"'I do not scream' said Gato, 'for the same reasons Pharaoh Sanders screams'". Some liner note verbiage that stuck in my head. He certainly had his own voice. Last Tango (expanded), Latin America (expanded), and the duets with Dollar Brand are my go-to selections. And the first side of Yesterdays on Flying Dutchman with "Yesterdays" and "A John Coltrane Blues" (even if it sounds more like King Curtis goes latin).
I think 'the greatest singer of postwar popular music' is a false construct ("in the history of" is just redundant), but if you had to choose one she'd be as good a candidate as any...BUT there is certainly no consensus on such matters that I've noticed, now more/less than ever. It's not as obnoxious and infuriating as the guy who said in the NYR that 'of course Cole Porter is a wittier songwriter than Chuck Berry', but it's not a particularly insightful or enlightening statement. Did he go on to do any close analysis of Aretha's actual practises as a singer, or does he just stay in the mist of offhand generality?
I've found to be true of Tommy Flanagan's sideman dates too...I'm thinking there was more going on there than I'm hearing, although what I'm hearing is fine...
1st Lark was totaled some time ago, parts car at my mechanics now, and I'm still driving my second lar - longer WB '62 cruiser, heavier, PS, PB (Avati discs in front), 289 v. 259, worse mileage, much softer car but still a lot of fun.