Sheila Jordan - The Bird/Quasimodo
I can't help it if all the greats decide to die at once.
All I can do is keep the appropriate and deserved memorials a-flowing.
Tonight's instant immortal passed away 48 hours ago, after a lifetime immersed in her first love: Jazz.
She didn't even begin singing professionally full-time until she was nearly 60 years old, and had been active at it for decades.
She had a whole career as a recording artist since the 1960s, but never went out on the endless tour until 1986, when she started to become a staple live performer of the music around the world.
She started in the 1940s, and by 1942 she had befriended Charlie Parker, and would become, until his death in 1955, one of Bird's closest allies and confidants. And she carried the torch for his music until her last breath.
She eventually married one of his bandmates, and kept his last name when they split a while later.
She and Dizzy never got together, not as far as I know! Cute pic tho. If you were to dub Sheila Jordan one of the principal, binding figures of Jazz or even American music in general, you'd not be merely telling stories.
She's got her voiceprint all over the music of the last 75 years or so, if we're saying the truth behind the headlines.
She reminds me in a way of the iconic pianist and radio personality Marian McPartland, in that she straddled the line between historian and performer as effortlessly as anyone you could name.
One of the last living links to some of the wildest and most revered music that shall ever be, her passing marks the end of an era the likes of which may never be seen and heard again.
Here goes one of her grandest performances, which circulates in Bootworld all chopped up from a 2019 France Musique revisitation, with whole portions of tunes -- and one entire song! -- missing.
Lucky for you, I attached myself, barnacle-like, to the France Musique site long enough to capture it from another rebroadcast entirely, which had yet more rude talking over some of the music.
Fortunately, I was able to Frankenstein a clean version of it together, featuring only the songs where Sheila sings, and whaddaya know?!? You get three additional Paris bonus cuts from four years hence, all crammed onto a single CD like sardines in an extremely melodious tin.
Sheila Jordan
Paris 1992/1996
01 If I Had You
02 I Concentrate On You
03 It Never Entered My Mind
04 The Bird/Quasimodo
05 The Zoo
06 The Very Thought of You
07 You Must Believe In Spring
08 Sheila's Blues
09 Lucky to Be Me
10 Inchworm
11 Buffalo Wings
Total time: 1:19:57
Tracks 01-08: Alligator's, Paris FR 5.9.1992 digital FM capture from a 2019 France Musique rebroadcast
Tracks 01, 07-08 are from a 320/48k stream captured from the France Musique site
converted to 16/44 CD Audio by EN, August 2025
Tracks 02-06 are from a digital FM capture of a 2019 France Musique rebroadcast
Sheila Jordan - vocals
Steve Kuhn - piano & vocals
Jean-François Jenny-Clark - bass
Aldo Romano - drums
Tracks 09-11: Hot Brass, Paris FR 2.9.1996
from a digital FM capture of a 2019 France Musique rebroadcast
Sheila Jordan - vocals
Edouard Ferlet - piano
John Silverman - bass
Gregor Hilbe - drums
assembled, denoised, edited & remastered by EN, August 2025
531 MB FLAC/direct link
531 MB FLAC/direct link
Look out for the all-star band in the main segment of this, with low-end legend J.F. Jenny-Clark especially letting it all hang out on the upright bass.
I'm right back this weekend with what could only be described as a Canadian Jazz Orgy, but don't you dare sleep on Miss Sheila Jordan and her pals putting in the work here. May she rest in peace, and in the firm knowledge that she used her time on Earth to elevate some really essential sounds to within a whole lotta necessary earshot.--J.
11.18.1928 - 8.11.2025