I made a list today of reliable jazz singers for my students.
By reliable, I mean that when they interpret a song, their interpretation is going to be helpful in understanding the bulls-eye of the song. Consistently. I omitted singers who are inconsistent in their output or whose recorded output is too small (so far) to be a significant resource. Even so, I tried to include both classic and contemporary jazz singers.
It’s not comprehensive, but the list will absolutely be helpful for developing jazz singers looking to expand their horizons or to learn new songs.
Here’s my (alphabetical) list. Who would you add? Who would you remove?
Louis Armstrong
Chet Baker
Tony Bennett
Nat “King” Cole
Bing Crosby
Billy Eckstine
Kurt Elling
Ella Fitzgerald
Billie Holiday
Shirley Horn
Carmen McRae
Mark Murphy
Dianne Reeves
Cécile McLorin Salvant
Frank Sinatra
Mel Tormé
Sarah Vaughan
Joe Williams
Nancy Wilson