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…
Blues singer and Alligator recording artist Shemekia Copeland, who recently picked up her 4th W.C. Handy Blues Award (for Contemporary Female Artist Of The Year), is currently finishing work on a follow-up to her Grammy-nominated CD, Wicked. The as-yet-untitled album is being recorded in New York and produced by Dr. John, and will be released in mid-September of this year. Copeland, along with songwriter John Hahn, shares some of the writing credits on the album. Dr. John also contributed songs, plays piano and sings a duet with Copeland. The album features members of both Dr. John’s and Shemekia’s touring bands.
On June 1, Copeland headlined the Chicago Blues Festival, singing in front of 100,000 ecstatic blues fans. At one point, Copeland stepped away from the microphone to sing the final verse of her father’s (the late Johnny Clyde Copeland) “Ghetto Child,” her voice carrying, unamplified, to the far reaches of the outdoor venue.
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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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.
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The Free Slave, Cosmos Nucleus and Sunset To Dawn: three classic Muse albums being reissued this fall by Timer Traveler Recordings.
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