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…
Ethan Hawke stars as jazz trumpeter Chet Baker in the biopic Born to be Blue
(Photo: Courtesy of IFC Films)IFC films has released the official trailer for Born to be Blue, a new biopic starring Ethan Hawke as the talented but troubled West Coast trumpeter Chet Baker.
The film depicts Baker’s life in the 1950s and ’60s, when the trumpeter’s career and personal life were in shambles due to years of heroin addiction. Spurred in part by a passionate romance, Baker attempts to stage a hard-fought comeback and secure his legacy as a jazz icon.
Directed by Robert Budreau, the film co-stars British actress Carmen Ejogo and Canadian television actor Callum Keith Rennie.
Born to be Blue debuted at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. It will be released in select theaters March 11 and will be available on Video on Demand March 31. The soundtrack for the film, which includes two tracks sung by Hawke, will be available March 18 from Rhino Records.
Watch the trailer here:
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…
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…
The Free Slave, Cosmos Nucleus and Sunset To Dawn: three classic Muse albums being reissued this fall by Timer Traveler Recordings.
Aug 26, 2025 1:32 PM
Record producer and “Jazz Detective” Zev Feldman has launched his next endeavor, the archival label Time Traveler…
