Search - Sheila Jordan :: Portrait of Sheila

Intimate & inventive singing

N. Dorward | Toronto, ON Canada | 08/15/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sheila Jordan is one of the most important jazz singers of the last four decades, but you wouldn't know it from the size of her recorded output: always one of the least "commercial" of singers, this album (her first under her own name) is one of the few Jordan albums on a major label. It sets the pattern for much of her later work--it has a cast of stellar musicians (Barry Galbraith on guitar, Steve Swallow on [acoustic] bass, Denzil Best on drums), & on some tracks she strips the band right down to a duo format, presaging Jordan's later series of duets recorded with Harvie Schwartz. Though there are moments here (like the amazing "Let's Face the Music and Dance") where her work verges on the experimentalism of her work with George Russell or Carla Bley, mostly this is a set of intimate & subtly shaded standards.I remember seeing Jordan in performance; she is an ebullient performer in front of an audience, & the sheer joy she gives off can be sampled here in "Falling in Love with Love" or "Dat Dere". Yet the real show-stopper was an emotional, draining version of "Don't Explain"; she seemed a little self-conscious about it afterwards ("Just goes to show that there's nothing people like more than a good old depressing ballad.")--I get the feeling that that sort of material draws on areas of herself she doesn't want to go into too often. On this disc there are several such moving vehicles for her ballad-readings: I'd single out "When the World Was Young". The voice is fresher than in most of her other discs (it is truly criminal that she was little-recorded until late in her career), but the depth of feeling is already present.This is a classic vocal disc--one of those vocal discs you could recommend to a friend who "doesn't like jazz singing". It's not as self-consciously musicianly as a Betty Carter disc but is no less intelligent & creative."

A classic

Stephen Elman | Brighton, MA USA | 03/20/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The other reviewers have used up all the superlatives, and they're right. This is a classic of vocal jazz (or ought to be considered so). Sheila's voice at this stage of her career was as fresh and delicate as a rose petal. But don't let the comments about few instrumental solos let you think that the supporting musicians are unimportant. This is a very significant album for all of them. It's probably the most beautiful recording of Steve Swallow's acoustic bass sound (before he left that axe behind to become one of the greatest electric bassists)- "Baltimore Oriole" is one of his essential recordings. It has the utterly superb playing of Barry Galbraith, a master of guitar effects and a brilliant accompanist. And it has Denzil Best, one of the legendary and unsung bebop drummers, in a rare high fidelity recording."

Greatest jazz singer ever

Stephen Elman | 04/26/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"if you want to find a clear voice in jazz, please look for Sheila. This album of the 60's will change your mind in jazz singing. Powerful & swinging freely across the music. Genius!"