Aug 12, 2025 10:24 AM
Vocalist Sheila Jordan Dies at 96
Sheila Jordan, a vocalist who was celebrated for her scatting and lyric-improvising abilities, died Aug. 11 at her home…
Miguel Zenón is set to close out the Angrajazz festival on Oct. 5
(Photo: Jimmy Katz)
French saxophonist Émile Parisien
(Photo: Sylvain Gripoix)Angrajazz, which returns for its 21st edition Oct. 3-5, is set to host a confluence of European and American performers on Terceira Island off the coast of Portugal.
The first day of the festival will begin with the event’s namesake big band, Orquestra Angrajazz, directed by Pedro Moreira and Claus Nymark. Following that opening set, the Émile Parisien Sfumato Quintet, which issued a 2018 album on ACT with Wynton Marsalis as a guest, is set to perform. Friday finds another saxophonist, João Mortágua, leading his AXES ensemble, and that performance will be followed by pianist Frank Kimbrough—in a group that includes reedist Scott Robinson—working through the Thelonious Monk catalog.
On Saturday, vocalist Allan Harris fronts a quartet that counts bassist Nimrod Speaks in its ranks, before the Miguel Zenón Quartet closes out the weekend.
For additional information, visit the festival’s website. DB
Jordan was a dyed-in-the-wool bebopper whose formative musical experiences were with Charlie Parker.
Aug 12, 2025 10:24 AM
Sheila Jordan, a vocalist who was celebrated for her scatting and lyric-improvising abilities, died Aug. 11 at her home…
“I don’t guess I’m going to excite you; I know I’m going to excite you,” Palmieri said in an August 1994 DownBeat feature.
Aug 12, 2025 10:33 AM
Famed Latin jazz composer, bandleader and pianist Eddie Palmieri passed away in his New Jersey home on Aug. 6. He was…
“What I got from Percy was the dignity of playing the bass,” Buster Williams said of Percy Heath.
Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
“I love the place that fate or whatever has positioned me in Gil Evans’ life and legacy,” said Ryan Truesdell.
Aug 5, 2025 12:26 PM
“I originally set out to give two years of my life to Gil,” Ryan Truesdell said of his mindset in 2009, when he…
Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.
Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
