studied musical theatre at BRIT School many moons ago, so that’s where I started.”

Amidst her diverse artistic pursuits, McFarlane remains steadfastly committed to pushing the boundaries of her creativity. “I love going to the theatre, I like going to art galleries. I get inspired to write music from things completely outside of music – spending time with my family, going for walks in green spaces, all of that stuff is what helps me do what I do. With regards to new projects and new ideas, I work very conceptually, so I often like to have a theme,” she explains. “For example, the last two records [Songs of an Unknown Tongue and Arise] were very much inspired by early Jamaican folk music and the history I was researching.”

This exploration of Jamaican folk traditions has proven to be a rich wellspring of inspiration for McFarlane, informing not only her recent albums but also other projects like her striking 2022 EP Disintegrated, a dance film collaboration choreographed and directed by Wade Robson and Tony Testa, for which she composed the score utilising only her voice.

“I did the project during Covid. It was all online, back and forth, with [Wade] sending me the video footage. He filmed it on his iPhone, it’s really spooky, it’s amazingly filmed.” The six-and-a-half-minute film won Best Experimental Short at the 2022 Los Angeles Movie Awards.

As McFarlane’s creative journey continues to unfold, her homage to Sarah Vaughan stands as a testament to the enduring power of one of the greatest voices in jazz. With Sweet Whispers, McFarlane has not only paid tribute to one of the legends of the music but also solidified her own place among the vanguard of contemporary jazz vocalists.

This article originally appeared in the August 2024 issue of Jazzwise. Never miss an issue – subscribe to Jazzwise today