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…
Legendary R&B singer Ruth Brown died on Friday in Las Vegas. She was 78. The cause of her death was attributed to complications from a heart attack and stroke.
Brown is best known for the hits she recorded for Atlantic Records in the 1950s, including “So Long” and “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean.” Not only did her tough delivery set the standard for a legion of r&b and rock singers, but the records’ commercial success was invaluable to building the label. In later years, Brown turned to acting and portrayed DJ Motormouth Maybelle in the 1988 film, Hairspray .
While the Virginia-born singer’s best known musical performances were those Atlantic R&B hits, she also worked in jazz. In the 1940s, Brown briefly sang with Lucky Millender’s big band. Twenty years later, she recorded with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Big Band. Her 1989 recording, Blues On Broadway won the Grammy for best jazz vocal performance, female.
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.
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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.
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“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…
