So, and what about singers? I have to admit it, the scat thing, or jut the great voices, they really get to me. So this is my top three:

Ella Fitzgerald, she really doesn't need an introduction right? Still, her version of How High the Moon, i could listen to it in loop for hours http://youtu.be/T8Ji4uG4cac this version is as good as the live in berlin one, and she sings a bit of bossa on her solo ! And i have to admit that her humor is a big influence on myself while improvising. O Nosso amor vai ser assim, o nosso amor vai ser assim !

Jon Hendricks, for me the king of scat, different from ella, different from pops, different from everybody else, first of all he does not have a 'beautiful voice' i mean, its not a sinatra, its not a clear thing, its something like a bluesy, whiskey kind of voice, bt damn.. believe me he can sing high, and he's known as the only one that all the other musicians trusted to put lyrics on musics such night in tunisia or translating the O Pato from João Gilberto. And to not forget his work lambert and ross on the trio Lambert, hendricks & Ross ( in this one there is no scat.. bt try to sing that, and then youll see ! http://youtu.be/sgr17FfnxtI there is some weird sounds on the beginning bt it doesnt affect the song.. damn youtube users ahah) 

Maria João, and now something from portugal.. if you dont know her already you really should, some critics call her the portuguese monk (the meredith, not the thelonious), because of  her experiments with her voice while improvising, she is really gifted, and when it comes to improvising she is really inspiring.  http://grooveshark.com/#/s/H+Gente+Aqui/33vMb7?src=5" rel="nofollow - http://grooveshark.com/#/s/H+Gente+Aqui/33vMb7?src=5  and  http://www.musicme.com/#/Maria-Jo%C3%A3o/titres/Modern-Mode---Im-Old-Fashioned-t1782287.html?play=0602517897830-01_06" rel="nofollow - http://www.musicme.com/#/Maria-Jo%C3%A3o/titres/Modern-Mode---I'm-Old-Fashioned-t1782287.html?play=0602517897830-01_06

what about you, what singers inspire you?

Billy Holiday is nice too. I also like those old school blues shouters like Big Joe and that guy who was always with Count Basie.

Moving into RnB I like ensemble vocals like EW&F and Parliament, also individuals like Stevie Wonder, Prince, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding etc.

 

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Sadly, for my ears, most of the singing in jazz is done to add melody to the music ... and I'm not sure I have found, or heard a single singer, male or female, that could be said to really be singing "jazz" per definition ... since that would mean it is all improvised and free form, and in general, you would only find it in performance ... since in "pure" and "true" jazz, you can't really duplicate what you just did ... might get near it, but what was done, is done and gone, and this minute is different than the next minute.

 

While I can appreciate Ella and Flora and so many others, in many ways, they added "pop" to the definition of jazz in my book, and while they were very good, the music behind them was not really jazz.

 

Although the music is hardly "jazz", one can even check out Lisa Garrard doing her thing with Klaus Schulze, and in many ways that free form-ness is much more "jazz" flavored, even though it is rock/electronic done, than a lot of the jazz singers out there, that again, to my ear, are simply adding melody to the counter melody part of the music.

In the less "popular" jazz field, you got Leon Thomas who also uses his voice as another instrument with his superb yodelling. I love his album Spirits Unknown and Known.

Tania Maria has a fine voice.

Jobim's voice is heaven-like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jimmy Rushing

Kurt Elling

Billie Holiday

Chet Baker........actually prefer his vocals to his playing

Cassandra Wilson

Ella Fitzgerald

Sarah Vaughan

Nat King Cole

And although technically not a Jazz vocalist......Sam Cooke

 

Louis Armstrong....His trumpet playing though has the  edge over his vocals. First recorded scat was done by Pops if I remember right.'Heebie Jeebies" but there is previous stuff. Al Jolson in 1911 is one example but psst its not the same as Pops

 

 

Who saw the singing bullfrog from Merrie Melody's cartoons. He was singing Al Jolson

 

"Hello my Baby

Hello my Honey

Hello my Ragtime girl"

 

 

Ok, I admit. I spoke hastily. You are right. If it is big band music written with vocals tham that can be good. I probably should have narrowed my critique to the forms of jazz I"m much more  familar with (which especially isn't the early stuff). To me, it can just sound forced sometimes or not place the focus where I want it to be. This is especially true in the JR/F field, which it's hard for me to name one example where I like that mix.

 

 

In any case, I do prefer the instrument jazz more.