There are a lot of great female jazz vocalists these days, but throughout history, we`ve had quite a few impressive singers who have changed the way we think of jazz. So, who really is the best, both now and then?

Then:-

Billie Holiday is indisputably one of the most famous women to ever sing jazz. Her deep voice was so unique and incredible that it truly captured people`s hearts. She produced a number of hits, but many of them were more blues than jazz. Still, Billie remains one of the most impressive jazz vocalists to exist, despite a heroin addiction that would destroy her voice and cause her to die entirely too early at 44.

Another female jazz singer that no one will ever forget is Ella Fitzgerald. She sang on international tours with Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, as well as a number of other famous artists of her time. This crystal-voiced young woman also performed in movies and on television, as well as doing concerts and recording "songbooks" with hundreds of songs each. She was dedicated to her craft and only stopped performing when she lost her legs to diabetes.

Now:-

Dianne Reeves is definitely one of the top female jazz vocalists of this century. She was mentored by Clark Terry in high school and studied music for most of her life. She is perhaps one of the most prolific artists, as well, with eighteen albums recorded. While not all her music has been jazz (the singer has also dabbled in world music and Latin American music) she has won four Grammy awards for Best Jazz Vocal Performance and is the only singer to have won the same award for three consecutive albums.

Though not young, Nancy Wilson is still considered to be one of our contemporary jazz artists. With over seventy albums under her belt, she beats out even Dianne Reeves for recordings. This talented woman with the golden voice has been singing since 1956 and is still going strong.  Her career has included a variety of music, including jazz, pop and blues, as well as quite a few acting gigs. At 71, Wilson shows no signs of slowing her career.

These four artists are separated by time, but not talent. All four are amazing female jazz vocalists that have impressed the world with their voices and changed the world of music forever.

Jazz has evolved in so many ways.  From Billy Holiday to Anita Baker and Al Jareau-it has found a voice and made a statement.

That statement has been lost in a maze of modern jazz fusion however, which seems to be more of an exercise of long winded, worn out ideals and musical acrobatics.

Sure, it is impressive to see a trio or quartet play complicated chords and progressions, but that wonder is the same h kind that is experienced when watching Cirque du Soliel contortionist - it can amaze and somewhat revile simultaneously.

As someone who studied music and know how hard it is for even two musicians, let alone three, four and five, to stay on point throughout a performance, I can appreciate the talent it takes.  The problem is, the average person is not interested in the excruciating details of crafting every note or what it takes to stay on time - all they care about is the sound that reaches their ears.

And this is where a lot of modern jazz has left a lot of people in the dust. In an effort to retain what many would consider to be a purity of craft, they forgot that the lay listener only wants to experience joy.

The kind of joy that happened when Billy Holiday sang flat and a little off key because she was feeling the emotion of the words and not worried about staying on pitch. Or the lovely wonder of rough hewn artists who were more concerned about sharing their perceptions of a common experience, be it love or sadness, wonder or fear than the perfection of music.

Now, to give jazz credit, it does desire to be taken seriously-and it is.  Pop music by comparison will pick up blue eyed, blond hair twelve year, place her in a jail bait costume and make her a singing sensation.

 The greats of Jazz can run circles around most modern players-they are trained and disciplined and can attain heights of perfection that most people can't claim in contemporary music.

But to that end, something is lost, a graininess that is necessary to capture the very essence of the human spirit. As I listen to the perfected notes of jazz I fear that the Billy Holiday type nuances will elude us.

Her lovely smiling yet tragic image is now replaced by a golden mirage of a perfectly coifed vixen whose hair I long to muss up.