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 first St. Martin Gourmet-Jazz Festival will celebrate music and the culinary arts in a uniquely St. Martin fashion from Dec. 1-8. For a week, the Caribbean island will be transformed into a fabulous gourmet celebration where the local gastronomy professionals and their friends—chefs and wine growers from France and elsewhere—will compete to delight and surprise with sophisticated and creative cuisine.
Complementing the food will be a marvelous lineup of Latin jazz, headlined by the great Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés. In all, 14 groups from the Caribbean and beyond will share the stage, including Pupy y Los Que Son, Habana All Stars, Orlando Sanchez Soto & the Cuba Jazz, El Greco & Top Secret (Cuba), Alfio Origlio Quartet (France), Ernan Lopez-Nussa Quintet (Cuba), Paco Charlery Quintet (Martinique), Mezcla (Cuba) and Maracud’Jazz Quartet (Guadeloupe). For jazz fans in the United States, this festival provides an opportunity to hear marvelous Cuban musicians who have been unable to play in the States since Homeland Security initiatives have made security clearance nearly impossible for them.
This fusion of musical and culinary arts should become a St. Martin tradition and a rendezvous for the musicians and gastronomy professionals.
For more information on this exciting new festival, go to its web site at www.sxmjazzfestival.net.
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…
