Results for "Sheila Jordan"

Dena DeRose: Ode to the Road

by Jack Bowers
July 19, 2020

To those who may have wondered what ever happened to singer / pianist Dena DeRose, the answer is nothing—and everything. DeRose has lived for the last fifteen years in Graz, Austria, where she is professor of jazz voice at the University of Music and the Performing Arts. She still tours frequently, sometimes returning “home" to the ...

Mark Murphy

Born: March 14, 1932

The following is based on the book This is Hip: the Life of Mark Murphy by {{m: Peter Jones = 58082}} (Equinox Publishing, 2018). All rights reserved. In the opinion of many, {{m: Mark Murphy = 9692}} was the greatest jazz singer who ever lived. Quite a statement, but one that can be made to stand up pretty well in court. There have, of course, been more successful jazz singers; certainly more popular jazz singers. But not one of them has possessed the sheer range of abilities that Murphy was blessed with. He had a natural “instrument” at his disposal, a rich, masculine tone that could shape any jazz standard as beautifully as you were ever likely to hear it

John Scofield: Swallow Tales

by Ian Patterson
June 16, 2020

It was Gary Burton who brought Steve Swallow--with electric bass in tow--into the teaching ranks of the Berklee College of Music in the early 1970s. Burton had already introduced Swallow's songs to the students, one of whom, a fresh-faced John Scofield, would go on to play and record with both men. Scofield and Swallow's musical partnership ...

John Scofield: One For Swallow

by Ian Patterson
June 15, 2020

From time to time in his storied career John Scofield will take a look over his shoulder and re-examine some of the music that has fed into his own, personal brand of jazz. The influences are many, for no matter the context that Scofield engineers, his distinctive sound always carries something of the blues, a little ...

Something Cool - Celebrating Carol Sloane

by Mary Foster Conklin
March 16, 2020

Women's History Month continues with new releases from saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin, vocalist Jay Clayton, pianist Nuphar Fey and guitarist Pat Metheny, with birthday shout outs to vocalist Carol Sloane in the first hour (pictured), along with Nicki Parrott, Rachelle Garniez, Billy Childs, Carole Bayer Sager, Tomoko Ohno, Anat Fort and Eric Comstock, among others.

Sheila Jordan

Born: November 18, 1928

Sheila Jeanette Dawson, 18 November 1928, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Raised in poverty in Pennsylvania’s coal-mining country, Jordan began singing as a child and by the time she was in her early teens was working semi-professionally in Detroit clubs. Her first great influence was Charlie Parker and, indeed, most of her influences have been instrumentalists rather than singers.

Working chiefly with black musicians, she met with disapproval from the white community but persisted with her career. She was a member of a vocal trio, Skeeter, Mitch And Jean (she was Jean), who sang versions of Parker’s solos in a manner akin to that of the later Lambert, Hendricks And Ross. After moving to New York in the early 50s, she married Parker’s pianist, Duke Jordan, and studied with Charles Mingus and Lennie Tristano, but it was not until the early 60s that she made her first recordings.

Just You, the Secret Service and Me - Celebrating Johnny Mercer

by Mary Foster Conklin
December 9, 2019

Besides a celebration of songs by Johnny Mercer, the broadcast includes new releases from pianist Andrea Petrity, The DIVA Jazz Orchestra, vocalists Margaret Whiting, Karrin Allyson, Sonia Johnson, and the latest project from drummer Terri Lyne Carrington+Social Science plus more birthday shout outs to bassist Jen Hodge, vocalists Janet Lawson, Holli Ross, LaVern Baker, Ernestine Anderson, ...

Alan Pasqua: Keys That Unlock Many Doors

by Jim Worsley
December 6, 2019

Recently, and just a few days before Thanksgiving (2019), I was thankful for the opportunity to have two separate conversations with renown pianist Alan Pasqua. As generous with his time and candid commentary as he is talented as a musician and composer, both conversations crashed the one-hour mark. For you non mathematicians, that is over two ...

Labor Day at Coney Island

by Mary Foster Conklin
October 7, 2019

The Labor Day weekend broadcast included new releases from vocalists Audrey Silver, Deb Bowman, Barb Jungr, Tracey Coryell, a single from pianist Lauren Lee, plus a collaboration of Jenny Scheinman and Allison Miller, with birthday shout outs to Dinah Washington, Alice Coltrane, Teri Thornton, Valerie Simpson and Charlie Parker, among others and a nod to the ...

Jazz from Detroit

by Troy Dostert
September 16, 2019

Jazz from Detroit Mark Stryker 342 pages ISBN: 978-0472074266 University of Michigan Press 2019 When music journalist Mark Stryker left the Detroit Free Press in 2016, yet another casualty of the ineluctable downsizing occurring at news outlets all over the country, jazz fans throughout metro Detroit feared they were ...