Singing jazz competently is an uncommon skill, a high bar that most aspirants will never reach. Becoming a worthy heir to Sarah Vaughan, however, is another thing entirely.
The kind of perfection that Vaughan personified-a combination of artistic refinement and authentic emotion, chops and musical sensitivity-comes along once or twice in a generation. So it’s not a critique of any of the contestants at the 2016 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition for women-dubbed the “Sassy Awards,” after Vaughan’s nickname, and held on Sunday at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark-if most audience members’ socks stayed firmly in place. While all the singers trod a fairly conventional path through a program mostly consisting of jazz standards, the eventual winner, London chanteuse Deelee Dubé, displayed a beguiling soulfulness and a relaxed, solid sense of swing.
