Bidspirit auction | [MUSIC AUTOGRAPHS] - SARAH VAUGHAN

[MUSIC AUTOGRAPHS] - SARAH VAUGHAN (1924–1990) - Inscribed and Signed Photograph - SARAH VAUGHAN (1924–1990) Inscribed and Signed Photograph, with Performance Contract, Artist Rider, Stage Plot and Related Papers, 1985–87 An enlightening archive relating to the celebrated American jazz vocalist Sarah Vaughan, comprising an inscribed and signed publicity photograph together with professional concert documentation from the later years of her career. The group includes a large black-and-white publicity portrait of Vaughan, issued by Regency Artists, Ltd., with Vaughan/Reed Inc. credited as personal management and the Pablo logo at lower right. Vaughan has inscribed the photograph in black ink: “All the best?Sarah Vaughan” with her signature prominently positioned in the upper left portion of the image. Together with a performance contract and artist rider relating to Vaughan’s appearances at the Gusman Cultural Arts Center, Miami, Florida, on 17 and 18 May 1986. The contract, dated 12 September 1985, engages the services of Sarah Vaughan through De Vine One Corporation and specifies a flat guarantee of $25,000 for the engagement. The accompanying multi-page artist rider provides unusually detailed information on the practical and technical requirements for Vaughan’s performances, including billing, sound equipment, piano and bass, rehearsal arrangements, dressing rooms, musicians, transport and accommodation. The piano specification calls for a minimum nine-foot concert grand tuned to A=440, while the dressing-room provisions include separate facilities for Vaughan and her trio. Also included is a stage plot showing the intended arrangement of Vaughan, piano, bass, drums, podium and stage monitors. The archive further contains related professional correspondence, including a letter dated 9 October 1985 concerning the format of Vaughan’s Miami performances and requesting that her accompanying combo perform a short set before her appearance. A later letter from Triad Artists, Inc., dated 3 November 1986, concerns a separate Vaughan engagement at the Colden Center for the Performing Arts, Queens College, Flushing, New York, on 8 March 1987. A substantial group documenting both the public image and the professional life of one of the great jazz vocalists of the twentieth century. The signed portrait provides the autograph element, while the contract, rider, stage plot and correspondence offer an uncommon behind-the-scenes record of the contractual and technical arrangements surrounding Vaughan’s live performances during the 1980s. A group comprising: one inscribed and signed photographic portrait, performance contract, multi-page artist rider, stage plot and related professional correspondence, 1985–87.