Frank Sinatra, long acclaimed as the world’s greatest performer of popular music, is the artist who set the standard for all others to follow. Sinatra was, of course, more than a singer—he was an actor, recording artist, cabaret and concert star, radio and television personality, and, on occasion

Glamour, Grand, Intense, Layered, Power, Slick, Sophisticated

Boris Vian was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer. He is best remembered today for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan were bizarre parodies of criminal fiction, highly controversial at the time of their rele

Atmospheric, Bubblicious, Distorted, Ecstatic, Experimental, Funny, Hypnotic, Layered, Loose, Perceptual, Playful, Psychological, Sophisticated, Surreal, Wise assy, Witty

Bobby McFerrin's voice scours the vast horizon of sound. Though he's only one man, he routinely transforms himself into a five-piece band, a skilled soprano, or a trio of tribal-sounding chanters singing in harmony. His voice can replicate the sound of almost any instrument, from the delicate whistle

Bright, Eclectic, Improvised, Layered, Playful

Henry Threadgill's music might best be described by the name of his band: Very Very Circus. His circus of sound combines traditional jazz instruments with strings, accordions, and tubas, and integrates influences from Mexico, Asia, Europe, and elsewhere. Out of this eccentric multiplicity emerges an

Collage, Composed, Contemporary/downtown, Eclectic, Layered, Polychromatic, Sophisticated