Sheila Jordan: A Life of Honest Expression

AAJ: The best tribute the jazz community could one day pay to you?

SJ: They already have. I have been able to work steadily in music since I turned 58 twenty years ago. I guess I would like to work in America a bit more but I am not complaining. I received the MAC Award from New York City last year and was honored with the Humanitarian Award in January, 2007 at the IAJE conference. This is a great honor for me.

AAJ: A word that best describes jazz?

SJ: Jazz is a music that allows us emotionally and honestly to express our lives and the lives of others.

AAJ: What music do you listen to nowadays when you are at home? Do you listen to your own records?

SJ: In spring and summer the beautiful bird sounds take over. I also listen to all of Bird, Miles and Coltrane, Miles and Gil Evans, Ivan Lins. They always lift my spirits. I never listen to my recordings. I record, mix them, hear the end result and then never listen again, if I can help it. I don't like hearing myself and I always hear something I could have done differently. It's the curse of the constant improviser.

AAJ: What has changed in the USA and jazz since your days in Pennsylvania? Is this a better world?

SJ: A lot has changed since Pennsylvania and Detroit. For one thing the prejudice has really lessened. Bi-racial children and marriages between different races are more readily accepted in most parts of the US. It is a better world in many ways since my childhood. We are still growing. Give time... time...

AAJ: Sometimes in your shows you talk to the audience and ask them to "be messengers . What's your message?

SJ: My message is don't give up if you're a struggling musician (singers too). Be dedicated to the music. The payment will be making music with other musicians and feeling like one giant sound. In order to get to this level, you have to totally dedicate yourself. Don't give up when times are bad. You will always find a place to do your music. It might take some time but you will find it and that feeling of connecting with other musicians you are playing music with is something that money can never buy.

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