Both these divas (divae?) are favourites at Scott's but last night the cost-conscious cognoscenti could enjoy them in a cosy Moor Street basement just a Soho minute from Ronnie's and at a quarter of the price.

Fired by the challenge, the two rivals locked larynxes with gusto. Natalie, first up, switched from her usual soul-family material to standards from the jazz book, including Great Day, recorded by the great Sarah Vaughan.

"This one will test the band," she confided, "because it goes up in semitones and I didn't write it out for them."

Not a problem for pianist Barry Green, whose enterprising trio was stoked by bassist Sam Lasserson and rising Scots drummer John Blease.

Later Natalie's diamond-bright voice lasered creatively through scatted choruses of But Not for Me.

Anita's opener, Don't Getz Scared, raised the bar for vocalese (lyrics to a Stan Getz blues solo) and more scatting, followed by The Meaning of the Blues, a ballad from her album, Kinda Blue.

Canadian tenorman Steve Kaldestad, a surprise guest, then enhanced her mellow versions of The Lamp is Low and a rarely-heard Billie Holiday song, Reaching for the Moon. Vocal honours were about even before a final "scat-off" raised the rafters.