Search - Various Artists :: Soulful Divas, Vol. 5: Ladies Of Jazz N Soul

It could be argued that the soul-singing tradition came out of jazz as much as from gospel, and every so often it's bumped back up against the jazz mainstream. This collection spans 35 years of women jazz singers making their pop crossover moves (Nina Simone's vibrant, torchy alto headed for the charts with "Do What You Gotta Do") and, occasionally, vice versa--Gloria Lynne, for instance, digs up the lyrics to "Watermelon Man." The most interesting stuff here, though, draws on the '70s disco production aesthetic to complement its vocalists' lush, time-stretching interpretations, like Randy Crawford's Joe Sample-penned "Last Dance at Danceland"; the later quiet-storm material has some beautiful singing, but too-generic arrangements. --Douglas Wolk