Best female vocals on CD

I agree with Rayhall. I find it painful to listen to Krall's "interpretations" of standards. Just listen to Billie Holiday sing All or Nothing At All- and then listen to Krall's version on Love Scenes - it makes me want to gag. Her cds ARE well recorded though. Billie Holiday gets under your skin, drills through your veins and changes your chemical composition forever - if one accomplished little else in life other than listen to her sing, it would still be a life well spent. Nina Simone is another jazz singer that ranks up there on the celestial scale. I love Ella - I just wish the instrumentation on a lot of her work were less syrupy. Cassandra Wilson's voice is amazing, but does anyone ever get through her albums in their entirety? Holly Cole's performance of Jersey Girl - YES! Margo Timmins is phenomenal - the most EXPRESSIVE singer in rock,IMHO. Joan Osborne (whatever happened to her?) sounded incredibly versatile and exciting in Relish.

Try Carla Lother on the Chesky label. Beautiful alto/soprano voice with nice musical arrangements.

For Jazz fans: Check out Dee Dee Bridgewater. The CD is "Live at Yoshi's". This is an absolutely stunning CD both musically and artistically. She shows off her entire vocal repertoire from soft delicate ballads to belting out raw, powerful songs to scat singing. She is backed by talented, but not well-kown musicians. The dynamics on this CD are beyond anything I have ever heard on a commercial recording. Listen to the tambourine in the opening on track 2 "Slow Boat to China".

The late Sandy Denny deserves a place in this survey, check her out with Fairport Convention as well as her solo recordings.

...After reading Rayhalls' and Sramas' decidedly harsh criticisms of Diana Kralls' music, I listened to the one CD I have of hers, and the next day went out and bought three more-- to help ensure her "commercial" success. I don't actually know much about jazz singers as it's a genre I don't generally like. But I do know that I like Diana Krall's jazz/ballads, and her lush, husky, beautiful voice IS enough for my obviously limited intellectual and emotional capabilities-- despite what Rayhall says. I was pleased and surprised to see that Srama likes Margo Timmins music as she's one of my favorites also, but it rather amazes me that he could like Margo Timmins voice but not D.K.s? Margo Timmins voice has many of the same characteristics that Rayhall critisizes in D.K., eg limited vocal range, and M.T. has poor ennunciation-- but expressive, yes; intimate, seductive, and haunting all at once. I have all the Cowboy Junkies CDs. Both singers (on MY system) sound like they are in the room with me. Cheers, Craig.