Released in 2018, Acrobat’s impressive 2CD anthology Sarah Vaughan – The Early Years 1944-48 brought together 49 tracks which Vaughan recorded for a host of independent labels such as Continental, Guild, Musicraft and Crown. This superb follow-up goes one better, a 3CD set which presents a glorious 69-track conspectus of The Divine One’s A and B sides recorded for Columbia between 1949 and 1953. It features all 11 of the singer’s Billboard Top 30 entries during this period, including the brilliant ‘I Love The Guy’ with the Norman Leyden Orchestra, and ‘These Things I Offer You’ with Percy Faith and His Orchestra. Songs such as ‘Thinking of You’ find Vaughan at her favoured, extremely slow, ballad tempo and stretching out the melodic line with singing of quite startling power. Bonus tracks include live recordings from this era with Jimmy Jones, Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie, plus the MGM singles she recorded with long-standing friend Billy Eckstine. The 32-page CD booklet includes detailed recording session information sourced from The Jazz Discography (compiled and published by Tom Lord) plus an in-depth essay on the music by Paul Watts. Three hours-plus in the company of one of the most remarkable voices of the last century is undoubtedly time well spent.