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…
Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts will release Watts, his fifth album as bandleader, on his own Dark Key Music label on Feb. 3, 2009. The album features a lineup of Branford Marsalis, Terence Blanchard and Christian McBride.
Along with the leader’s last name, the album’s title references the CD cover’s image of the Watts Towers, a symbol of the mid-‘60s Los Angeles race riots, and hometown of Charles Mingus.
“I started to write things for more than one lead voice and that kind of led me into doing a predominantly piano-less record,” Watts said. “I wanted to hear these musicians in that setting, with more room to roam. I was inspired by [the record] Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus, that piano-less quartet. The more research I did, I just liked where he was coming from. I grew up during the civil rights movement. I remember the riots in Pittsburgh, in Watts, and around the country when I wasn’t even listening to jazz. I heard that feeling through the music of Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, Hendrix and Sly Stone. Mingus’ pieces represented the jazz expression of a vibration that was going on in art, and the United States, in general.”
More info: tainish.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…
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