Louisa Matthiasdottir, Small Paintings

In the first part of this wide-ranging survey, a noted British musicologist traces the metamorphosis of popular female singing from the blues of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith to the club and cabaret work of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Betty Carter, and the soul singing of Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin. Then he covers the jazz exploits of such white women as Mildred Bailey and Peggy Lee, the ""rural'' folksong revivals of Joan Baez and Judy Collins, the country songs of Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt. The longest sectiondescribing ``the New Eve's search for social and creative identity in her New Ethnic Garden''ranges from Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon to Janis Joplin, Laura Nyro, Rickie Lee Jones and Laurie Anderson. Oddly, Mellers has included, in addition to a discography, a glossary defining classical music terms that are hardly mentioned, if at all, in the text. Photos not seen by PW. (December)