No apology necessary. My concern is/was that you may have had a flawed interpretation of my post. In the future I'll try to be more careful with my wording.

In my musical world, great singers are held in the same high esteem that I hold great musicians. Personal favorites include Joe Williams, Sarah Vaughn, Billy Holiday, Nina Simone, James Brown, Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Shirley Horn, Lou Rawls, Bobby Caldwell, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, Dusty Springfield, B.B. King, and lately, Ruthie Foster and of course the wonderful Don Mason. Obviously, I'm all about the 'soul' and that comes from within and can be expressed through any instrument, be it piano, organ, sax, trumpet, or the human voice. As with keyboards, I always felt that the feelings and emotions behind it were always way more important than the quality of the voice.

chas