>Billie Holiday stands at or near the top of any knowledgeable short list of American singers. Not even Aretha, Elvis, or Al Green is in her class--her only competition is Louis Armstrong, whose improvisational smarts she emulated, and Frank Sinatra, who adored her. Yet Holiday had a much smaller voice than any of these titans, and by 1958, when she died of alcohol abuse at 43, it was a wreck. Her magic is all in her languid timing, subtle melodic variations, unmatched conversational intimacy, and above all physical timbre--young and buttery or brandy on the rocks, it goes down so easy.

>>63563410

Grimes

Nina Simone

>>63563410
BILLIE HOLIDAY

Alice Coltrane is still better than John

There is a female player on one of the tracks in this week's Blindfold Test
>>63562266
See if you can pick her out