SOMETHING is awry with the perceived hierarchy of contemporary jazz singers. As brilliant as they can be, both Kurt Elling and Dianne Reeves turned in modest performances on their most recent tours, albeit within the constraining context of collaborating with the Sydney Symphony.

The other internationally acclaimed singer of the day, Cassandra Wilson, gave a lethargic concert on her only Australian tour a decade ago.

Meanwhile at the Sound Lounge on Friday night, an artist barely known outside Sydney, Tina Harrod, carved the air and cleaved hearts with almost every word of every lyric she sang.

Then there's Barbara Morrison, who always delivers when she comes to town. If the American could not reach Harrod's emotional intensity, she has other strings to her bow. Spinning yarns and sharing jokes, she inhabits a stage like it's her living room, with each audience member a bosom buddy.

She sledgehammers the blues into submission with a voice as big as a church, while giving us a wink, some lip and a jutting hip.

She also caresses a ballad with tenderness and superlative musicality, her earthy warmth diluting any saccharine tendencies in the lyrics.

Although this show was subtitled "Memories of Ella, Sarah and Billie", it was really a rerun of her usual fare, with an Ella Fitzgerald anecdote thrown in. Highlights included deft readings of The Very Thought Of You and I Loves You, Porgy, as well as the transmutation of her voice into a device akin to an arc welder to blast out Please Send Me Someone To Love and Don't Touch Me.

With sizzling accompaniment by her Australian trio of pianist John Harkins, bassist Brendan Clarke and drummer Andrew Dickeson - albeit too loud for this sort of music - it was a rip-roaring way to start the week.