EVA CASSIDY

DCstep, you are probably right re Barber -- a little dark and different by comparison with Cassidy, but great range/voice as you know. The song showing of her skill would be "too rich for my blood". A great test for your hardware.
Some of Cole's work is a little lighter. I am taken with her song "Trust In Me" from the Jungle Book (if you know the movie context), and "I can see clearly now", which is a song that has nauseated me over the years, but is suddenly injected by Cole's magic.

Mike60, thanks for not being defensive. I like both Barber and Cole, but only listen to them at "the right times." Thanks for the heads up about "Too Rich For My Blood". I'll find it and give my system a workout.

Well recorded female vocalists can reveal a lot about a system.

Dave

Love Eva. One of the best. Agree on Stacey Kent - better known in Europe than in the US (she is American but lives in England with her husband who is also her saxophonist). Her latest CD has a lot of original songs - somewhat unusual for many jazz vocalists. You should also look at the Best Audiophile Voices CDs from Premium - a series of 5 CDs with multiple artist, mostly female, including Eva Cassidy, Stacey Kent, Jheena Lodwick, Salena Jones, Etta Jones, Jane Monheit, Alison Krauss, plus lesser knowns like Emi Fujita, Jean Frye Sidwell, Carol Kidd, Jane Duboc. Great collection to get to know some lesser known artists.

some unreleased eva recordings are coming out soon in a cd called 'somewhere'

jaybo, thanks for the headsup. Looks like it will be released on Aug 28th (according to Amazon). Definitely going to buy it!!!!