Billie Holidays' anniversary

My apologies for disappearing from sight for so long. I've been busy thinking!
What has prompted this reawakening is that I notice this year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Billie Holiday. Here is an artist about I have always had mixed feelings.
With everyone else, I have to admire her skill in what one biographer called "the subtleties of  jazz phrasing". Just listen to "Strange Fruit" and you see this. There is no doubt that she was one of the first  female singers to reinvent the style of singing used by most big band singers: sing it the way it's written; the result of this was usually a rather forgettable performance which didn't steal the spotlight from the band.
My problem is with the voice itself. I suppose it's a matter of taste, really. I like my singers to have a nice, pleasant voice, easy on the ears, even at top volume. I can't enjoy one that is harsh or shrill. I'm thinking here of people like Ethel Merman - a shouter more than a singer, or - forgive me for the hard judgment - Louis Armstrong - old gravel voice, yet not too hard to take. Billie Holiday is not one of these extreme examples, but quite often she can sound very shrill when she increases volume. Also, I feel that the instrument is lacking in range and the ability to sustain notes. Now I admit that it sounds like I'm making demands that one might make for opera singers. But my theory is that since there were these deficiencies, she simply created her own style of singing that compensated for them. The result was a very unique and personal way of phrasing and the gift to jazz of Billie Holiday.