jennylovesjazz.com

My Favorite Divas are:

1. Judy Garland - "Miss Show Business" and "The Greatest Entertainer" this world has ever known. Judy genuinely loved her audiences and they in return adored her. Her performances had a depth of emotion and honesty that are unsurpassed. Judy is personally my favorite Entertainer of all-time. Just pick up a copy of her 1962 Carnegie Hall live in concert recording, and you'll see what I mean.

2. Peggy Lee - The coolest of the cool. Her subtleness and understated style have long been attempted by many singers, but no one has been able to copy her yet.

3. Dinah Washington - Attitude, attitude, attitude! Dinah's incredible sense of drama and timing, clear enunciation and ability to sing sad, bawdy, celebratory or rousing material enabled her to sing anything and everything with a distinct Dinah flair! Audiences couldn't get enough of her.

4. Ella Fitzgerald - Sheer perfection and quite simply put, the best singer who has ever lived on this earth! Too many admirable traits to list. Consistent jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring Quality Performances...and the Queen of Scat.

"The only thing better than singing is more singing...I stole everything that I heard, but mostly I stole from the horns." - Ella Fitzgerald

5. Billie Holiday - Billie is regarded by many as simply the best female jazz vocalist in history. You believe every word she sang she experienced. In fact, Will Friedwald once described Holiday in a music review as, “the woman who taught the world that the interaction and feeling of jazz musicians was the ultimate key to interpreting the American song lyric.”

6. Keely Smith - widely known as the duet partner of Louis Prima and together one of the most successful stage acts in Las Vegas' history, Keely Smith is still going strong after 5 decades of performing in that unique Keely-style. Saw her in Chicago in June of 2001 and her performance just blew me away. A consummate performer, Keely swings tunes that get you out of your seat and then sing ballads that pull on your heart strings. And exactly one year previously, Keely gave me one of my biggest thrills when she let me sing a chorus with her of "When the Saints Go Marching In" at the House of Blues (Chicago) in June of 2000 - something I'll never forget!

Men can be Divas too:

1. Al Jolson - In my opinion, Al is tied with Judy Garland as the best Entertainer of the Century. Master Showman of the American Theatre, Al was the first "Solo Artist" ever and was a Superstar before there even such a word. Al was a groundbreaker in that he developed the concept of the "Solo Performer." Many of today's solo artists don't realize the debt of gratitude they owe to Al. Skeptics at the time laughed and ridiculed him, saying that an audience would never pay to watch one person singing alone on stage. Little wonder Judy often cited Al Jolson as one of her biggest influences.

2. Louis Armstrong - He's considered by many to be Jazz personified. "Pops" was Father of the first trumpet solo and created a daring and unusual improvisational phrasing that set the style for jazz forever.

If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know.

3. Frank Sinatra - Chairman of the Board, of course. One of the greatest pop singers of the 20th Century, Sinatra's music was in the air for nearly 2/3 of it (with my favorite Sinatra period being the "Swingin' Sinatra" doing upbeat tempos against jazz-styled big band charts.) Truly a ground-breaking musical pioneer, his "new" phrasing (from aping Tommy Dorsey's trumpet) laid the foundation for how popular music is sung even today.

4. Joe Williams - This native Chicagoan had such an engaging, rich, bass-baritone voice - one easily recognizable as only belonging to the smooth Joe Williams. His voice was so flexible and expressive, he could sing and swing it all: jazz, blues, ballads, you name it!

5. Sammy Davis, Jr. - From his Vaudevillean stage debut at age 4, Sammy was an instant crowd-pleaser and proved that he could do it all. A multi-talented performer, including being a Singer, Recording Artist, Dancer, Actor (Film, Stage, TV), Writer, and Witty Raconteur - Sammy truly earned the title "Mr. Entertainment."

6. Mel Torme - Known as the "Velvet Fog" for his silky smooth vocals, this native Chicagoan was a multi-talented, prolific Entertainer, Jazz Vocalist, Composer (wrote over 300 songs, including "The Christmas Song"), Musical Writer and Arranger (for the Judy Garland Show), Musician (drummer), Actor, and Author (wrote a Judy Garland biography.)And like his idol Ella Fitzgerald, Mel had superb scatting abilities, as well as superb vocal control, a sophisticated way with ballads, and a powerful sense of swing.