Sheila Jordan

It was in the late 90s when I had an interview appointment with the great Sheila Jordan at her West Village apartment. Sheila came to Berlin several years later to perform and the last time I saw her was this past January at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge (see picture). In all those years, Sheila hasn’t changed or aged a bit.

She just finished a tour through Germany, had a couple of gigs in New York before she’ll be back in Europe this Friday to play at the Jazz à Vian Festival in France. But that’s not all: there’s going to be a 10-day tour through Japan in early December and she’s also booked well into the new year with a few more dates in Germany, among them Munich and Frankfurt in April. Not bad for an 86 year old.

Sheila, as you know, was married to Charlie Parker‘s pianist Duke Jordan and still has a lot of Parker tunes in her repertoire. She’s especially brilliant when performing with a bassist only, which she has done over the years on recording dates with Harvie Swartz and Cameron Brown. Actually while I write this, I’m listening to the “I’ve Grown Accustomed To The Bass” album with Brown which she recorded live in November 1997 in Brugge, Belgium.

This year also saw the release of her biography “Jazz Child: A Portrait Of Sheila Jordan” by Ellen Johnson.

Happy Birthday Dear and many more to come!