Through the years of its evolution, jazz has relied on instrumentalists for scintillating scales and histrionics. Yet, it is the brilliance of vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Nancy Wilson and Carmen McRae that set the jazz standard benchmarks.

“They shaped jazz music and singers,” says Shreya Bhattacharya (right), who will lead the vocals for the performance, An Ode to Jazz Divas, on Sunday at Girgaum. With a complete orchestra led by Avishek Dey (bass), Clement Rooney (keys), Amandeep Singh (guitar), Shirish Malhotra (flute/saxophone), Jarryd Rodrigues (saxophone) among them, it focuses on the quality and harmonics that are often lost amid instrumentation.