Sheila Jordan

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Sheila Jordan
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Jordan in 2011
Background information
Born
Sheila Jeanette Dawson

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Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
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New York City, U.S.
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OccupationTemplate:Pluralize from textPage Template:Hlist/styles.css has no content.
  • Musician
  • singer
  • songwriter
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  • Vocals
  • piano
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​
​
(m. 1952; div. 1962)​
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Websitewww.sheilajordanjazz.net

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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] and 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]Page Template:Blockquote/styles.css has no content.

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][16] 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[17] 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.[18] 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][19]

File:Sheila Jordan in 1985.jpg
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,[20] Cameron Brown,[21] Carla Bley,[22] and Steve Swallow.[23] Jordan led recordings for Blue Note, East Wind, ECM, Grapevine, Muse, Palo Alto, and SteepleChase.[24]

File:Sheila Jordan - 6081323827.jpg
Jordan in 2011

In 2012, she received the NEA Jazz Masters Award.[25] 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.[26]

Jordan died at her apartment in New York City, on August 11, 2025, at the age of 96.[27]

Awards and honors

Discography

As leader

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With Carla Bley

With Cameron Brown

  • Here and How! (OmniTone 1997)[21]
  • I've Grown Accustomed to the Bass (HighNote, 2000)[5][24][23]

With George Gruntz

With Bob Moses

With Roswell Rudd

With Steve Swallow

With Harvie Swartz

  • More Mistletoe Magic (Palo Alto Records PA 8047, 1985)

Academia

Former students

References

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  1. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.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. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.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 Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.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 Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.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 Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Lea, Nick (November 18, 2022). "Sheila Jordan – Portrait of a Legend". Jazz Views.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Vitro, Roseanna (November 29, 2012). "Sheila Jordan: Vocal Shaman". JazzTimes. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center". Sheila Jordan. National Public Radio. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  11. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Myers, Marc (January 5, 2012). "Interview: Sheila Jordan (Part 2)". JazzWax. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  12. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Lifetime Honors". Biography. National Endowment for the Arts. 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.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. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Dagan, Ori (January 28, 2009). "Joy and Justice: the Jazz Journey of Sheila Jordan". TheWholeNote. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Witherden, Barry (May 1987). "A Singer in the Mirror". The Wire. p. 16.
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Pellegrinelli, Lara (May 3, 2009). "Sheila Jordan: A Unique Voice At 80". Weekend Edition Sunday. NPR. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.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.
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."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.
  19. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Feather, Leonard (February 23, 1989). "Sheila Jordan's Slow Rise to Recognition". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  20. ^ a b Theatre AllMusic, 2025.
  21. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Shoemaker, Bill (May 13, 2024). "Cameron Brown and the Hear and Now: Here and How!". Jazz Times.
  22. ^ a b "Jazz Composers Orchestra: Escalator Over The Hill". Jazz Discography. 2025.
  23. ^ a b c d e f g Sheila Jordan, Dot Time. 2025.
  24. ^ 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.
  25. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."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.
  26. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Johnson, Ellen (September 2014). Jazz Child: A Portrait of Sheila Jordan. Rowman and Littlefield. ISBN 9780810888364.
  27. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ulaby, Neda; Mayer, Petra (August 11, 2025). "Sheila Jordan, a singular voice in jazz, has died". VPM. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
  28. ^ a b c d e "Giving Tuesday with Sheila Jordan!" Vermont Jazz Center. 2025.
  29. ^ 2006. MAC awards 2025.
  30. ^ IAJE News: IAJE Humanitarian Award – Sheila Jordan mbrl.ae 2007
  31. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Pulliam, Becca (August 13, 2009). "Jazz Vocalist Sheila Jordan Honored In Concert". Retrieved August 17, 2025.
  32. ^ a b c d e Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Yanow, Scott (2025). "Sheila Jordan". Blue Note.
  33. ^ a b Sheila Jordan Mare Records 2025
  34. ^ "When Elephants Dream of Music", AllMusic. 2025.
  35. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Shoemaker, Bill (April 25, 2019). "Roswell Rudd: Flexible Flyer". Jazz Times.
  36. ^ "Roswell Rudd — Blown Bone (with Steve Lacy - Sheila Jordan)". Jazz Music Archives, 1979.
  37. ^ "Roswell Russ — Broad Strokes". Jazz Music Archives, 2000.
  38. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Vedasto, JP (August 31, 2020). "Perfection and Paralysis: Laura Valle on the Dichotomy of Performance". World Musician Press.

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