{"id":24106,"date":"2023-01-26T14:41:22","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T13:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=177658"},"modified":"2023-01-26T16:34:06","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T15:34:06","slug":"greatest-female-jazz-musicians-12-of-the-best","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/greatest-female-jazz-musicians-12-of-the-best\/","title":{"rendered":"Greatest female jazz musicians: 12 of the best"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Geoffrey Smith\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 26 January 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

We guide you through some of the greatest and most influential female jazz artists and musicians of all time, all of whom have shaped and impacted the genre in their own individual way<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Best female jazz musicians<\/h2>\n
Carla Bley<\/h3>\n
B. 1936<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">With a unique satirical style, Bley found herself at the forefront of avant-garde jazz.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">T<\/span><span class=\""s2"\">hough Carla Bley was once proclaimed \u2018the Queen of the avant-garde\u2019, she\u2019s too much of a free spirit to be defined by a label. Born in California in May 1936, she learned piano from her choirmaster father and accompanied services from an early age, before dropping out of church and school to concentrate on competition roller skating.<span class=\""Apple-converted-space"\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><span class=\""s2"\">At 17, jazz seized her attention and she went to New York, waiting on tables at Birdland and absorbing the musical ferment. In 1959 she married pianist Paul Bley, who encouraged her talent for composition, and tuneful originals such as \u2018Sing Me Softly of the Blues\u2019 became contemporary standards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Geoffrey Smith<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommended recording<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Carla Bley: <\/span><span class=\""s1"\">Selected Recordings<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-container"\" data-position=\""adhoc"\" hidden=\"\"> <h5 class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-title\" monetizer-title=\"\" style=\""background-color:\" color:=\"\"\/> <div id=\""monetizer__deals"\" data-type=\""price-comparison"\" data-config=\"'{"shopId":"1378","market":"gbp_en","template":"default","searchKeywords":"https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.co.uk\\\/Selected-Recordings-Carla-Bley\\\/dp\\\/B0000ZOT0W\\\/ref=sr_1_1","excludeKeywords":"","geolocation":true,"limit":"4","priceRange":"8.4-15.6","sid":"term-classicalmusic-4-pcs-txt-pos"}'\"\/> <div class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-explanatory-text\" body-copy-extra-small=\"\" editor-content=\"\"\/><\/div> <h3>Betty Carter<\/h3>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><strong><span class=\""s1"\"><span class=\""Apple-converted-space"\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\""s2"\">1929-1998<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Betty\" carter=\"\" beware=\"\" my=\"\" heart=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2U1BoDZtNVc?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Dubbed \u2018Betty Bebop\u2019, Carter proved herself a master of improvisation<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">T<\/span><span class=\""s2"\">he title that Betty Carter gave one of her last CDs epitomised her approach to jazz singing: <i>It\u2019s Not About the Melody<\/i>. For over half a century she transformed standard popular songs into vehicles for her unique personal expression.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><span class=\""s2"\">Carter treated a song as an emotional whole, spontaneously recasting melody and lyrics into a new dramatic shape. Like all the best jazz, her art combined palpable freedom with subtle, intuitive structure: she once described what she did as \u2018a learning craft\u2019. Possessing an essentially bluesy timbre, her smoky voice swooped and crooned through words and pitches in what might seem a kind of stream of consciousness, without losing potent focus and expressive point.<span class=\""Apple-converted-space"\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Geoffrey Smith<\/em><\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"> <div class=\""highlightcontent\" editor-content=\"\"> \n<p class=\""p3"\"><strong>Recommended recording<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Betty Carter\u2019s finest hour<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Finest-Hour-Betty-Carter\/dp\/B00008RV03?tag=classicalm05c-21&ascsubtag=classicalmusic-0"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""sponsored" noopener noreferrer\">Buy from Amazon<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section> <h3>Blossom Dearie<\/h3>\n<iframe title=\""Blossom\" dearie=\"\" someone=\"\" to=\"\" watch=\"\" over=\"\" me=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""150"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oruxeiA06_4?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Combining a distinctive name and a girl-like voice proved a winning formula<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">W<\/span><span class=\""s2"\">hen Blossom Dearie died the obituaries began by declaring that that really was her given name. It seemed too good to be true, the winsome image so perfectly suited the doll-like delivery which had made her a unique presence on the international scene for over half a century.<span class=\""Apple-converted-space"\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><span class=\""s2"\">Such aplomb explains the cult following she enjoyed over the years. She was never slow to castigate audiences for rudeness, and some of her best songs have a satiric bite. If you can find it, one of her own favourite discs was the live <i>Blossom Time at Ronnie Scott<\/i>\u2019s, containing \u2018I\u2019m Hip\u2019, a portrait of a jazz pseud. But she herself was the real thing, a jazz musician to the bone. And, despite appearances, no evanescent little flower either, but quietly steely and enduring.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Geoffrey Smith<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommended recording<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Blossom Dearie: <\/span><span class=\""s1"\">Four Classic Albums Plus<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-container"\" data-position=\""adhoc"\" hidden=\"\"> <h5 class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-title\" monetizer-title=\"\" style=\""background-color:\" color:=\"\"\/> <div id=\""monetizer__deals"\" data-type=\""price-comparison"\" data-config=\"'{"shopId":"1378","market":"gbp_en","template":"default","searchKeywords":"https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.co.uk\\\/Classic-Albums-Blossom-Dancing-Summertime\\\/dp\\\/B001U3N2QU\\\/ref=sr_1_1","excludeKeywords":"","geolocation":true,"limit":"4","priceRange":"4.19-7.79","sid":"term-classicalmusic-4-pcs-txt-pos"}'\"\/> <div class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-explanatory-text\" body-copy-extra-small=\"\" editor-content=\"\"\/><\/div> <h3>Ella Fitzgerald<\/h3>\n<p><strong>1917 \u2013 1996<\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Ella\" fitzgerald=\"\" and=\"\" duke=\"\" ellington=\"\" don=\"\" mean=\"\" a=\"\" thing=\"\" it=\"\" ain=\"\" got=\"\" that=\"\" swing=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/myRc-3oF1d0?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">As the \u2018First Lady\u2019 of jazz, Fitzgerald had an unrivalled mastery of improvisation<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Ev<\/span><span class=\""s1"\">en when <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/who-is-ella-fitzgerald\/"\">Ella Fitzgerald<\/a> <\/strong>sang sad songs, cheerfulness seemed on the verge of breaking in. Fans who preferred the moody splendour of Billie Holiday sometimes held this against her: it was said that when Billie sang \u2018my man\u2019s gone\u2019, you knew he\u2019d departed for good, while a similar line from Ella brought to mind somebody just popping out for a loaf of bread. Though the comparison is distorted and unfair, it\u2019s true that the root of Fitzgerald\u2019s art was a boundless <i>joie de vivre<\/i>. Coupled with her vocal virtuosity, it touched millions of people around the world and made her a queen both of jazz and pop.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><span class=\""s1"\">But jazz lovers would always prefer the spectacle of Ella live, backed just with a rhythm section, storming through such impromptu masterpieces as \u2018Mack the Knife\u2019 and \u2018How High the Moon\u2019, recorded at a 1960 concert in Berlin. We\u2019re left gasping at her energy, invention and exhilarating creativity; her songs enshrine a life committed to performing and a conviction that joy is the essence of jazz.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Geoffrey Smith<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommended recording<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Ella Fitzgerald: <\/span><span class=\""s1"\">Ken Burns Jazz<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-container"\" data-position=\""adhoc"\" hidden=\"\"> <h5 class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-title\" monetizer-title=\"\" style=\""background-color:\" color:=\"\"\/> <div id=\""monetizerdeals"\" data-type=\""price-comparison"\" data-config=\"'{"shopId":"1378","market":"gbp_en","template":"default","searchKeywords":"https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.co.uk\\\/Ken-Burns-Jazz-Collection-Definitive\\\/dp\\\/B000050I3O","excludeKeywords":"","geolocation":true,"limit":"4","priceRange":"9.09-16.89","sid":"term-classicalmusic-4-pcs-txt-pos"}'\"\/> <div class=\""monetizer__price-comparison-explanatory-text\" body-copy-extra-small=\"\" editor-content=\"\"\/><\/div> <h3>Billie Holiday<\/h3>\n<p><strong>1915 \u20131959<\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Billie\" holiday=\"\" summertime=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uYUqbnk7tCY?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p><span class=\""s1"\">Known as Lady Day, the remarkable singer inspired a generation of jazz vocalists<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/who-is-billie-holiday\/"\"><span class=\""s1"\">B<\/span><\/a><\/strong><span class=\""s2"\"><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/who-is-billie-holiday\/"\"><strong>illie Holiday<\/strong> <\/a>was an improviser of genius. Her ability to give an ordinary pop tune a subtle new shape and depth of meaning made her that most elusive of beings, a true jazz singer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><span class=\""s2"\">She remains, very likely, the best. Her youthful records from the \u201930s still constitute a benchmark for jazz vocalists. In them, Lady Day is the peer of the all-star casts who surround her \u2013 chief among them her soulmate, tenorman Lester Young. Together, she and Young spin wonders like their impromptu duet on \u2018Me, Myself and I\u2019, which Holiday launches with a deft quotation from her main influence, Louis Armstrong. But her phrasing, swing and confidence are her own, as in her assured entrance on \u2018Miss Brown to You\u2019, sliding across the beat, yet clear as a bell.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><span class=\""s2"\">Musicians thought her a marvel. As an accompanist put it, \u2018To me her greatest quality was not the one everybody fixes on \u2013 the expression and feeling \u2013 but her innately and absolutely perfect timing.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Geoffrey Smith<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\""x_MsoNormal"\">Diana Krall<\/h3>\n<p><strong>b. 1964<\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Diana\" krall=\"\" walk=\"\" on=\"\" by=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yCwc-5YTBb0?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p class=\""x_MsoNormal"\">The Canadian singer and piano player Diana Krall is one of the most successful crossover jazz artists of all time, selling some 15 million albums and scooping three Grammy Awards along the way.<\/p>\n<p class=\""x_MsoNormal"\">All For You, her 1996 tribute to the Nat Cole Trio, was her first major success in a career that has seen her work with everyone from Ray Charles to Paul McCartney, as well as husband Elvis Costello.<\/p>\n<p><em>Paul McGuinness<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Cleo Laine<\/h3>\n<p><strong>b. 1927<\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Cleo\" laine=\"\" on=\"\" a=\"\" clear=\"\" day=\"\" can=\"\" see=\"\" forever=\"\" october=\"\" world=\"\" of=\"\" jazz=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""150"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zWyzyUudzr8?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">In<\/span><span class=\""s1"\"><span class=\""Apple-converted-space"\">\u00a0<\/span>1951, one of the brightest young bandleaders on the British scene was looking for a singer.<br\/>\nAfter a weary trawl through some 30 candidates, he heard a voice that gave him a little frisson<br\/>\nof goosebumps. It belonged to Clementine Langridge, a frustrated young housewife yearning to be a<br\/>\nstar, and he offered her a job virtually there and then. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">In short order, John Dankworth\u2019s new vocalist was renamed Cleo Laine, and a legendary jazz couple was born. In the more than half a century since, Dankworth and Laine created some of the most distinguished and varied music to come out of the UK, attaining a massive global following.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Despite their long alliance, Dankworth and Laine always pursued solo careers as well. Laine established her own formidable reputation as an actress \u2013 acclaimed in both straight plays and musicals \u2013 and a singer commanding almost cult status, particularly in the States. Her dramatic sense, coupled with her extraordinary vocal range, have enabled her to excel in recordings from <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/porgy-and-bess-gershwins-opera\/"\"><i>Porgy and Bess<\/i> <\/a><\/strong>to Schoenberg\u2019s <i>Pierrot Lunaire<\/i>, and with such varied partners as Duke Ellington, James Galway and Ray Charles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><em>Geoffrey Smith<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Maria Schneider<\/h3>\n<p><strong>b. 1960<\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Maria\" schneider=\"\" orchestra=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TUzHNhux_R8?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">I<\/span><span class=\""s2"\">n 2005, a rare London concert by Maria Schneider attracted an audience so packed with top-flight jazz professionals that a cataclysm would have decimated the British scene. But it was no more than fitting for a musician hailed in America as \u2018the most significant big-band jazz composer of our time\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><span class=\""s2"\">Chief among the Schneider hallmarks is a gift for sonorities that are rich and transparent, with a piquancy that comes from unexpected voicings, using brass and reeds in combinations that make them sound altogether new. They\u2019re the perfect setting for her soaring melodies and harmonies, quickened by a rhythmic feeling which links momentum and metrical subtlety.<span class=\""Apple-converted-space"\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><span class=\""s2"\">The essential medium for these virtues is the Schneider orchestra, a group of virtuoso individuals whose personalities, she says, are \u2018burned in my brain\u2019. She writes with them in mind, making her pieces organic rather than abstract. Schneider and her players don\u2019t see a barrier between composition and improvisation, and that view of a shared musical reality suits the nature of her work \u2013 meditative, optimistic, reflecting memories of her native Midwest.<span class=\""Apple-converted-space"\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Geoffrey Smith<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommended recording<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Maria Schneider <\/span><span class=\""s1"\">Sky Blue<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-container"\" data-position=\""adhoc"\" hidden=\"\"> <h5 class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-title\" monetizer-title=\"\" style=\""background-color:\" color:=\"\"\/> <div id=\""monetizer__deals"\" data-type=\""price-comparison"\" data-config=\"'{"shopId":"1378","market":"gbp_en","template":"default","searchKeywords":"https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.co.uk\\\/Sky-Blue-Maria-Schneider\\\/dp\\\/B000UD1VLO\\\/ref=sr_1_2","excludeKeywords":"","geolocation":true,"limit":"4","priceRange":"28-52","sid":"term-classicalmusic-4-pcs-txt-pos"}'\"\/> <div class=\""monetizer__price-comparison-explanatory-text\" body-copy-extra-small=\"\" editor-content=\"\"\/><\/div> <h3 class=\""x_MsoNormal"\">Nina Simone<\/h3>\n<p><strong>1933-2003<\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""I\" loves=\"\" you=\"\" porgy=\"\" nina=\"\" simone=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""150"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tq5A0YadWKs?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p class=\""x_MsoNormal"\">Born Eunice Waymon in Tyron, North Carolina in 1933, Nina Simone was that rarest of things: a master of all trades, with her music infused with influences from Bach to the <a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/blues-music\/"\">Blues<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\""x_MsoNormal"\">She began her life at the piano playing gospel music at her local church from as young as three years old. After training as a classical pianist at Julliard Music School in New York, she was refused entry to the Curtis Institute of Music, which she always attributed to her being a black woman.<\/p>\n<p class=\""x_MsoNormal"\">Her career as a recording artist took off with the 1958 release of I Loves You, Porgy. She devoted herself to the Civil Rights movement for much of her professional life, and recorded a great many albums fusing jazz with blues, <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/gospel-music-guide\/"\">gospel<\/a><\/strong>, soul and pop, primarily for Colpix, Philips and RCA. She maintained a reputation as an uncompromising live performer until not love before her death in France in 2003.<\/p>\n<p><em>Paul McGuinness<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Bessie Smith<\/h3>\n<p><strong>1894 \u2013 1937<\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Bessie\" smith=\"\" st.louis=\"\" blues=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5Bo3f_9hLkQ?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">As an iconic blues singer, Smith influenced the great jazz vocalists who followed<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><span class=\""s2"\">To savour the essence of the blues, any listener should experience the majesty of Bessie Smith. Her first recording, in 1923, established her as a unique vocalist, with a huge sound and mesmerising presence. She maintained her eminence throughout the \u201920s, her repertoire encompassing pop songs and novelties as well as her staple blues.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><span class=\""s2"\">Her unequalled power still comes across in her recordings and a double-CD, <i>The Essential Bessie Smith<\/i>, offers a good chronological survey of her achievement, including such classics as \u2018St Louis Blues\u2019 and \u2018Careless Love\u2019, in which she\u2019s brilliantly accompanied by the young Louis Armstrong.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><span class=\""s2"\">That mixture of elements was the story both of Smith\u2019s music and her life. Her career was undermined by the Depression and her devil-may-care hedonism, then cut short by a car accident in 1937. But her records present her art in all its magnificence:the once and future \u2018Empress of the Blues\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Geoffrey Smith<\/em><\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"> <div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> <p><strong>Recommended recording<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">The Essential Bessie Smith<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Essential-Bessie-Smith\/dp\/B000002ADO?tag=classicalm05c-21&ascsubtag=classicalmusic-0"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""sponsored" noopener noreferrer\">Buy from Amazon<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section> <h3>Sarah Vaughan<\/h3>\n<p><strong>1924 \u2013 1990<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Known as \u2018Sassy\u2019, Sarah Vaughan embraced both the worlds of jazz and pop<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s2"\">\u00a0A true jazz diva, she bewitched listeners with her sheer beauty of sound and supple invention. Her blend of sensual sonority and technical command earned her the public sobriquet of \u2018The Divine One\u2019; her fellow musicians, impressed by her confidence, dubbed her \u2018Sassy\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><span class=\""s2"\">A capable pianist as well as a singer, she came of age with the bebop pioneers, recording with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, who admired her deeply. But from the \u201950s, her sumptuous voice, with its four-octave range and operatic agility, attracted the attention of the pop industry. For much of her career, she veered between the two worlds, winning a middle-of-the-road following for albums of dreamy ballads with strings, while charming jazz fans with her swing and artful phrasing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><span class=\""s2"\">Whatever her material, Vaughan conveyed a sense of the tantalising potential of music and lyrics, which she could release through the power of her voice. She shares that quality with the great singers of any genre, and it makes her status in jazz unique.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Geoffrey Smith<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommended recording<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Sarah Vaughan featuring Clifford Brown<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-container"\" data-position=\""adhoc"\" hidden=\"\"> <h5 class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-title\" monetizer-title=\"\" style=\""background-color:\" color:=\"\"\/> <div id=\""monetizer__deals"\" data-type=\""price-comparison"\" data-config=\"'{"shopId":"1378","market":"gbp_en","template":"default","searchKeywords":"https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.co.uk\\\/Sarah-Vaughan-Featuring-Clifford-Brown\\\/dp\\\/B003097B3C\\\/ref=asc_df_B003097B3C\\\/","excludeKeywords":"","geolocation":true,"limit":"4","priceRange":"7-13","sid":"term-classicalmusic-4-pcs-txt-pos"}'\"\/> <div class=\""monetizer__price-comparison-explanatory-text\" body-copy-extra-small=\"\" editor-content=\"\"\/><\/div> <h3>Jessica Williams<\/h3>\n<p><strong>1948 \u2013 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Jessica\" williams=\"\" trio=\"\" jazz=\"\" in=\"\" the=\"\" afternoon=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AFBg2NtHNVo?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">With a solid sense of swing, the virtuoso player demonstrates deep jazz roots<span class=\""Apple-converted-space"\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><span class=\""s2"\">Audiences and musicians have been impressed with what <\/span>Jessica Williams <span class=\""s2"\">can do for over 40 years, although Williams pursued her career in her own way. She\u2019s always rejected categories, believing in \u2018letting my conservatory training sing through me in a language not jazz, not classical, but mine alone\u2019. But her jazz roots go deep, the result of years of gigging with the biggest names in the business. Her great distinction is the way she has distilled the whole spectrum of jazz piano into a richly inclusive personal style. She reveres the quirky, splayed, wrong-footing attack of Thelonious Monk, but also the sensitivity of Bill Evans, the harmonies of McCoy Tyner, the prestidigitation of Art Tatum. And she admires Glenn Gould.<span class=\""Apple-converted-space"\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Geoffrey Smith<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Geoffrey Smith Published: Thursday, 26 January 2023 at 12:00 am We guide you through some of the greatest and most influential female jazz artists and musicians of all time, all of whom have shaped and impacted the genre in their own individual way \u00a0 Best female jazz musicians Carla Bley B. 1936 With a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":24107,"template":"","categories":[1,23],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"10"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/greatest-female-jazz-musicians-12-of-the-best-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/greatest-female-jazz-musicians-12-of-the-best-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/greatest-female-jazz-musicians-12-of-the-best-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/greatest-female-jazz-musicians-12-of-the-best-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/greatest-female-jazz-musicians-12-of-the-best-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/greatest-female-jazz-musicians-12-of-the-best-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/greatest-female-jazz-musicians-12-of-the-best-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Geoffrey Smith Published: Thursday, 26 January 2023 at 12:00 am We guide you through some of the greatest and most influential female jazz artists and musicians of all time, all of whom have shaped and impacted the genre in their own individual way \u00a0 Best female jazz musicians Carla Bley B. 1936 With a…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/24106"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}