'Of all time'? Huh?

She's the jazz equivalent to Bob Dylan: a croaking rasping voice with poor pronunciation skills.

You want a great voice go listen to Sarah Vaughn or Ella Fitzgerald.

If Holiday hadn't been a strung out junkie and viewed as a 'tragic' figure I doubt she would be very well remembered these days.

Well trolled. Billie Holiday's croaking rasping voice is part of the reason her singing liked. The main reason is how her timing and tone are like an instrument.

douchebag/hater: 'Of all time'? Huh?

She's the jazz equivalent to Bob Dylan: a croaking rasping voice with poor pronunciation skills.

You want a great voice go listen to Sarah Vaughn or Ella Fitzgerald.

If Holiday hadn't been a strung out junkie and viewed as a 'tragic' figure I doubt she would be very well remembered these days.

If you have a good enough voice, and years of quality training, you could probably sing nearly as well as Ella or Sarah (who had naturally amazing voices).

You could have perfect pitch, rich timbre and a complete mastery of the technical aspects of singing and you still wouldn't be able to express 1/10th of the emotional depth that Billie Holiday, with her already naturally thin voice further damaged by years of drug and alcohol abuse, brought to her performances.

Am I the only one who now can't hear sing without picturing David Sedaris?  Anyone?  Just me, then?

Tu dou: Well trolled. Billie Holiday's croaking rasping voice is part of the reason her singing liked. The main reason is how her timing and tone are like an instrument.

And yet - if you are typical farker - you hate Dylan for having the same type of voice...

Snapper Carr: douchebag/hater: 'Of all time'? Huh?

She's the jazz equivalent to Bob Dylan: a croaking rasping voice with poor pronunciation skills.

You want a great voice go listen to Sarah Vaughn or Ella Fitzgerald.

If Holiday hadn't been a strung out junkie and viewed as a 'tragic' figure I doubt she would be very well remembered these days.

If you have a good enough voice, and years of quality training, you could probably sing nearly as well as Ella or Sarah (who had naturally amazing voices).

You could have perfect pitch, rich timbre and a complete mastery of the technical aspects of singing and you still wouldn't be able to express 1/10th of the emotionSoal depth that Billie Holiday, with her already naturally thin voice further damaged by years of drug and alcohol abuse, brought to her performances.

So you think that Ella and Sarah don't express emotion 1/10th of the emotional depth of Holiday?

Wow.

By your standard - such as it is - you think that Kurt Cobain is a better 'singer' than Sinatra.

When I was a little guy, my father took the whole family to Hawaii for a business convention. We were a middle class family from a 200 population village (numbers haven't changed in 200 years) located in the middle of nowhere - it was a two hour drive to the nearest airport big enough to take passenger planes.

So... here I am, this chubby little kid sitting down for the business brunch in the Kahala Hilton, and this elderly woman starts singing. I couldn't believe everyone was stuffing their face and blabbing and I was rooted to the spot - to the point where I was catching myself holding my breath - I never understood or believed the expression 'riveted' but that is exactly what I experienced. My Dad finally whacked me upside the head, told me to quit staring like an idiot and eat... so I crammed everything on my plate in my mouth between songs.

It was Sarah Vaughn.

I love Billie's voice/pain, Bessie Smith's (for lack of a better description) coarse presence, but Sarah Vaughn: there was a purity that flowed from her  - the only other time I ever experienced that same feeling was listening to some of the early Louis Armstrong recordings.  Louis channeled joy, Sarah... she held my heart in her hands.

Imho Ella was more gifted, but for whatever reason I identified emotionally with Ms. Vaughn. Kind of like Art Tatum: the man was a God - I had to watch video of him playing seemingly effortlessly before I could believe what I was hearing - and intellectually I enjoy listening to his play now and then, but I listen to the older players like Jelly Roll Morton and Fats Waller much more often.

/Since then I've been incredibly lucky - I saw Ray Charles twice, Dizzy Gillespie, Chick Corea, BB King and several others. They were brilliant - I enjoyed them immensely, but none of their performances owned me like Sarah Vaughn's did.

douchebag/hater: 'Of all time'? Huh?

She's the jazz equivalent to Bob Dylan: a croaking rasping voice with poor pronunciation skills.

You want a great voice go listen to Sarah Vaughn or Ella Fitzgerald.

If Holiday hadn't been a strung out junkie and viewed as a 'tragic' figure I doubt she would be very well remembered these days.

Wow - you're a douchebag.

In honor on Ms. Holiday, be sure to have one of those
Pomegranate  drinks with your lunch today.