Ever since jazz was born on the daybreak of the twentieth Century, ladies have been – and proceed to be – a minority in what’s a largely male-dominated world. There’s, nevertheless, one space of the style the place females have at all times excelled and flourished – the area of the jazz vocalist. There was no scarcity of gifted singers over the a long time, however the perfect feminine jazz singers possess distinctive voices and personalities which actually guarantee they maintain their very own towards their male counterparts.
Jazz has produced so many completed and influential feminine singers over time that limiting the perfect feminine jazz singers to a meager 25 is a problem that many would deem inconceivable. It’s not a lot a query of who to incorporate, however, reasonably, who to omit. There are, in fact, those that are so important that their names will mechanically be on the prime of most individuals’s lists of the perfect feminine jazz singers of all time – particularly, the mighty Holy Trinity comprising Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Vacation, and Sarah “Sassy” Vaughan.
Whereas this formidable trio’s greatness will not be in dispute – nor ever will likely be – it doesn’t essentially imply that the remaining 22 singers on the checklist that follows will be thought-about as mere also-rans, there simply to make up the numbers. Certainly, each has a singular high quality that makes them particular, and so they have all made (and a few are nonetheless making) a significant contribution to the artwork – and historical past – of jazz singing.
There are these, like Ella, Vaughan, Betty Carter, and Anita O’Day, whose voices are agile and athletic, and capable of take pleasure in mind-boggling vocal gymnastics. However dazzling method isn’t all the pieces – neither is it, essentially, a prerequisite for being a jazz singer, as Billie Vacation, Nina Simone, and Peggy Lee demonstrated. For these artists, speaking with their viewers and conveying deep emotion was paramount. The less notes they used, the extra profound and eloquent they appeared to be.
The inclusion of up to date chanteuses – amongst them Dianne Reeves, Madeleine Peyroux, and Diana Krall – reveals that Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Vacation, and Sarah Vaughan nonetheless have descendents in jazz. Extra importantly, their presence reveals us that singing jazz isn’t a useless artwork kind, however may be very a lot alive and nonetheless evolving. And with gifted younger singers similar to Cécile McLorin Salvant, Charenée Wade, Cyrille Aimée, and Jazzmeia Horn all ready within the wings, the long run seems to be extremely vivid for feminine jazz singers.
The next is an inventory of the 25 greatest feminine jazz singers of all time. Continuing in an ascending order of greatness, it’s a wealthy tapestry of voices – maybe the best feminine choir ever assembled.
When you’re studying, take heed to our Greatest Feminine Jazz Singers playlist right here.
25: Norah Jones (born 1979)
This piano-playing daughter of legendary Indian sitar meister Ravi Shankar was born in New York however raised in Texas. Blessed with a mellow tone and delicate, caressing supply with a slight nation twang, Jones first made her mark in 2002, when her debut album, Come Away With Me, helped by the one “Don’t Know Why,” ignited the general public’s creativeness. Not content material with being top-of-the-line feminine jazz singers of her technology, Jones took a detour into singer-songwriter territory in more moderen years, earlier than making a welcome return to her jazz roots on her final album, 2016’s Day Breaks.
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24: Diana Krall (born 1964)
So far the top-selling feminine jazz singer of the twenty first Century, this three-times Grammy-winner from Nanaimo, in British Columbia, combines a sultry voice with dexterous piano abilities. Krall made her debut in 1993, but it surely wasn’t till she connected along with her long-time producer, the late Tommy LiPuma, from 1995 onwards, that she started to blossom into the star that we all know immediately, due to stellar albums similar to The Look Of Love. Although she will be able to swing with élan, Krall’s métier is languorous ballads and sensuous bossa novas.
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23: Cassandra Wilson (born 1955)
Famend for her seductive smoky timbre and skill to take a tune from any style or repertoire and make it indisputably her personal, Mississippi-born Wilson first got here on the radar of jazz heads within the mid-80s as a part of saxophonist Steve Coleman’s M-Base collective. However it was when she moved to Blue Observe in 1993 – after seven albums for indie label JMT – that Wilson’s work began to succeed in a wider public.
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22: Dakota Staton (1930-2007)
Initially from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Staton mixed a sassy persona with an athletic but in addition expressive set of pipes. She received noticed performing by Capitol Information’ producer, Dave Cavanaugh, at a Harlem nightclub within the late 50s, and ended up signing for the label, the place, throughout a five-year spell, she recorded her most interesting work, together with the basic 1957 LP The Late, Late Present.
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21: Madeleine Peyroux (born 1974)
Like lots of the greatest feminine jazz singers, Peyroux was influenced by Billie Vacation’s dreamy mellow tone and behind-the-beat, rubato phrasing, however this Georgia-born chanteuse (who usually accompanies herself on guitar) has cast her personal singular fashion since rising in 1996. The palpable presence of Gallic parts in her music – with shades of Django Reinhardt’s gypsy jazz sound – replicate Peyroux’s teenage years busking in Paris.
20: Etta Jones (1928-2001)
Initially from South Carolina however raised in Harlem, Jones got here on the radar of the mainstream American public in 1960 when her model of the jazz commonplace “Don’t Go To Strangers” (from the album of the identical identify) broke out of the jazz ghetto and penetrated the US pop High 40. Although she was solely 32 on the time, Jones was not, as some assumed, a novice, and had, actually, been recording since she was a teen, reducing her first report again in 1944. As “Don’t Go To Strangers” proved, she was a exceptional and acutely delicate balladeer with a nuanced supply.
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19: Shirley Horn (1934-2005)
From Washington, DC, sultry-voiced Horn began out as a classical pianist, however by the point she turned 20 she was singing and main her personal jazz trio. It was in 1960, although, when she was 26 and had launched her debut LP, that Horn made her mark within the jazz world. She was aided by her friendship with Miles Davis, who was an enthusiastic champion of her music. Regardless of Miles’ endorsement, Horn discovered business success elusive till she signed with Verve within the late 80s and revitalised her profession with a collection of advantageous LPs.
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18: Dee Dee Bridgewater (born 1950)
Born Denise Garrett in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Michigan, Bridgewater was the daughter of a jazz trumpeter and rose to fame within the 70s, first with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra after which within the Broadway musical The Wiz (later become a film that includes Diana Ross and Michael Jackson), for which she gained a Tony award. After dabbling with soul and fusion within the latter a part of the last decade, Bridgewater signed to Verve within the 90s and rapidly established herself as top-of-the-line feminine jazz singers in up to date jazz.
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17: Dianne Reeves (born 1956)
Blessed with a lithe, five-octave voice, this multi-Grammy-winner from Detroit (who was raised in Denver, Colorado) has been recording for the reason that 70s, when she guested on albums by Ronnie Legal guidelines and her cousin George Duke. Although her solo profession started in 1982, Reeves gained wider publicity after becoming a member of Blue Observe in 1987, the place she stayed till 2008. Although she will be able to sing straight-ahead jazz with aplomb (she’s notably adept at scat singing), Reeves is a famous songwriter and likewise one thing of a musical shape-shifter who can convincingly change from jazz and fusion to Latin, pop, R&B, and Caribbean music.
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16: Abbey Lincoln (1930-2010)
This Chicago-born singer, songwriter, actress, and civil-rights activist (actual identify Anna Marie Wooldridge) first emerged within the mid-50s as a solo performer with a singular fashion, which acknowledged the jazz custom but in addition, as she received older, appeared past it. She made her presence felt, too, with drummer (and then-husband) Max Roach’s band on three notable early 60s jazz albums (together with We Insist!) that supplied a trenchant socio-political commentary on the American lifestyle.
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15: Helen Merrill (born 1930)
Although the world is aware of her as Helen Merrill, this sonorous-voiced New York-born singer was born Jelena Ana Milcetic right into a household with Croatian ancestry. Captivated by jazz at an early age, she was singing in native golf equipment at 14 however didn’t make her recording debut till she was 22, with the Earl Hines band. Her solo profession started within the mid-50s and she or he continued to report repeatedly up till 2003, after which she retired.
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14: June Christy (1925-1990)
From Springfield, Illinois, this silky-voiced chanteuse was born Sharon Luster and briefly carried out as Sharon Leslie earlier than settling for the identify June Christy, after becoming a member of the band of famous West Coast pianist Stan Kenton. With Kenton on the helm, Christy scored a million-selling hit in 1945 with “Tampico.” A doyenne of the West Coast cool faculty of jazz, Christy possessed an agile set of pipes with a fluttery vibrato.
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13: Blossom Dearie (1924-2009)
With a girlish timbre as wispy and delicate as gossamer, Margrete Blossom Dearie patented a singular vocal fashion within the late 50s that made her stand out from different feminine jazz singers. Her profession took off within the early a part of the last decade, in France, when she carried out with a gaggle referred to as The Blue Stars earlier than embarking on a solo profession later in the identical decade. Within the 70s, she began her personal report label, Daffodil, and was additionally a famous pianist and songwriter.
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12: Anita O’Day (1919-2006)
Now hailed as top-of-the-line feminine jazz singers of her technology, Anita O’Day was branded The Jezebel Of Jazz by the mainstream US press for medicine offenses that resulted in a jail sentence. But O’Day – born Anita Colton in Kansas Metropolis – loved an extended and profitable profession that spanned 65 years. Famous for her quick, horn like-phrases and lack of vibrato (as a consequence of a childhood tonsillectomy), O’Day’s athletic fashion was outlined by an infectious rhythmic dynamism.
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11: Chris Connor (1927-2009)
Mary Jean Loutsenhizer is best often known as Chris Connor, who, like Anita O’Day, was a local of Kansas Metropolis, Missouri. Connor’s breathy, sensuous voice first gained publicity in Claude Thornhill’s band, in 1949, earlier than she launched a solo profession at indie label Bethlehem, in 1954. Arguably probably the most fertile and rewarding part of her profession got here at Atlantic Information between 1956 and 1962. She recorded her closing album three years earlier than her dying in 2003.
10: Julie London (1926-2000)
Together with her smoldering supply and glamorous movie-star seems to be, California-born Julie London epitomized the archetypal 50s torch singer. She’s mainly remembered for her immortal studying of Arthur Hamilton’s ballad “Cry Me A River,” which cemented her identify among the many greatest feminine jazz singers after her model turned an enormous transatlantic hit on the again of her efficiency within the 1956 film The Woman Can’t Assist It. In addition to releasing 29 albums, London appeared in a plethora of films and TV reveals. Her final recording was made in 1981.
9: Betty Carter (1929-1998)
Born Lilli Mae Jones in Flint, Michigan, Betty Carter is broadly acknowledged as not solely top-of-the-line feminine jazz singers of all time, however as one of many music’s best ever scat singers and vocal improvisers – of both intercourse. Mentored by bebop architect Dizzy Gillespie, she received her large break with vibraphonist Lionel Hampton’s band in 1948 after which started her recording profession as a solo artist within the mid-50s. She was additionally famend as a jazz trainer and expertise spotter, permitting up-and-coming musicians to showcase their skills in her band (together with famous pianists John Hicks, Mulgrew Miller and Cyrus Chestnut).
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8: Nina Simone (1933-2003)
A preacher’s daughter from Tryon, North Carolina, Eunice Waymon dreamed of being a live performance pianist earlier than being discouraged, in 1950, by the racism she purportedly encountered within the classical-music instructional institutions of the time. Nonetheless desirous to make her manner on the earth as a musician, just a few years later she reworked herself into nightclub chanteuse Nina Simone, and began performing an unclassifiable amalgam of jazz, blues, gospel, and people music flavours, all infused with a righteous spirit. A profoundly influential determine, Simone stays an inspiration to many younger musicians immediately.
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7: Carmen McRae (1922-1994)
Born in Harlem to a Costa Rican father and Jamaican mom, the younger McRae was drawn to jazz at an early age. A key second in her life got here when, aged 17, she met Billie Vacation, who would show her greatest inspiration (she additionally wrote a tune referred to as “Dream Of Life,” which Vacation recorded in 1939). Regardless of Vacation’s large affect, McRae found her personal distinctive voice and have become famend as a delicate interpreter of lyrics. Her final recording was made in 1991.
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6: Bessie Smith (1894-1937)
The one certainly one of our 25 greatest feminine jazz singers of all time to be born within the nineteenth Century, Bessie Smith was buried in an unmarked grave after dying, aged 43, in GT Thomas Hospital in Clarksdale, Mississippi (now the Riverside Lodge), following a automobile crash, however later turned the topic of a 2015 Hollywood biopic starring Queen Latifah. Although she was dubbed The Empress Of The Blues, this Chattanooga-born singer was a key determine within the evolution of early vocal jazz and went on to affect singers similar to Dinah Washington and Janis Joplin.
5: Peggy Lee (1920-2002)
Combining a smoldering sensuality with a “less is more” vocal minimalism, Peggy Lee was born Norma Delores Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, and served her apprenticeship in Benny Goodman’s band throughout the 40s earlier than going solo. She loved a string of hits for Capitol Information in the identical decade earlier than shifting to Decca, the place she recorded certainly one of her most well-known and enduring LPs, Black Espresso, in 1956. Lee’s most iconic tune, although, is 1958’s “Fever,” which encapsulated her laconic and laidback fashion.
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4: Dinah Washington (1924-1963)
No person might ship a lyric just like the singer born Ruth Lee Jones, whose clear and exact diction, mixed with a tart, clipped supply, left an indelible mark on her listeners. She rose to fame making risqué blues data within the 40s, however developed into one of many world’s greatest feminine jazz singers due to her urbane, jazz-inflected sophistication. Like her idol, Bessie Smith, Dinah Washington was a extremely influential singer; those that fell below her spell included Esther Phillips and Nancy Wilson.
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3: Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990)
Boasting a beautiful, full-bodied voice with a tremulous, heavenly vibrato, it’s no marvel New Jersey’s Sarah Vaughan was also known as The Divine One. She sang with the bands of Earl Hines and Billy Eckstine earlier than launching her solo profession within the late 40s, however didn’t actually cross the consciousness of the broader public till she signed with Mercury Information in 1954, which resulted in a collection of noteworthy albums. Vaughan was an completed tune stylist who was as snug scatting over a swinging groove as she was delivering a sensuous romantic ballad.
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2: Billie Vacation (1915-1959)
Although not as technically gifted because the youthful Sarah Vaughan, Philadelphia-born Billie Vacation (actual identify Eleanora Fagan) had a manner of speaking with a tune that was second to none. Her voice had a deeply soulful high quality that made all the pieces Girl Day sang appear poignantly autobiographical.
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1: Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)
Topping our checklist of the 25 greatest feminine jazz singers of all time is the incomparable First Girl Of Music herself, who hailed from Newport Information, Virginia, however whose journey to fame started on the stage of New York’s Apollo Theater, in 1934, when she gained first prize in an newbie expertise competitors. By the top of that decade, Ella Fitzgerald was singing with drummer Chick Webb’s band, but it surely wasn’t till 1954, when her supervisor, jazz impresario Norman Granz, determined to create a report label referred to as Verve solely to show her expertise, that Fitzgerald’s profession actually skyrocketed. In a position to improvise along with her voice like a bebop horn participant, Fitzgerald was additionally a silky balladeer who was capable of stability method with sensitivity.
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On the lookout for extra? Discover out who tops our checklist of the 50 greatest jazz singers of all time – male or feminine.
