My favourite is Monica Zetterlund, especially recordings with Billy Evans; "Waltz For Debby". Tragically she was killed in her apartment by a fire, earlier this year. For all swedes she

Sarah Vaughn, Dianne Reeves, Astrud Gilberto

Alberta Hunter.

Ella...although there are many other Great Ladies Voices as good or better than EF, my choice will always be Ella...

brgds, marcelo

eva cassidy has to be up there as my all time favourite.

Billie Holiday, her life is in every song.

I listen to:

Ella Fitzgerald
Patricia Barber
Jacintha
Diana Krall

I personally consider Eva Cassidy to fall more on the folk side of things. In that same like, I listen to:

Eva Cassidy
Janis Ian
Jennifer Warnes
Patti Griffin
Shelby Lynne
Shawn Colvin

There are so many good female vocalists.

carmen mcrae whom i once didnt consider as great as sarah, she really is, maybe better.

shirley horn-you wont forget me-is the place to start.

diana krall-live in paris dvd. great.

abbey lincoln-the deviis got your tongue. the tune-the music is the magic os one you wont be able to sit still to.

sooooooo many others.

Agree with all but Krall....not in the same league period....

Robert

Hi guys and gals

Since i never understood what is so special abour patricia barber , yes,i got all her cd and only her first one "split" was kinda good,my fav, jazz singer is Diane Scuur ! :)

Without a doubt, my favorite is Holly Cole, although I also love to hear Eva Cassidy. I really like Nora Jones, but I'm not sure you would really call her a jazz singer.

From yesteryear - well, to be honest, I'm such a late-comer to jazz that I am not familiar enough with any of the old-guard to even have a favorite.

Quote:
Who is your (one) favorite female jazz singer from the days gone past and from the more current time.

I really dig Sheila Jordan. She did a version of "You Are My Sunshine" with Arthur Russell's band that just stomps all over my heart every time I hear it. And her scat singing is very creative -- not a lot of ooby dooby doo, not that there's anything wrong with that.

It took me a while, but I've become a huge Jeri Southern fan, too. She's pretty subtle, but quite devastating at delivering a world-weary but resigned lyric. When I first heard her, I thought she was a little limited vocally, but the same charge could be laid to Lady Day, too. What's important is what she does with that range.

Then there's Jo Stafford, who was not only a mistress of the subtle line reading, but also an absolutely hilarious (intentionally) bad singer as the vocaliste of Jonathan and Darlene Edwards. (For real fun, put on American Popular Songs at your next party and see how long it takes people to notice that ... something's ... not ... quite .... right.)

But I digress, Stafford's serious stuff was (remains) super.

And I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Connee Boswell of the Boswell Sisters. Wowsers, she had a voice and knew how to use it.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Me, I mean -- I meant _George Russell's_ band for Shiela Jordan's "You Are My Sunshine."

I can understand Ella Fitzgerald as a choice. I've probably got at least a dozen of her albums, in particular from the American Songbook series.
I'd also like to hand out some recognition to Cassandra Wilson. A great voice worth listening to.

Past would be Nina Simone.

Present would be Marilyn Scott.

Those covers are nice, too!