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| Jazz@TheFalcon | Sheila Jordan & Cameron Brown | Sun Mar 7 SHEILA JORDAN "...her casual between-song banter, in which she shared anecdotes about her amazing journey from small-town poverty to the heights of bebop to her current status as a grand dame of jazz.... both entertaining and revealing." - Bill Milkowski/Jazz Times A creative force in her ninth decade, vocalist Sheila Jordan has always thrived in uncharted territory. The NEA Jazz Master came up on the Detroit scene in the 1940s as part of a coterie of young players in thrall to the mercurial genius of Charlie Parker (who championed the young singer). She spent years developing a high-wire improvisational approach unlike anyone else on the scene, and made history with her classic 1963 debut Portrait of Sheila, Blue Note's first album by a vocalist. Jordan is one of the most consistently creative jazz singers of all time - a superb scat singer, and an emotional interpreter of ballads. Jordan was one of the few singers to lead her own Blue Note album (1962). It would be a decade before she appeared on records again, working with Carla Bley, Roswell Rudd, and co-leading a group with Steve Kuhn in the late '70s. Jordan pioneered the concept of the bass and voice duo, starting in the 1950s. She was in Toledo, Ohio, visiting family and went to see Charles Mingus at a local club. Mingus called her up to sit in. She hesitated at first, noting the absence of a chordal instrument, but she sang. It was a "eureka" moment for her. She fell in love with the sound, the space, the silence, and the improvisational freedom that playing only with the bass afforded her. Sheila has been developing and refining it ever since, first with Peter Ind and Steve Swallow, followed by a full length bass and voice album with Arild Andersen in 1977, and a long partnership with Harvie S. Cameron Brown and Jordan have been full-time partners for over 21 years and have recorded two CDs, I've Grown Accustomed to the Bass and Celebration on the High Note label. Although Jordan has only 21 albums as a leader to her credit in her 68 years as a vocalist, she has made countless appearances in nightclubs and at festivals all over the world. And every time she hits the stage, she continues to pay tribute to her idol and main inspiration, Charlie Parker. CAMERON BROWN Bassist, composer and educator Cameron Brown began his career in the 1960s, recording in Europe with George Russell and Don Cherry. In the 1970s he recorded live in Montreux with Archie Shep, and made a DVD with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in Orvieto. Brown spent the 1980s with George Adams, Don Pullen and Dannie Richmond; thereafter, with Dewey Redman and Joe Lovano. As well as performing frequently with Jordan, you can catch Brown with Joe Lovano's Nonet, Don Byron's Quartet, Jane Ira Bloom, Jason Rigby, Jay Clayton, Valentina Marino, Niels Vincentz and Billy Mintz. As the leader of "Cameron Brown and The Hear and Now, " he has released two CDs on the Omnitone label: Hear and How! and Hear and How, Vol.2. write your comments about the article :: © 2021 Jazz News :: home page |