Three of the very best....

Three musicians I admire:

Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel

Ella: for her facility to sing a vocal line as a solo which is at least as good as those of the instrumentalists around her. Brilliant example here: C Jam Blues Live at the Santa Monica Civic 1972, taking on all the instrumentalist. As she sang “you’re not gonna blow my voice tonight!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBaRai6fsoE 54:23 to the end

Stevie Wonder: for crafting the most delicious grooves. Superstition is the most obvious example but the brass riff in the middle of Sir Duke is unsurpassed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArgHvssVfF8 01:09 – 01: 27

Peter Gabriel: for poetic quality of lyrics married to evocative chords changes and melody. Best example personally is “Here Comes the Flood”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww9JS8dJ9fY for a more mature rendering than the original