Home » Jazz Articles » Sheila Jordan
Jazz Articles about Sheila Jordan
Sheila Jordan: Better Than Anything
by Tyran Grillo
Better Than Anything showcases Sheila Jordan in an unusual trio with bassist Harvie S and pianist Alan Broadbent (subbing for Jordan's go-to, Steve Kuhn). The latter two triangulate Jordan's incomparability with graciousness in this archival treasure, restored from a 1991 live recording at Kimball's East in Oakland. Yet the rarity of the combination is easily forgotten once the listener becomes aware of its interlocking geometry. The title song seals a foundation between the instrumentalists, Sheila scatting so fluidly throughout that ...
Continue ReadingSheila Jordan & Steve Kuhn Trio at Birdland
by Tyran Grillo
Sheila Jordan & Steve Kuhn Trio Birdland New York, New York April 3, 2015 Sheila Jordan is a natural. Still going strong at 86, she does more than sing with her voice. She plays it like an instrument. Like any great jazz improviser, she bends notes to their expressive potential, traveling far but always returning home. Among few other musicians could this have been clearer than pianist Steve Kuhn, bassist Steve Laspina, and drummer Billy ...
Continue ReadingJazz Child: A Portrait of Sheila Jordan
by Ian Patterson
Jazz Child: A Portrait of Sheila Jordan Ellen Johnson 234 pages ISBN: 978-0-8108-8836-4 Rowman & Littlefield 2014 That Ellen Johnson's revealing portrait of Sheila Jordan is the first full biography of the eighty five-year old Pennsylvanian-born singer reaffirms the notion that the dominant jazz narrative has always lionized certain artists to the exclusion of others. As the progenitor of the bass and vocal duo Jordan was an innovative figure from ...
Continue ReadingSheila Jordan: Charlie Parker, Now's The Time
by William Ellis
Sheila Jordan: At home, New York City, 11th February 2014 “This is the first jazz recording I ever heard, it's not even bebop! It's a rebopper! Charlie Parker's Reboppers. “There's a whole story behind this record. Charlie Parker alto, Miles Davis, trumpet, Curley Russell, bass and who's on piano? Hen Gates: that was Dizzy [Gillespie]—he couldn't give his real name—and Max Roach on drums. So on the other side is “Billie's Bounce"—same personnel.
Continue ReadingSheila Jordan: Now's The Time
by Ian Patterson
Sheila Jordan, one of the last great jazz vocalists from the bebop era turns eighty six on 18 November. Happy Birthday Sheila! There's much to celebrate. The Pennsylvanian-born singer's remarkable life story has just been published--the first complete biography to cover Jordan's life and career in detail. Written by Ellen Johnson over seven years, Jazz Child: A Portrait of Sheila Jordan (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014) relates Jordan's life from her upbringing in real poverty and her first steps as a ...
Continue ReadingSheila Jordan / Harvie S: Yesterdays
by Nicholas F. Mondello
With Yesterdays, singer Sheila Jordan yet again proves she can take a worn-to-a-sow's-ear standard and--voila!--turn it into a diamond-encrusted silk purse. Her partners in that magic are Harvie S and his beautifully resonating double bass--both assisting ever so deftly in the creative conversion.Offering previously unreleased material from a 1990 live performance, Jordan and S grab onto more than a dozen Great American Songbook warhorses, proving (among other things) that there are additional treasures hidden in these regularly-explored goldmines. ...
Continue ReadingSheila Jordan: Winter Sunshine
by Marcia Hillman
Sheila Jordan has reasons to celebrate: her 80th birthday, a new record company connection and this new CD release, her 21st album under her own name. Taped live at a Montreal jazz club in February of this year, Jordan is joined by a trio of Steve Amirault (piano), Kieran Overs (bass) and Andre White (drums) for an eclectic collection of standards, originals and little-done material along with interspersed dialogue. Jordan has retained the little ...
Continue Reading
