Search - Sheila Jordan :: Little Song

One of our great song stylists!

Woogms | 02/02/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Highnote has been releasing some wonderful work by vocalists. Chris Connor and the late Etta Jones have had excellent cds released recently and now it's once again Sheila Jordan's turn (her last album, Jazz Child, was also for the Highnote label). It's great to see a label putting its energy behind some of the elder stateswomen of jazz. And as the recent passing of Etta Jones made abundantly clear, these women will not be around forever. Sheila is a young woman in her seventies. Her albums don't show much age as far as the voice is concerned, but there is the wisdom of an entire lifetime behind her recording of the songs that make up this cd. This stands as a highwater mark in her career. Reunited with Steve Kuhn, her brilliant longtime co-musician, and the extremely gifted David Finck (who has done amazing piano/bass duets with the legendary Andre Previn), and Billy Drummond (who keeps a strong pulse even on the slower numbers), Sheila sings on 13 tracks, most of which are standards with which she has long experience. On four numbers, Tom Harrell -- one of the most musical of trumpet and fluegelhorn players and a strong composer -- joins in. The graphic design and layout of the cd is very nice (a step up from some of the awful graphics that marred her Muse products). The cover shot shows Sheila in a green glade and the music does seem to conjure up the refreshing atmosphere of spring greenery. I think of this cd as a cool well: the music here is like water. You can sip a little at a time and be restored. You can drink gulps at a time and your thirst will be quenched. People: there are a lot of singers out there. But Sheila is the real thing. She IS jazz. In a desert of insipid and superficial songs, Sheila's music has meaning. She is the shade, the oasis, a place to rest and recover. Singers like her are few and far between. Stop and rest and get some energy. Buy this cd. Listen. It will be a long journey before you find another singer with her ability to speak to the spirit.Thank you Sheila."