So what does it take to be a female jazz vocalist these days? A pretty face, a pair of high heels, a slinky gown, a shopping bag full of cover versions, and the backing of a Toronto bar pianist?

Not so for Carol McCartney. The Toronto-based jazz vocalist, who's been in the singing biz for 25 years, has a slightly different view.

"When I hear a great voice singing a great song, that's the first thing I'm attracted to," said McCartney.

And what exactly makes for a great jazz voice?

"Incredible tone would be the first thing," she said. "Delivery of some kind of emotional message that's pretty potent, that would be the second thing. Obviously, you have to sing in tune and things like that have to be perfect. And just some kind of individual style."

For the past six years, McCartney has been a part-time instructor at Mohawk College. One major weakness she's seen in young singers is their listening choices. "The big thing is they haven't listened to a lot of jazz," said McCartney. "At some point, they have to start listening to a lot of jazz, and a lot of the great influences. Shirley Horn. Ella Fitzgerald. Carmen McRae. Nancy Wilson."

McCartney, who's been on stage with Mel Lewis, Phil Nimmons, Peter Appleyard, Leroy "Slam" Stewart, and many others, says that, "there's less and less opportunity for people to sing that often. The great musicians are easy to find. It's the gigs that are more difficult to find."

Finding gigs hasn't been a problem for the highly regarded McCartney. She frequently sings stateside, and will tour Japan next April. Local jazz fans will get another opportunity to hear her when she takes to the stage of Mohawk College's McIntyre Theatre, Fennell Avenue at West Fifth, on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 8 p.m. for the Steeltown Friends of Mohawk Music's ninth annual fundraising gala, Sophisticated Ladies.

McCartney will share the bill with Sophia Perlman and Hamilton natives Diana Panton and Josephine Biundo. While McCartney is looking forward to hearing Perlman for the first time, she admits to being a big fan of Panton, and praises Biundo, her former student, as "a really natural talent."

At the gala, these sophisticated ladies will have some sophisticated backup in pianists John Sherwood and Adrean Farrugia (Perlman's finace), bassist Pat Collins, drummer Anthony Michelli, trumpeter Mike Malone, plus Darcy Hepner, his wife Astrid, and Terry Basom on reeds.

Expect a varied program from the gals, jazzy and not so jazzy, with McCartney contributing standards such as East of the Sun, and A Night in Tunisia, arranged and accompanied by Sherwood.

Tickets are $25, student balcony seats are $10. Call 905-575-2740.

But those four gals won't be the only sophisticated jazz ladies in town that weekend.

On Friday, Oct. 17 at 8 p.m., Suba Sankaran, who studied with Carol Welsman and Lisa Martinelli, will bring her distinctive voice and south Indian classical music heritage to the stage of Hillfield Strathallan College's Artsplex, 299 Fennell Ave. W., for a concert with her group Autorickshaw and the Hannaford Street Silver Band.

Tickets are $30, senior $25, student $20. Call 905-389-1367. ext. 201.

Next weekend also includes a 3 p.m. Sunday performance by the Melbourne, Australia-based TinAlley Quartet at the Hamilton Conservatory, 126 James St. S. Winners of the 2007 Banff International String Quartet Competition, the TinAlley will perform Andriessen's Miserere, Bartok's Fourth Quartet, and Mendelssohn's op. 13. Tickets are $27, senior $22, student $10. Call 905-528-5628.

Leonard Turnevicius writes on classical music for The Spectator.

leonardturnevicius@hotmail.com