{"id":43624,"date":"2025-08-12T18:07:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T18:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/12\/sheila-jordan-jazz-singer-fearless-in-song-and-style-dead-at-96\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T18:07:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T18:07:12","slug":"sheila-jordan-jazz-singer-fearless-in-song-and-style-dead-at-96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/12\/sheila-jordan-jazz-singer-fearless-in-song-and-style-dead-at-96\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheila Jordan, Jazz Singer Fearless in Song and Style, Dead at 96"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tSheila Jordan, the jazz vocalist who tugged at the boundaries of music whether she was scat-singing or freshly interpreting songs by Kurt Weill, Rodgers and Hart, or Jimmy Webb, died on Monday. She was 96. Jordan\u2019s death was confirmed by her daughter Tracey Jordan, a music executive, who said her mother died in New York while listening to the bebop song \u201cBill for Bennie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tAlthough not as widely known as peers like Betty Carter or Sarah Vaughan or later inheritors like Diana Krall, Norah Jones, or Cassandra Wilson, Jordan was a fearless, integrity-minded interpreter who took risks with her repertoire (sometimes singing only with bass accompaniment) and was one of the first vocalists signed to the legendary Blue Note Records. \u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Dat Dere\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jqgNHSopOjU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tTo the detriment of her career, if not her art, Jordan never veered into pop crossover territory. The closest she came was a vocal spot on the 1972 jazz-rock concept album <em>Escalator Over the Hill<\/em>, where she appeared alongside Linda Ronstadt, Jack Bruce, guitarist John McLaughlin, and jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, among others. At the time, <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> said the album \u201cleaves the listener enormously satisfied. . .\u00a0a work that is complex, labyrinthine, but immediately enjoyable.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tBorn Sheila Jeanette Dawson in Detroit on Nov. 18, 1928, Jordan had a life that she described in a 2022 interview as \u201chell.\u201d Due to an alcoholic mother, Jordan was raised by her grandparents in a Pennsylvania coal town. When she returned to Detroit to live with her mother, she said her mother\u2019s boyfriends would \u201ccome on to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tIn Detroit, though, Jordan discovered her love of jazz by way of hearing and then meeting Charlie Parker, eventually singing there under the name Jeannie Dawson. (She was so skilled at an early stage that she could actually sing Parker\u2019s improvisational melodies.) In the early Fifties, Jordan moved to New York and married Duke Jordan, a pianist in Parker\u2019s band. Jordan herself began working as a typist for the first of two advertising agencies; in 2022, she said she thought of those jobs every time she watched an episode of <em>Mad Men<\/em>.<\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ editors-pick-module lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tAs luck would have it, one of those agencies needed a singer for commercials for watches and a refrigerator, an experience that led to one of Jordan\u2019s friends suggesting she check out a new Greenwich Village club, the Page Three. A secretive venue that didn\u2019t advertise, the Page Three was known to attract gay and cross-dressing crowds when none of that was accepted by society and sometimes the police. \u201cIt was a gay hangout,\u201d Jordan said in 2022. \u201cMen and women. But that didn\u2019t bother me. I always accepted everyything and everybody for what they were. The gay women <em>loved<\/em> the way I sang. They supported me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tAt the club, Jordan met the likes of pianist Dave Frishberg and bassist Steve Sallow and began working out a repertoire and style that could be dark and sultry. \u201cWhen I heard a song, I had to like the melody first,\u201d she said in 2022. \u201cNot so much the lyrics. If the lyrics were not good, I could change them. I had to be enticed by the melody of the song.\u201d At another club, Cafe Bohemia, Jordan met and sing with Charles Mingus. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tAt the Page Three, Jordan met a quirky young singer named Tiny Tim. \u201cPeople loved him because he was a character,\u201d she said in this author\u2019s 2024 book <em>Talkin\u2019 Greenwich Village: The Heady Rise and Slow Fall of America\u2019s Bohemian Music Capitol<\/em>. \u201cHe had long hair at the time and the guys were not wearing long hair, and I told him, \u2018Tiny, do me a favor. Or do <em>you<\/em> a favor. Your hair is great, but when you\u2019re riding the subway and leave this club, put your hair up under your hair, because if you don\u2019t, you\u2019re going to get attacked.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tThe Page Three closed not long after, but Jordan\u2019s career continued, if sporadically. Still working at an ad agency so she could support her daughter, Jordan didn\u2019t make her first album, <em>Portrait of Sheila<\/em>, until 1963. She didn\u2019t record again until the Seventies, but starting then, word of Jordan\u2019s reputation began to spread further, to Europe, where she developed a strong following. Jordan, who continued making albums well into her later life, said that she didn\u2019t become a full-time singer until she was 61. <\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ recirculation-modules trending-in-article lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ recirculation-modules lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"TORSDAGSTONER 1971\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SaFA5MKI4Xw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tIn the late Eighties, Jordan became sober after years of drug and alcohol problems, and she taught jazz vocal workshops and continued to perform well into her nineties. In the last few months of her life, a GoFundMe was set up to pay for her medical bills, and among the donors was former <em>Late Night with David Letterman <\/em>bandleader Paul Shaffer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tAsked <a href=\"https:\/\/bopspots.com\/en\/2020\/01\/22\/last-great-jazz-singer-alive-also-created-the-bass-and-voice-sheila-jordan-in-interview\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">in 2020 <\/a>to give advice to young jazz singers, Jordan said, \u201cKeep singing, don\u2019t give up. Don\u2019t let anything disappoint you or try to slay you away from what you want to do. I worked an office job, I typed \u2026 but I always found a place to sing my songs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/sheila-jordan-jazz-singer-dead-obituary-1235405712\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sheila Jordan, the jazz vocalist who tugged at the boundaries of music whether she was scat-singing or freshly interpreting songs by Kurt Weill, Rodgers&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":43625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}