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…
When Maria Schneider (pictured) testified before Congress about the current U.S. copyright law’s (DMCA) notice and takedown provisions, she urged legislators to make major changes.
(Photo: Jimmy Katz)When Maria Schneider testified before Congress about the current U.S. copyright law’s (DMCA) notice and takedown provisions, she urged legislators to make four major changes:
1) Congress should require streaming services that want protection from copyright infringement lawsuits to effectively educate their users on creators’ rights, including a commonsense set of “checkpoints” at the time of upload. Uploaders should have to sign a statement, under penalty of perjury, verifying ownership, permission or precise grounds of “fair use”—just as copyright owners must do for a takedown.
2) The use of fingerprinting technology (like YouTube’s Content ID) should be required of all streaming services. Fingerprinting for blocking uploads should be offered to all copyright holders, without discrimination.
3) Companies should be required to use and share the best technologies available to prevent infringement.
4) “Take down” should mean “stay down,” so that musicians are not stuck in an endless game of “whack-a-mole.”
Schneider and other songwriters founded MusicAnswers.org to educate and mobilize musicians as well as consumers. “Every musician and fan should sign onto our campaign,” Schneider said. “Go to MusicAnswers.org, get educated and sign our Declaration of Principles. Google and other large corporations heavily lobby Congress. But we have our numbers and our stories. We need everyone on board, so we can become a massive force to be reckoned with.
“The music-buying public needs to understand which music sites to patronize and which to avoid. We care so much about the sourcing of our food and our clothing. We want music fans to be just as careful about the sourcing of their music.” 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…
