Originally Posted by
nate
Stevie Wonder: No surprise as I pimp Stevie all the time but he's just an amazing singer from his low "speaking voice" range to the upper range to his "cookie monster" range. I love "You Got It Bad Girl", "As" and "Bird of Beauty"...almost too many to mention.
Nat King Cole: I've been having to transcribe a lot of his tunes lately and Nat's performance is just so cool. Unfortunately, he said he had to smoke about 2 packs before recording to get that sound but so smooth, so cool and just so "right". "Straighten Up and Fly Right", "Avalon" and "Orange Colored Sky" are faves.
Frank Sinatra: Like NKC, I've been transcribing a lot of Frank. I prefer the pre-70's Frank (please forget "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" and "That's Life") myself. "The Summer Wind" and "The Coffee Song" are some of my favorites.
Donny Hathaway: As corny as it may seem, one of my favorite Donny Hathaway performances is of "This Christmas" (which he wrote). His performance is just so soulful and he really sells it.
Bobby McFerrin: Just for his live at Carnegie Hall CD. All him, just voice the entire night. His version of "Blackbird" is amazing.
Jill Scott: She's simply great. Really gets different moods and scenes out of her voice. I forget the name of her new tune but I really like its melancholy mood. I've seen her live a couple times and she's just as good there as she is on the records.
The Bulgarian Women's Choir: Its simply amazing to hear an ensemble that can sing with such intonation. I know it seems like an odd choice but the music is marvelous.
There are a lot of others, Lady Day, Ella Fitzgerald (love that "How High the Moon" she did), Mel Torme, Al Green, Al Jarreau, Anita Baker, Aretha Franklin, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Bill Withers, Bob Marley, Brian McKnight, Chaka Khan, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Missy Elliott, Norah Jones, Prince, Ray Charles, Shawn Colvin, Sylvester Stewart.
And I liked Bon Scott better than Brian Johnson in AC/DC!