Sarah “Sassy” Vaughan (1924–1990) is best known as a jazz singer (in the same vein as Ella Fitzgerald), with an enormous vocal range and experimental style. Celebrating her would-be 100th birthday this year, arranger and conductor Guy Barker (MBE) returns to the Proms with two and a half hours of breathtakingly exciting arrangements for the gigantic BBC Concert Orchestra. With a huge big band and rhythm section joining forces with a full orchestra, the Prom also functions as a celebration of orchestral writing across 20th century jazz.

Five singers each evoke the inimitable voice of “The Divine One” in their own unique ways. CHERISE, one of Britain’s most sought-after young soul singers and songwriters, and Lucy-Anne Daniels, who has only just graduated from from Birmingham Conservatoire, both magically channel Sarah Vaughan’s voice at the start of her career. (By eighteen years old, Vaughan had already dropped out of high school and established herself as one of New York’s rising talents, and even opened for Ella Fitzgerald during her residency at the Apollo Theater.) Meanwhile, West End star Marisha Wallace and celebrated singer-songwriter Lizz Wright are able to convey Vaughan’s voice maturing into her thirties and forties. Award-winning actor Clarke Peters, now in his seventies, also lends his gravelly tone to “I Love the Rhythm in a Riff” — perhaps an odd choice given that Vaughan herself never recorded this.

Although the BBC Proms bills itself as “the world’s greatest classical music festival”, popular music has always been a part of the Proms’ vision since 1895, with jazz becoming a fixture since the 1960s. On the other hand, it’s quite striking that none of the songs in this programme have ever been performed at the Proms before; not even the jazz standard “Misty”, which Vaughan recorded in 1957. Could this programme represent Prommers’ changing tastes?

Structurally, the concert is a little odd, in that there is really no shade; only light. Every single number is a full-orchestral banger, with wailing horns and thrashing percussion. It’s undeniably impressive — astonishing, even — but it doesn’t fully capture Sarah Vaughan as an artist, and it’s just a bit much to cope with for two and half hours.

You can watch the whole of Prom 13 now on BBC iPlayer.