Sheila Jordan

Sheila Jordan
Jordan in 2011
Jordan in 2011
Background information
Birth nameSheila Jeanette Dawson
Born(1928-11-18)November 18, 1928
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
DiedAugust 11, 2025(2025-08-11) (aged 96)
New York City, U.S.
Genres
Occupation
  • Musician
  • singer
  • songwriter
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • piano
Labels
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1952; div. 1962)​
Websitewww.sheilajordanjazz.net

Sheila Jeannette Jordan (née Dawson; November 18, 1928 – August 11, 2025) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. She recorded as a session musician with an array of critically acclaimed artists in addition to recording her own albums. Jordan pioneered a bebop and scat jazz singing style, with an upright bass as the only accompaniment.[1] Jordan's music has earned praise from many critics, particularly for her ability to improvise lyrics; Scott Yanow described her as "one of the most consistently creative of all jazz singers".[2] Charlie Parker often introduced Jordan as "the lady with the million dollar ears".[1][3][4]

Life and career

Early career

Sheila Jeanette Dawson was born in Detroit, on November 18, 1928.[5][6][7] Her father left soon after her birth and remarried. (She later met her half-siblings.) Her mother struggled with alcoholism.[6] She was soon sent to live with her maternal grandparents in Summerhill, Pennsylvania, a small coal mining town in the Allegheny Mountains.[6] Her grandparents raised her with little warmth or affection, and her grandfather also struggled with alcoholism. She recalled their hardship and poverty:[6][8]

We were probably the poorest people in a poor town [...]. [... W]e had an outhouse and no water in the house [...]. In the wintertime [we'd] sleep in one bedroom without any sheets or pillowcases on the beds; we just had blankets.

Jordan returned to live with her mother in Detroit by 1942,[6][7][8] performing as a jazz club singer and pianist.[7] She helped write lyrics to Charlie Parker's music in the trio Skeeter, Mitch, and Jean (Skeeter Spight, Leroi Mitchell, and Sheila "Jean").[7] They met Parker at his Detroit performances, and he invited them to sing.[9]

Jordan moved to New York City in 1951, studying music theory with Lennie Tristano and Charles Mingus.[7] She focused on the music of Parker, whom she befriended and considered a teacher,[10] later recalling: "I guess I was chasin' the Bird [Parker]."[11] Asked if the song "Chasin' the Bird" was written for her, she said: "No. I don't know how that rumor got started."[11] In 1952, she married a Parker bandmate, pianist Duke Jordan.[5][12][8]

Later career (1960–2025)

In the early 1960s, she performed at the Page Three Club in Greenwich Village with pianist Herbie Nichols[13] and at other New York venues. Duke Jordan's heroin addiction contributed to their 1962 divorce, but they had a daughter, Tracey, whom she "could truly love" and was "sure would love me back".[8] Jordan partly withdrew from clubs in the 1960s to raise Tracey, and sang in church instead. She worked as a typist and legal secretary for 20 years, with less time for music until she was aged 58.[14][5] In 1962, she recorded "You Are My Sunshine" with George Russell on his album The Outer View (Riverside)[15] and also recorded her debut album Portrait of Sheila, released on Blue Note in 1963.[1] She began a long collaboration with Steve Kuhn in the early 1960s[16] and played with Don Heckman (1967–68), Lee Konitz (1972), and Roswell Rudd (1972–75).[12]

In 1974, Jordan was Artist-in-Residence at the City College of New York, and taught there from 1978 to 2005. She received the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs (MAC) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, while celebrating 28 years as an adjunct professor of music.[17] She also taught at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the Vermont Jazz Center, Interplay Jazz and Arts, as well as teaching international workshops.[12][18]

Jordan performing in 1985

On July 12, 1975, she recorded Confirmation.[7] One year later she released the duet album Sheila, with Arild Andersen for SteepleChase. In 1979, she founded a quartet with Steve Kuhn, Harvie S, and Bob Moses. During the 1980s, she worked with Harvie S as a duo and played on several records with him. Until 1987 she worked in an advertising agency and recorded Lost and Found in 1989.[7]

Jordan was a songwriter who worked in bebop and free jazz. In addition to the aforementioned musicians, she recorded with the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band,[19] Cameron Brown,[20] Carla Bley,[21] and Steve Swallow.[22] Jordan led recordings for Blue Note, East Wind, ECM, Grapevine, Muse, Palo Alto, and SteepleChase.[23]

Jordan in 2011

In 2012, she received the NEA Jazz Masters Award.[24] Her biography, Jazz Child: A Portrait of Sheila Jordan, written by vocalist and educator Ellen Johnson, was published in 2014. Jordan describes her own struggles with addiction in the book.[25]

Jordan died at her apartment in New York City, on August 11, 2025, at the age of 96.[26]

Awards and honors

Discography

As leader

With Carla Bley

With Cameron Brown

  • Here and How! (OmniTone 1997)[20]
  • I've Grown Accustomed to the Bass (HighNote, 2000)[5][23][22]

With George Gruntz

With Bob Moses

With Roswell Rudd

With Steve Swallow

Academia

Former students

References

  1. ^ a b c Latimer, Charles L. "Bebop and Beyond: Sheila Jordan Speaks". Detroit Music History. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  2. ^ Yanow, Scott. "Sheila Jordan". Artist Biography. AllMusic. Retrieved August 3, 2013. One of the most consistently creative of all jazz singers, Sheila Jordan has a relatively small voice, but has done the maximum with her instrument.
  3. ^ "Saturday, March 21st: 10:30 – Focus on Women in Music". KPFA Folio. March 1981. p. 26. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  4. ^ "Lulu: Last 2 Nights! Sept. 20 & 21, Sheila Jordan & Steve Kuhn: '... million dollar ears!'". The Boston Phoenix. September 23, 1980. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lea, Nick; Mancio, Georgia (July 2022), "Sheila Jordan: Portrait of a Legend". Women in Jazz Media Magazine, p. 100. Retrieved August 14, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d e Singer, Barry (August 12, 2025). "Sheila Jordan, Fearless Vocal Improviser, Is Dead at 96". The New York Times. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Larkin, Colin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. pp. 1324/5. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  8. ^ a b c d Lea, Nick (November 18, 2022). "Sheila Jordan – Portrait of a Legend". Jazz Views.
  9. ^ Vitro, Roseanna (November 29, 2012). "Sheila Jordan: Vocal Shaman". JazzTimes. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  10. ^ "Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center". Sheila Jordan. National Public Radio. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  11. ^ a b Myers, Marc (January 5, 2012). "Interview: Sheila Jordan (Part 2)". JazzWax. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  12. ^ a b c "Lifetime Honors". Biography. National Endowment for the Arts. 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  13. ^ Spellman, A. B. (1985). Four Lives in the Bebop Business (1st Limelight ed.). New York: Limelight Editions. p. 156. ISBN 0-87910-042-7.
  14. ^ Dagan, Ori (January 28, 2009). "Joy and Justice: the Jazz Journey of Sheila Jordan". TheWholeNote. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  15. ^ Witherden, Barry (May 1987). "A Singer in the Mirror". The Wire. p. 16.
  16. ^ Reney, Tom (April 27, 2012). "Sheila Jordan and Steve Kuhn". New England Public Radio. Archived from the original on August 6, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  17. ^ "Jazz Great & Ccny Music Professor Sheila Jordan Wins MAC Lifetime Achievement Award" (Press release). Tribeca Performing Arts Center: The City College of New York. April 10, 2006. Archived from the original on May 13, 2006. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  18. ^ Feather, Leonard (February 23, 1989). "Sheila Jordan's Slow Rise to Recognition". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  19. ^ a b Theatre AllMusic 2025
  20. ^ a b Shoemaker, Bill (May 13, 2024). "Cameron Brown and the Hear and Now: Here and How!". Jazz Times.
  21. ^ a b "Jazz Composers Orchestra: Escalator Over The Hill". Jazz Discography. 2025.
  22. ^ a b c d e f g Sheila Jordan, Dot Time. 2025.
  23. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x "Sheila Jordan", AllMusic, 2025.
  24. ^ "Lifetime Honors". National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters. National Endowment for the Arts. 2012. Archived from the original on July 4, 2010. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  25. ^ Johnson, Ellen (September 2014). Jazz Child: A Portrait of Sheila Jordan. Rowman and Littlefield. ISBN 9780810888364.
  26. ^ Ulaby, Neda; Mayer, Petra (August 11, 2025). "Sheila Jordan, a singular voice in jazz, has died". VPM. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
  27. ^ a b c d e "Giving Tuesday with Sheila Jordan!" Vermont Jazz Center. 2025.
  28. ^ 2006. MAC awards 2025.
  29. ^ IAJE News: IAJE Humanitarian Award – Sheila Jordan mbrl.ae 2007
  30. ^ Pulliam, Becca (August 13, 2009). "Jazz Vocalist Sheila Jordan Honored In Concert". Retrieved August 17, 2025.
  31. ^ a b c d e Yanow, Scott (2025). "Sheila Jordan". Blue Note.
  32. ^ a b Sheila Jordan Mare Records 2025
  33. ^ "When Elephants Dream of Music", AllMusic. 2025.
  34. ^ Shoemaker, Bill (April 25, 2019). "Roswell Rudd: Flexible Flyer". Jazz Times.
  35. ^ "Roswell Rudd — Blown Bone (with Steve Lacy - Sheila Jordan)". Jazz Music Archives, 1979.
  36. ^ "Roswell Russ — Broad Strokes". Jazz Music Archives, 2000.
  37. ^ Vedasto, JP (August 31, 2020). "Perfection and Paralysis: Laura Valle on the Dichotomy of Performance". World Musician Press.
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