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…
Singer-songwriter Cécile McLorin Salvant won a Grammy for her 2017 release, Dreams And Daggers.
(Photo: Mark Fitton)Singer-songwriter Cécile McLorin Salvant, pianist Billy Childs and bassist Christian McBride are among the jazz artists who won Grammy Awards on Jan. 28.
During the 60th annual edition of the Grammys, held at Madison Square Garden in New York, Salvant won the category Best Jazz Vocal Album, for Dreams And Daggers (Mack Avenue), and Childs topped the category Best Jazz Instrumental Album, for Rebirth (Mack Avenue).
The Christian McBride Big Band topped the category Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for Bringin’ It (Mack Avenue).
Among the other winners is veteran guitarist John McLaughlin, who was honored in the Best Improvised Jazz Solo category for “Miles Beyond,” a track from Live @ Ronnie Scott’s (Abstract Logix), which was recorded with his band The 4th Dimension.
The various artists collection Tony Bennett Celebrates 90 (Columbia) topped the category Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Among the contributors to the album are Stevie Wonder, Diana Krall, Lady Gaga, K.D. Lang, Leslie Odom Jr. and Bennett himself.
The Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album went to the Pablo Ziegler Trio for its release Jazz Tango (Zoho). The winner for Best Tropical Latin Album was Salsa Big Band (Ruben Blades Productions), recorded by Rubén Blades Con Roberto Delgado & Orquesta.
The album that topped the category Best Surround Sound Album is soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom’s Early Americans (Outline). Honored were Jim Anderson, surround mix engineer; Darcy Proper, surround mastering engineer; and Anderson and Bloom, surround producers. Bloom won the Soprano Saxophone category in the 2017 DownBeat Critics Poll.
The Rolling Stones won the Best Traditional Blues Album category for Blue & Lonesome (Interscope). The bluesmen Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ took home the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album for TajMo (Concord), which also topped the Blues Album category in the 2017 DownBeat Readers Poll.
To see a clip of Jazzmeia Horn demonstrating her singing and scatting skills at the Grammys, click here.
For a complete list of winners, visit the Grammy website. 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…