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…
ECM continues to issue new albums on vinyl, with the latest batch of LPs released in March.
Pianist Bobo Stenson’s trio with bassist Anders Jormin and percussionist Jon Fält captivates on Sphere, a deep breath of open spontaneity where nuance and understated interplay offer a sophisticated improvisational experience.
Ralph Towner’s At First Light presents the guitarist delivering a stunning solo performance marked by tone, taste and joy. “My solo recordings have always included my own compositions, in which there are trace elements of the many composers and musicians that have attracted me,” Towner writes in the liner notes. Those influences include everyone from George Gershwin and John Coltrane to Bill Evans and Jon Dowland.
Ralph Alessi’s It’s Always Now presents the trumpeter in a new quartet setting. Moving to Switzerland in 2020 gave him an opportunity to play with a new set of musicians, including pianist Florian Weber, drummer Gerry Hemingway and bassist Bänz Lester on this recording. DB
(ecmrecords.com)
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…