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Sheila Jordan: From Motor City Vocalese to Pinball with Charlie Parker
Bird came over and said, 'Kid, you have million-dollar ears,' and I said, 'Oh, million dollar ears. I wonder what that means?' And that was it, man!
—Sheila Jordan
Artie Shaw
clarinet1910 - 2004
Duke Ellington
piano1899 - 1974
Chick Webb
drums1905 - 1939
Gene Krupa
drums1909 - 1973
Helen Forrest
vocals1917 - 1999
Ivie Anderson
vocals1905 - 1949
Ella Fitzgerald
vocals1917 - 1996
Anita O'Day
vocals1919 - 2006
By the 1950s, the smaller combos were the norm.
Annie Ross
vocals1930 - 2020
"
data-original-title="" title="">Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. Around the same time Ross was emerging, the fiercely independent singer 
Sheila Jordan
vocals1928 - 2025
Charlie Parker
saxophone, alto1920 - 1955
Not only did Jordan share stories about her career, but she also offered rare insight into the personality of a close friend of hers. As much as Jordan listened to and absorbed the sound and style of the a-list of female singers who came before her, Jordan's musical journey was charted even more decisively by her friendship with one of the definitive instrumentalists of the 20th century, saxophonist Charlie Parker. "It was incredible. I met my idol. He's the reason that I sing jazz. I admired all of the great singers:
Billie Holiday
vocals1915 - 1959
Sarah Vaughan
vocals1924 - 1990
She was soon old enough—barely since she was in her very early teens—to attend various Detroit clubs and dance halls. Jordan recalled that there was a downtown club she and her friends would go to where "kids could play and sing, and we would go there and sing, and I found these two young African guys and they were singing Charlie Parker and I love Charlie Parker and that's the music I'm going to dedicate my life to. That's where I met Skeeter Spight and Leroy Mitchell. They were singing bebop and I wanted to sing with them and they took me on. It was wonderful," she said gleefully. A jazz trio was born.
The chance to see Parker perform came along a few years later. "There was a place in Detroit called the Graystone Ballroom where kids could go and hear live music. It was great because they didn't sell alcohol so we could go." When she heard Parker was going to perform there, she called up Spight and Mitchell and all three of them went. By then Jordan was friends with many of the area jazz musicians and one of them had told Parker about this jazz trio that was passionate about his music. "Bird took his break and then when he went back on again, he said, 'I understand there's some young people here who sing my music and I'm going to invite them up to sing for us.' We were looking around—me and Skeeter and Mitch, we were young, [and we thought], 'I wonder who that is?' And then Bird said, 'Yeah, you guys!'" The trio sang a Bird song: "It could have been 'Confirmation,'" was Jordan's educated guess. "Afterwards, Bird came over and said, 'Kid, you have million-dollar ears,' and I said, 'Oh, million dollar ears, I wonder what that means?' and that was it, man!"
By the early 1950s Jordan, who was barely out of high school, had moved to New York. "I wanted to be near Charlie Parker's music and I wanted to be able to go into the clubs on 52nd Street...you only had to be 18 at that time to go to these clubs. That's where I first [officially] met Bird. I remember my friend said, 'I'm going to go hear Charlie Parker at Birdland, wanna to go?' and I said, 'Oh, god yes!'" After the break, Jordan's friend "went backstage to say hello to Bird and she took me with her and Bird hugged her and looked over and saw me. 'Ah, I remember you. You're the kid with the million-dollar ears.' I was in shock! He just asked me where I lived. I told him I was in Brooklyn but I was moving to a loft in New York City on 26th Street off of 8th Avenue and he called me on the phone found out where I lived and he became very close with me...In fact, he would come up and I had these little cots that I would put friends from Detroit up in when they came to visit so they wouldn't have to go to a hotel and pay a lot of money." Jordan also remember that "When I first got my loft, I had a parakeet that I taught to say 'Hello Bird.' So Bird came up one time and he had a cot and it was called 'Birds Nest' cause he'd come up and take a rest. And I remember he came up and he wanted to lay down and rest and I said, 'Well let me get Tori in his cage, otherwise he'll bother you,' and Charlie Parker said, 'Oh, I don't care.' He went and laid down on the bed and of course the bird jumped right on him and said, 'Hello Bird' and Bird said (to me) 'what are you, a damn ventriloquist?!' And I said 'no, no, that wasn't me, that's Tori, he said that. I taught him to say that.' 'Oh, Sheila, that's too clear. I don't believe it.' So he lays down again and this time the bird flew right up by his mouth and said, 'Hello Bird' and Bird jumped up and said, 'God damn, that bird does talk!'"
The close friendship with Parker would continue for years. "I know that Bird one time came up with two LPs under his arm. One was Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring' and the other one was Bela Bartok's, 'Theme and Variations' [sic]. And Bird said, 'I want you to hear these. You need to hear these,' and it was wonderful," confirming that the most potent musicians draw inspiration from a myriad of sources. And then she paused and recalled a magic moment from decades ago. It wasn't even a story about music, but about an evening two young people shared together on the streets of a vibrant New York City, most likely 'May in Manhattan.' "I was with Bird one time; we went up to Birdland. 'Let's go to Birdland,' (he said) and we went up and—you talk about suits and ties—the guy at the door, I think it was [part-owner] Oscar Goodstein said, 'Bird, you can't come in here in a t-shirt. Go home and get a suit on and a shirt and a tie.' Bird turned around and looked at me and said, 'Can you believe this? They name a club after me and I can't even get in!' I said 'Oh come on, Bird. Let's go play some games,' 'cause they had all these places on Broadway where you could play games. I was very close with Bird." Parker led a rough life and, after a pause in Jordan's story, her bright tone changed. "Actually, when he died, I couldn't believe it. He was only 34 years old. And I saw him in his casket and I couldn't believe it. I touched his hands. He's my idol, still is," she said with deep reverence as her voice trailed off to a whisper.
During the time that her friendship with Parker was growing, Sheila had met and married pianist
Duke Jordan
piano1922 - 2006
Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
John Lewis
piano1920 - 2001
Sheila and Duke's daughter was born in 1955 (ironically, the same year Parker died), but the couple began to drift apart since he led the quintessential nomadic life of a jazz musician. Sheila was working half-days at a regular job "to pay my rent, buy food and stuff like that—take care of my little baby at the time." She worked for an advertising agency whose clients included Whirlpool, Thom McAn Shoes and Bulova Watch Company. "They did a couple of commercials that they had me sing on because they knew I was a jazz singer because I used to sing at their Christmas party. When they had an ad that needed a jazz sound, they would call me up so I made a little extra money that way," and she concluded by singing a few upbeat lines from the commercials. As for the agency, Sheila confirmed that, "they were hip." Still dedicated to performing live whenever possible, Sheila appeared at several New York clubs on a regular but limited basis.
Sheila Jordan's early life in Detroit was tainted by family alcoholism and numerous challenges as she fought her way through a tough childhood. But fellow vocalese singer and friend
Amy London
vocals
George Russell
composer / conductor1923 - 2009
Several weeks later, back in New York, Russell called Jordan and invited her to listen to a song he was developing. "I went by and he played me this incredible introduction to 'You Are My Sunshine' and then he stopped and said, 'OK, sing,' and I said, 'Sing what?' and he said, 'Sing "You Are My Sunshine" and I said, 'Are you going to play with me?' and he said 'No, no. Go low. I want you to sing alone.' I said, 'Really?' So I sang it. He called me up a few weeks later and had me record the song with him. Although it was only one song, it was her debut recording and appeared on Russell's 1962 Riverside album The Outer View. A complex, elegant Third Stream song that spotlighted Sheila's deceptively simple delivery, it is one of the definitive jazz tracks from the early '60s. Jordan's vocals, which emerge from a silent pause, are mint cool and serenely understated and dramatic. Russell soon paid for a demo session for Jordan, and he quickly took the demo tape to the prestigious home of jazz, Blue Note Records.
Alfred Lion
producer1908 - 1987
Jordan limited her performing and recording during much of the 60s and early 70s as she concentrated on raising her daughter, but music was always her passion. Her interpretations of standards are just that, personal interpretations and never paint-by-number covers. Whether singing a decades-old classic or an original, Jordan always brings a spontaneous freshness to her presentations and, when singing live, the audience is always trying to keep up with her and guess what's next. You'll get everything from sincere solos to sassy asides. Just like snowflakes, no two presentations of any given song are ever alike.
In addition to a pair of mid-to-late '70s albums, she participated on several recordings in the 80s and 90s, often accompanied by a bassist. As an improvisor, Jordan has performed with several musicians through the years, including with bassist ({m: Steve Swallow}}. "I loved all the room it left me," she said of performing with just a bass. "I'm an improvisor and I love all that space .Maybe, in another life, I was a bassist—I don't know." She certainly was on to something since the results of her vocal/bass duo's were enticingly intimate and consistently rich. She became affiliated with City College in New York and by the 2000s, she was an artist in residence there until the mid-2000's. At the same time, other singers and groups became passionate about jazz and vocalese, and they picked up the musical baton and ran with it. One such group was the
The Royal Bopsters
band / ensemble / orchestra
Mark Murphy
vocals1932 - 2015
Amy London
vocals
Jon Hendricks
vocals1921 - 2017
Years after the dapper gentleman at the door of Birdland turned away Charlie Parker and his guest in the 1950s, Jordan eventually returned many times as a performer, including a three-day run in November 2021 in celebration of her birthday. Beyond singing, she's still teaching. "I started a workshop at the Vermont Jazz Center—I started that workshop 20, 30 years ago—and I also teach two weeks of the Jazz in July [program] at University of Mass. Amherst," Jordan said. She proudly recalled that she secured that ongoing position through her friendship with
Billy Taylor
piano1921 - 2010
Max Roach
drums1925 - 2007
As of mid 2022, Jordan was still singin' and scattin' at clubs, festivals, schools and other venues. Jordan was one of the featured performers when the Syracuse Jazz Fest, after a five-year hiatus, returned to the clubs and streets of the upstate New York city in June 2022. With a snazzy flower a la Billie Holiday in Jordan's pageboy hair, she strolled onto the outdoor stage at Clinton Square. Accompanied by only a guitarist and bassist, she gleefully presented a set sprinkled with ad libs about nature, the city, the audience and more. Songs such as "Humdrum Blues," "How Deep is the Ocean," "Fair Weather," "I Concentrate on You" (complete with an impishly clever "I'm through" at the end) and more proved that she is still sharp and has the memory of a singer half her age. The vast outdoors occasionally fought back, especially when she presented softer songs, so her show may best be experienced in an intimate New York City club or, as she continues to perform, at a venue near you. The set concluded as Jordan sang and scatted a mini-biography which neatly summarized her long and storied life.
Tags
Interview
Sheila Jordan
Scott Gudell
United States
Artie Shaw
duke ellington
Chick Webb
Gene Krupa
Helen Forrest
Ivie Anderson
Ella Fitzgerald
Anita O'Day
Billie Holiday
Annie Ross
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
Charlie Parker
Sarah Vaughan
Skeeter Spight
Leroi Mitchell
Stravinsky
Béla Bartók
Oscar Goodstein
Duke Jordan
Miles (Davis
John Lewis
Amy London
George Russell
Alfred Lion
Royal Bopsters
Mark Murphy
Jon Hendricks
Billy Taylor
Max Roach
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