What female jazz singers should I check out... past and present???

[battleknight24]

Any suggestions?

[terrya]

1. Diana Krall.

Do give her a listen. Nice voice.

Terry

[Karenina]

46. Mediocre

Try Ella, Sarah, Carmen M or B, Cassandra, Etta, Billie, Dee-dee, Dinah,
Judy+, Patty+, SHAWN MONTEIRO, Angela, Eryka, Macy...

[Colin Ex]

2. Jenna Mammina. nt

[frylock]

3. you can't go wrong with ella or billie holiday

[bleedingheart]

19. I will second that..

[frylock]

4. astrud gilberto too

[cprise]

5. Marlene Shaw

"Ooooooo-Weeee!"

Also, Ernestine Anderson

B-)

[cosmokramer]

6. Lady Day.

[bif]

7. I've got tons' of suggestions...

past: Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Billy Holliday
Present: Holly Cole, Cassandra Wilson, Diana Krall, Shirley Horn
Ones to avoid: Abby Lincoln, Dakota Stayton

[GumboYaYa]

42. Add Dianne Reeves to that list.

[Mandomaniac]

8. Ella

Get the Ella Live in Berlin.....absolutely KILLER disc.

[skypilot]

9. Betty Carter.

*

[bif]

10. Sarah Vaughan: "Sassy, Live at the Tivoli"

One of the greatest live female jazz vocal albums ever!

[noiretextatique]

13. i LOVE Sarah

i think she's the greatest jazz vocalist ever!

[noiretextatique]

11. Sarah Vaughn is my #1 pick

Billie Holiday
Cassandra Wilson
Ella Fitzgerald
Dianne Reeves
Anita O'Day
Nina Simone
Diane Schur
Tania Maria
Dinah Washington
adding: Betty Carter, Carmen McCrae & Rachelle Farrell

that's all i can think of right now.

[Zinfandel]

45. Absolutely Sarah Vaughn the very best. Her octave range was incredible

Nobody like Sarah, singing "got the world on a string"

Betty Carter & Dinah Washinton also great.

[DinahMoeHum]

12. Nina Simone.

n/t


:bounce:

[mvd]

14. Some good selections already

Ella's a fave of mine. Bessie Smith is overlooked sometimes. A recent one: Regina Carter.

[Name removed]

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[PragMantisT]

16. Nellie McKay

It's not all jazz, but she's new and young and very good.

[arwalden]

17. Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan

[Richardo]

18. Cassandra Wilson

by all means.

And Diana Krall.

[Richardo]

20. and Phoebe Snow.

[NightTrain]

Don't forget Nancy Wilson.

Not everything she recorded would qualify as jazz, but she was (and presumably still is) a damned fine singer!

[Blue-Jay]

34. Yay for Nancy!

Pick up the album (CD) she did with Cannonball Adderly. One of my top 5 albums EVER!

Also check out:

Patti Cathcart (Tuck & Patti)
Most of the others I'd recommend have already been mentioned. Ella, Sarah Vaughn, Billie, Cassandra Wilson, Diana Krall, Shirley Horn, Carmen McCrae.....I could go on forever, but check out the Wilson/Adderly recording and Patti Cathcart for sure.

[tishaLA]

21. I prefer the past, but love some present ones too

Past:
Ella is not called the First Lady of Song for nothing. She's peerless. If you have to get just a couple of her CDs, get Ella in Berlin and Ella and Basie: On the Sunny Side of the Street.

Sarah Vaughan can be great, but she can also be disappointing, so you have to be more careful. Get Sassy Swings the Tivoli, which I am listening to right now--a 2 CD live set. You're Mine, You is her best studio CD and it is from the same era. Also, her CD with Clifford Brown, which is called simply "Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown" is amazing (it's actually her very BEST studio CD).

I prefer Billie Holiday from her Verve period, when her voice is more frail. I will commit the heresy of saying she is not one of my favorites, though. Instead, look at Carmen McRae, whose Songs of Billie Holiday is really cool. She also does a great CD of Sarah Vaughan songs, Sarah: Dedicated to You, where she is accompanied by Shirley Horn.

Dinah Washington is amazing. Get Dinah Jams!, a live studio set.

Anita O'Day's Anita Swings the Cole Porter Songbook (with Billy May) is tremendous. She also does the coolest version of 'S Wonderful ever (and a mean Sweet Georgia Brown), but she is most effective on swing songs that don't require much range.

Betty Carter is one of the most important and innovative singers, but she was never recorded as great as she was; somehow, the magic of her improvisation never hits CDs like it is live. Get her Feed the Fire CD, if possible, and It's Not About the Melody. I also live her Village vanguard CD.

And get a Blossom Dearie CD and one of the Astrud compilations.

Present:

My favorites are Dee Dee Bridgewater, Shirley Horn, Dianne Reeves, and some Cassandra Wilson. I avoid Diana Krall, who I find uninteresting.

For Dee Dee, get Live at Yoshi's.
Shirley has many great CDs, but my favorite is either of her CDs from the North Sea Jazz Festival in the early 80s, Violets for your Furs or her tribute to Ray Charles, Light out of Darkness. Her CDs I Love You, Paris and Close Enough for Love are also great.

Oh and Abby Lincoln has done a few great CDs, most notably You Gotta Pay the Band and her tremendous early CD with her then-husband Max Roach, Freedom Now!

Enjoy.

[noiretextatique]

22. great post...i saw dee dee bridgewater at yoshi's

and i agree diana krall (as a vocalist) is not very interesting AT ALL. on edit: i was stunned when she won a grammy...over dianne reeves AND cassandra wilson :wtf:
one disagreement: i never find sarah disappointing :7

[tishaLA]

23. I'm thinking her albums with a large orchestra

typically Hal Mooney, and those strings and singers going "ooooh aaaaah" in the background. She sounded best, to me, with a trio--even a sextet!--and without all the gimmickry around her.

[noiretextatique]

26. point taken

and i agree :hi:

[bif]

30. I agree with most of your picks except for Abby Stinkin' Lincoln

The lady just can't sing. If it wasn't for being married to Max
roach, she never would have signed a contract with a record label.

[tishaLA]

35. listen to her "People in Me" CD

from Japan in the early 70s. Coltrane thoght she could sing, so did Miles. I think she has an interesting, offbeat instrument. But I think she's an AWFUL songwriter.

[SOteric]

32. All of those mentioned, - and Holly Cole

[bif]

33. Holly Cole is the most underrated singer alive

The subtle things she can do to a song just amaze me. What chops! She should be hhuge. And it's not like she's ugly or anything. Maybe it's because she's not 16 and doesn't dress like a tramp.

[kitkatrose]

24. Try Nina Simone.

My favorite it "Four Women". LOVE that song. :loveya:

[OneBlueSky]

25. Ella, Ella, and more Ella . . . followed by . . .

Sassy Sarah Vaughn and "Lady Day" (Billie Holiday) . . . two current favorites are Diana Krall and Cassandra Wilson . . . might also check out Etta James, Della Reese, Dinah Washington, Nancy Wilson, Lena Horne and Julie London . . . :)

[TacticalPeek]

27. Many of the above, and just to fill . . .

Jackie 'I'm Forever Blowing Beyotendeedooba Bubbles' Kral (Jackie and Roy)

And Annie Ross.

(And I've got a soft spot for Ethel Ennis.)

[DancingBear]

28. Try these

1) Carmen McRae - At The Great American Music Hall (LP only!)
wonderful version of "Dindi"

2) Sarah Vaughan - In The City Of Lights
for the version of "Send In The Clowns"

3) Mary Stallings - I Waited For You
(with the Gene Harris Quartet)

4) Vanessa Rubin (some stuff - be careful)

hi tishaLA! :hi:

[tishaLA]

29. Good choices DB

and :hi: to you, too

(Have you ever heard Sinatra's Dindi on Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim? It's hearbreaking. He also sings it on his TV show A Man and His Music + Ella + Jobim.

[DancingBear]

38. No - but it's on my "to buy" list now

Thank you! :)

[Dookus]

31. Seems to me like people have covered most of it...

The holy trinity of Ella, Sarah and Billie are the starting points. Throw in Nina Simone (admittedly an acquired taste, but well worth it) along with Diana Krall, Dinah Washington, Betty Carter, Shirley Horn and a few others and you'll have a lifetime of female jazz singers to appreciate.

You can spend years just listening to Ella.

[Dookus]

36. whoops... forgot one other

Ute Lemper

[Blue-Jay]

37. Ute Lemper?

Isn't that some kind of Scandinavian holiday dish?

:P

[Dookus]

40. Heheh

check her out. She's great. A fantastic cabaret singer/actress.

[mulsh]

39. ernestine anderson

check out her live stuff expecially.
all of the other women mentioned in the posts are well worth listening to... a lot.

[Zomby Woof]

41. Diana Krall

I don't think anyone else has mentioned her, and it would be repetitious to agree with the many fine choices gives thus far.

[Karenina]

48. Props to Diana K.

for rekindling interest. That said, her main draw is the color of her hair.

[CBHagman]

43. Ella, for starters.

Do NOT miss the songbooks (i.e., Gershwin, Rogers and Hart, Harold Arlen, Cole Porter) that Ella Fitzgerald recorded. They are positively addictive.

I also love her duets with Louis Armstrong. There's magic there.

For three completely different experiences, try:

Sarah Vaughn

Dinah Washington

Blossom Dearie

[GoddessOfGuinness]

44. Ella Mae Morse

A Big Band Era diva. :-)

[saltpoint]

47. kitkatrose has it right -- Nina Simone.

Also you have to have Ella Fitzgerald.

[Jade Fox]

49. Irene Krall (no relation to Diane)

She's from the 1950's. I heard her on the soundtrack to "Bridges of Madison
County", and have been looking for more stuff by her since then.