Dianne Reeves

Dianne Reeves has been one of the top singers in jazz ever since the late '80s. A logical successor to Dinah Washington and Carmen McRae (although even she cannot reach the impossible heights of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan), Reeves is a superior interpreter of lyrics and a skilled scat singer. A talented vocalist with an attractive voice even as a teenager when she sang and recorded with her high-school band, Reeves is at her best performing swinging jazz live. And her musical introduction of her band (which can be lengthy, witty, and full of inspired scatting) is sometimes nearly as memorable as the music. ~ Scott Yanow