While not everyone can be a jazz artist, there are singers that are capable of crossing genres and slipping into jazz vocals while doing them justice. The jazz community itself even has a half-hearted belief that singers from other genres are only reaching for jazz simply because their career is on the downside and they’re trying to re-establish themselves. There is a conduit between jazz and many other genres respectively. Artists that want to reassert themselves musically as jazz vocalists are growing in number.
Bob Dylan – Shadows in the Night
Bob Dylan’s thirty-sixth album, Shadows in the Night, is a jazz release that brings forth Dylan’s improvisational talent. It has earned the respect of proclaimed jazz snob, Geoff Dwyer. Dylan has been able to bring forth the essence of jazz in that the same song can be heard multiple times with a different ‘feel’ every time. It fully encompasses the inherent core of jazz improvisation.
The Legitimate Lady Gaga
While the first thought of Lady Gaga may be pop music that’s trendy and mainstream, she has been able to cross into the jazz genre and started by singing a duet with imprimatur Tony Bennett. Since then she has tested her true songstress talents by singing jazz greats that bring her into comparison with great jazz vocalists such as Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald. Lady Gaga has proven that her voice and talent hold true and strong and are quite extraordinary.
Queen Latifah from Rap to Jazz
Queen Latifah started in rap in the 90’s and became famous for her talent. However, her interest in jazz has never been too far behind any part of her musical career. Even in her acting choices, her performance as Bessie Smith the Empress of Blues, shows her love for jazz and performing. In 2004 her release, The Dana Owens Album, received nod from the Grammy’s for best jazz vocal album.
