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In the spring of 1943, Leonard went to the Apollo to hear Earl Hines.
He was bowled over by an amazingly musical nineteen-year-old singer,
Sarah Vaughan. The following year, Dizzy ran into Leonard in front
of the Nola Studios on 52nd street and urged him to come upstairs
and listen to a demo. It was of Sarah. "What I heard,"
wrote Leonard, "was a single song ['Night in Tunisia,' I believe],
enough to offer evidence that this was a vital new sound,
crying to be recorded...."
photo credit: Popsie
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photo credit: Maurice
He took her demo to several labels. Not one would listen, but a
company named Continental grudgingly agreed to a session anyway.
Sarah made $20 a tune, Leonard $12.50 to produce. She was brilliant
on the date, and on a second with both Dizzy and Charlie Parker,
but it was a year before Musicraft signed her and she became a
star. "That I was able to record Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie
and Charlie Parker before any of them had secured a contract
with any company was naturally a source of special pleasure
to me," Leonard wrote with pride years later.
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