Youth must be served, but ...

The jazz vocal records just keep coming. Why? A look at the chart performances of albums by Diana Krall, Norah Jones, Jane Monheit and Steve Tyrell, among others, provides an answer: A successful vocal act can have a quick and salutary impact on a company’s bottom line.

For the past year or so, and especially since Jones’ breakout, there has been a sort of unspoken proviso in the talent quest that suggests that it would be really good if the words “female” and “young” could be attached to the resumes of any potential signings.

Which tends to disregard the work of at least one gender and a lot of vigorous (if no longer in their teens or 20s) singers.

Here’s a look at new releases from that underappreciated group.

John Pizzarelli

“Live at Birdland” (Telarc)

****

The guitarist and singer celebrated the 10th anniversary of his trio, which includes his brother Martin on bass with pianist Ray Kennedy, in a live performance recording at New York’s Birdland jazz club. The two-CD set captures the ambience of the event by including Pizzarelli’s whimsical patter. Often compared favorably to Nat King Cole, Pizzarelli offers a long collection of delightful interpretations reaching from James Taylor (“Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight”) and the Gershwins (“They Can’t Take That Away From Me”) to several originals. And when Pizzarelli’s amiable voice soars over his articulate guitar work, the real essence of jazz singing becomes perfectly clear. This is music that entertains as it illuminates -- swinging hard, telling stories as it goes.

Rene Marie

“Live at Jazz Standard” (MaxJazz)

****

Marie arrived on the scene a few years ago, an unknown in her mid-40s, drawing overnight accolades with her every performance. In the interim, she has grown into a confident, extraordinarily inventive artist. Like Billie Holiday, her jazz is not about scat singing, swooping vocal improvisations or a hip attitude. It’s about the music and the story. In this live date, recorded at a Manhattan club, Marie’s imagination is given free rein, with extraordinary results. Among the highlights: a superb recasting of “Where or When”; a drum-snapping reading of “It Might as Well Be Spring”; a gripping version of “I Loves You Porgy”; a rendering of “Nature Boy” introduced with a spontaneously improvised opening; and a startling combination of Ravel’s “Bolero” and Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne.” Marie obviously doesn’t fit into that under-30 category, and she’s not likely to have a million-selling album anytime soon. But she is doing work that places her at the top level of creative jazz singing.

Janis Siegel

“Friday Night Special” (Telarc)

***

Siegel is best known to most listeners for her work with the veteran jazz/pop vocal ensemble Manhattan Transfer. But she has had a career of her own for years, producing a series of attractive, well-crafted albums. This time out, she has narrowed her view somewhat via a concept album built around the hard-driving, blues-based styles of the organ and tenor bands of the ‘50s, with organist Joey De Francesco and tenor saxophonist Houston Person as featured artists. The results are marvelous, especially in Siegel’s caress-your-ear renderings of tunes such as “Let It Be Me,” even though the overall concept wears a bit thin in spots. The most engaging track is one in which the organ and the rhythm take a break and Siegel dips into a sensual version of Eddy Arnold’s classic “You Don’t Know Me,” accompanied only by Russell Malone’s guitar, with flurries of tenor fills from Person.

Paolo Conte

“Reveries” (Nonesuch)

***

The name’s probably not familiar to most Americans, but Conte, 65, has long been a staple in the European cabaret world. Powerfully drawn to jazz since his youth (he says he prefers the jazz of the ‘30s and earlier), he is always driven by a surging jazz swing, energized at times by the sound of Italian street bands. “Reveries” collects 16 of his classic songs, 12 of which have been rerecorded and rearranged. All feature his dark, husky, world-weary voice -- a cross between Tom Waits, Louis Armstrong and Edith Piaf. It’s one of the wonders of jazz-oriented singing.

Luciana Souza

“North and South” (Sunnyside)

** 1/2

Brazilian-born Souza received a well-deserved Grammy jazz nomination for her last album, “Brazilian Duos,” in which she was accompanied solely by guitars. With “North and South,” there are no guitars present, with accompaniment coming from a sequence of pianists (Bruce Barth, Fred Hersch, Edward Simon), bassist Scott Colley, drummer Clarence Penn and tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin. The results are uneven -- imaginatively probing at times, off the mark in other spots. In the opening “Chega de Saudade,” Souza’s pitch is surprisingly unsteady; yet she sings the rapidly moving lines of “Se Tarde Me Perdoa” with focus and precision. American tunes such as “When Your Lover Has Gone” are beautifully framed and phrased, but undercut by more pitch inaccuracies and a tendency to push her light-toned voice beyond its natural dynamic range. Souza is a gifted vocal talent with a bright future, but this is not one of her better outings.