To add some that haven’t been mentioned yet:
Female:
Billie Holiday
Hope Sandoval
Male:
Johnny Cash
Robert del Naja
Natalie Merchant… only up to Tigerlily.
With some difficulty, I’ll limit myself to a “Top Three” for each (not necessarily in order of preference);
Tony Bennett
Nat King Cole
Matt Monro
Eva Cassidy
Barbara Streisand
Karen Carpenter
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I struggle to think of any voices I particularly like (as opposed to those that have sung songs well etc), but I have just thought of one:
Tom Baker, originally in Dr Who, and most recently in Ayreon’s Transitus. Absolutely unmistakable!
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Lou Reed, Bowie, Robert Forster, Dylan, Lloyd Cole, Roger Waters plus lot of others
Rickie Lee Jones, Aretha Franklin, Natalie Merchant, Patti Smith, Sade plus lots of others
Freddie Mercury , Frank Sinatra, Michael Franks, Diana Krall and Melody Gardot.
Natalie Merchant, Sandy Denny, Rhiannon Giddens, Cara Dillon to name but a few. I don’t really ‘do’ male vocals nowadays!
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He even manages to sing the alphabet backwards on the same album!
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No mention of Joni Mitchell? I am surprised.
Sandy Denny, June Tabor, Natalie Merchant, Linda Thompson
Richard Thompson, David Byrne, Peter Gabriel, Bryn Terfel
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A few more to add: Shelby Lynne, Tom Jones, Ian Hunter.
Unfortunately Joni featured in the opposite thread of Voices That Get On Your Nerves !
(Personally I love her).
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I love her music too, but her voice isn’t up there with my top few choices.
Having said that, Hejira certainly ranks among my top five albums of all time - that’s for a different thread I guess.
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I have just rediscovered Casandra Wilson. What a voice. Silver Pony, is a good place to start.
Magos Herrera, a Mexican Jazz singer has an enjoyable voice too. Mexico Azul, sung mostly in Spanish is very nice.
I like Tori Amos’s quirky voice too. What would Yes be without Jon Anderson?
I love Joni Mitchel’s music, but her voice on her early stuff grates a little. Her mid period voice is up thre with the best.
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I made the mistake of listening to a YouTube video of Annie Haslam made recently. She no longer has that magical voice she had on those old Renaissance LP’s. Some artists do not realise when it it is time to retire and do something else.
If there’s a better young (24) contemporary singer, I would like to know who it is…
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a great voice - but the material feels a bit dated -but i don’t know a lot about jazz - just enjoy listening occasionally
