Ms Cohodas acknowledges that the singer lacked the suppleness of such divas as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.

ECONOMIST: Dinah Washington

And throughout his career, he's worked with such music greats as Paul Simon, Wayne Shorter, Peter Gabriel and Sarah Vaughan.

NPR: 'Pieta': Milton Nascimento's Homage to Women

Here are the pleasures any jazz lover would expect elegant scatting from Ella Fitzgerald, an incomparably rich Ellington ballad by Sarah Vaughan, and Jimmy Rushing shouting the blues.

ECONOMIST: Jazz singers

Over the years, Temperley has played with stars such as Frank Sinatra, Woody Herman, Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, Diana Ross, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin and a young Michael Jackson.

BBC: Practice keeps jazz veteran in tune

She makes phrasing decisions on the fly as a proper improviser might, but she can't see or hear two or four bars ahead, as a more architecturally-minded singer like Sarah Vaughan did.

NPR: Diana Krall: 'From This Moment On'