Best Jazz Vocalists - Standard Songs

Try Sarah Vaughan, Dee Dee Bridgewater (Live at Yoshi's is great), and Mary Stallings (Live at the Village Vanguard).

The prior posts have covered a fair bit of territory. Ella Fitzgerald, in my opinion, is the quintessential female jazz vocalist. Sarah Vauhgan had a better instrument in some ways, but her delivery was a bit more quirky. The late Susannah McCorkle sang very well, although, for love or money, I can't understand why my wife always insists she was nasal. A singer whose instrument was not the mightiest but who made the most of it with a beautiful sense of delivery, great tone and a believable, I was there, I've done that, quality is Anita O'Day. Try "All the sad young men" on Verve.

shirly horn, great stylist and pianist. low key, romantic, intimate stuff for the most part, mostly recorded on verve. karrin allyson on concord jazz.

Most of the best known female jazz vocalists are listed above, but you might branch out a bit and try Sheila Jordan (one of the greatest of the bop vocalists), Irene Kral, Abby Lincoln, and one to really stretch your ears and mind: Betty Carter.

Among the male vocalists that belong on any list of "greats", I'd include Mark Murphy - for my money, the finest bop-style male jazz vocalist ever. Mark is not only a great singer, but one of the finest interpreters of the written verse -- and almost every album he has recorded features some outstanding jazz musicians. If I had to pick just one jazz singer -- male or female -- to take to a "desert island" with me, it would be Mark Murphy (although it would be a very close vote between him and Sarah Vaughn). There is a very good 2-CD compilation of Murphy's work from the early 1960's to mid-1990's that was released on the reissue label called 32Jazz -- the title, as I recall, is "Stolen and Other Moments".

i second the Betty Carter recommendation