I heard a cut from Barb Jungr off a Linn Records recording at CES a few days ago that would qualify. Hats off to Duke at Audio Kinesis as it was his speakers bringing her voice to life - they were a standout for me at THE Show...way to go Duke! There's a version of "Angel Eyes" on the compilation album, "Duets" (Rob Wasserman) by Cheryl Bentyne that is astounding in this respect. That's a great compilation BTW. There's way too many to list, many good ones listed here. Those two come to mind right away.
Showing 9 responses by jax2
To get off the jazz/pop tangent, the voice of Montserrat Figueras does it for me on any of Savall's recordings of her. In a very odd way Joanna Newsome's high-pitched little girl vocals on her early album, Milk-eyed Mender, is also a standout, though is not for everyone (some may run screaming from the room). |
Antony for sure: Gorgeous voice. In the biological sense, isn't Antony Hegarty still a man? His/her voice is certainly that of a woman. I think Antony is channeling Nina Simone! Great call, regardless. Definitely gives me goosebumps. I'm particularly fond of the EP, The Lake. That first title cut, putting an Edgar Allan Poe verse to music, gives me the chills every time. I find it interesting how diverse the responses are here - to me it reads more like a thread responding to "who are your favorite female vocalists". There are so many here that I too enjoy, but that I'd never say gave me goosebumps. I wonder what quality it is that does this for others. I don't know that I could put it into words. Something like silky smooth, organic, sensual...I don't know, but many of the choices people are mentioning, though I very much like them, don't fit my own criteria. |
Almarg - I'm a bit surprised as well, although looking back over some of the suggestions I'd say that most were not in the conventional, poorly engineered 'pop' category (though certainly some are). In the spirit of your post I'll add four I haven't seen so far; two classical, one alt-country, and one blues/soul/jazz: Cecilia Bartoli Anna Netrebko Margo Timmons (Cowboy Junkies) Casandra Wilson |
Regarding classical performers. It seems like those recordings are not recorded the same way, with as much care, with a good mic. I don't listen to much classical for that reason. You need to get out more :-) I'd refer you back to my earliest suggestion; check out the voice of Montserrat Figueras, on the Alia Vox recording of, El Cant de la Sibil-la. That recording (available on SACD as well) will raise the hairs on the back of your neck on a good system. In fact all of the Alia Vox recordings (I believe the company is owned by her talented husband, Jordi Savall) that I've heard are consistently excellent recordings with obvious great care taken in their production. Fortunately they are also consistently great performances as well. Also try the classical choices on the ECM label for consistent quality. Great jazz on the latter too. Alia Vox is all early music. |