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Female jazz vocalists are on the very top now, I guess that mainly because of Norah Jones’ popularity. One could argue if what Norah Jones does is actually jazz or not, but if her popularity affects other singers’, then it’s fine with me.
For me the best living jazz singer is Cassandra Wilson. I love her for her deep voice, her expression and especially her fantastic arrangements. She just knows how to make a jazz masterpiece from a simple song (she covers famous pop/rock songs as well, like U2’s “Love is blindness” or Sting’s “Fragile”). Here, especially for Bluetrain readers, Cassandra Wilson’s version of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” (“New Moon Daughter”, 1995).