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…
The development of John Coltrane (1926–1967) during a single year is documented on Coltrane ’58: The Prestige Recordings (Craft).
(Photo: DownBeat Archive/Prestige Records)Opening with a version of “Lush Life,” recorded on Jan. 10, Coltrane ’58: The Prestige Recordings collects leader sessions John Coltrane issued through the label during a single year.
Alongside the saxophonist for 37 tracks on 8 LPs or 5 CDs are some of the most recognizable names in the genre, folks like Art Taylor, Freddie Hubbard, Red Garland, Kenny Burrell and Paul Chambers. But there’s something more here than intriguing personnel, and sturdy renditions of “Good Bait” and “Black Pearls,” the latter not being properly issued until 1964.
“One of the interesting things about this box set,” says producer Nick Phillips in a video premiering above, “when you listen to Coltrane’s recordings on Prestige from 1958, and you’re listening in the way that we presented it, which is chronologically from January through December of that year, you really hear the evolution of Coltrane’s style and how rapidly his style changed and evolved even within the period of just one year.”
For additional information about the recordings, which are set for a March 29 release, visit the Craft Recordings homepage. 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…
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…
