Sheila Jordan: Jazz Singing Teacher

[cookie]

I am just over the moon! Wow!

I thought I'd start a new thread about Sheila Jordan, the teacher. I mentioned on an earlier thread that I was going to attend a workshop and Lynn asked if I might report back. Since I'm still flying high on what she did and said, I figured I'd do it now before the concert.

Sheila's reputation as a teacher is excellent for good reason. She covered many basic aspects of the craft and the art of singing jazz with great efficiency. She had great leadsheets prepared for "Four," "Boplicity." "So Many Stars," "Barbados," and "The Meaning of the Blues." As an observing educator, I was impressed with her selections: two bop standards with words, a couple latin tunes--one by Bird and one from Brazil, and a beautiful ballad. That's a nice selection of authentic material for students to take away with them. The charts are beautifully clear and include rhythm hits, changes and words. Sheila talked about the importance of good charts in communicating material to the rhythm section (and also in establishing one's seriousness as a singer to the rhythm section).

She started with a 12 bar blues in G and encouraged each person to improvise with words to talk about why they wanted to sing jazz, how their day was going, who they were etc. The piano player didn't walk so I walked a bass line while he comped. Sheila went first and just sang a warm little greeting about how music had given her alot and she wanted to give it back. Each person went in turn and said their piece. Sheila has such a warm encouraging presence. People were nervous, but Sheila helped them relax and get with it. It was a nice way of introducing each member of the workshop.

Then Sheila moved on to "Four." She told some of the history of the tune and talked about Jon Hendricks and his words. Then she taught everyone the tune. Some of us knew it well, while others sight-read it. By this time, a bass player was recruited too, so that was good! Sheila went over the song several times. I really like how she assumed that everyone would catch on if they did it a few times rather than assuming she had to break it down into small pieces from the outset. She presented the tunes whole and then highlighted their quirks.

She had everybody trade 4s and 8s on "Four." She encouraged using the melody as a guide and really wanted people to just use their ears and feel it. She called attention to the form and demonstrated different ways of using the melody in improvisation.

Then she turned her attention to " Boplicity." Again, she taught the melody by having people it read and sing it slowly a few times. She then demonstrated a line of guidetones moving through the harmony. She used this line as a background behind solos which helped singers a)hear the form and b)have a foundation upon which to improvise. She talked about singing acapella and checking yourself to see if you remain in the same key from beginning to end.

The singers in attendance were of diverse backgrounds, experiences, ages, etc. Still, Sheila was able to teach each and everyone there something that instantly improved their performance. She did this all WHILE the choruses unfolded. She gave advice through her singing and from giving every person a chance to find their own thing in the music.

After we played with "Boplicity" for a while, she asked if any singers wanted to sing solos. Several of us did but not ONE of us had any paper with us (I thought my gig bag was in the car, but I was mistaken. Good thing it wasn't a gig!).

Singers negotiated tunes and keys with the relatively inexperienced pianist and bassist. Two singers did "Blue Moon" but they were both very nervous and forgot the words. Sheila was very warm and nice and gave them the real words and talked about HOW to learn tunes (she very wisely suggested that singers should not learn tunes from recordings of other singers but should listen to instrumentalists. She suggested singers should listen to other singers for inspiration and knowledge not to learn tunes. She advocated finding the real sheet music. She said she believes that the best individual expression can only come if you really know the way the tune was composed. Amen). I played and sang Jule Styne's "It's You or No One" then this 20 year old chick got up and sang the hell out of "Angel Eyes." Again, Sheila had great, specific things to say to everyone. She was really good about finding positive, constructive suggestions for each person.

We then turned our attention to the ballad, but the workshop was going over time and most people had to leave, so Sheila just introduced it to us and told us about it. We sang the melody a couple of times.

Sheila continued to teach the hangers on like myself. She talked about tunes and what singers need to know. She encouraged me personally a great deal. She graciously took the time to hear one of my original tunes and she enjoyed it. I'm bringing her a copy tonight at her request. I asked her if she wanted all the parts (the drum part, bass part, piano) and she said, no, that if she did decide to do something with it she'd want to do it her own way. And that got us talking about how that's one thing I love and admire about her is how she does each song HER way. She just made me so happy to be a jazz singer today!

The instrumentalists had gone off with Cameron to work separately, but they came back to hear Sheila and Cameron do a microphone check. They performed "The Very Thought of You" and then Sheila demonstrated Mile's solo from "Freddie Freeloader." What a nice preview of tonight's concert! I can't wait to go back and hear her in action tonight!

BTW: Sheila looks and sounds great. What a presence at 75! What an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience she has. I feel so lucky to have experienced a short couple hours of her presence.

Wow.

[cookie]

Oh, yeah. And I did say hi from David Gitin!

[mke]

Thanks for the great report!

[Dennis Gonzalez]

Thank you, Cookie. Very nice report. Thanks...made me wanna be there.

[lynn]

Thanks Cookie. Was that a 3 hour workshop and how many singers participated.

I did a workshop with Mark Murphy a couple years back and he got more into the percussive, rhythmic aspects of the scat solos. I think they have worked together also which would be a great pairing.

When she discussed lead sheets, how did she recommend notating arrangements. I produce pretty simple lead sheets, melody, lyrics and changes, but would like to somehow note my ideas for performance to better communicate with the trio.

Thanks again for the overview. Something to think about.

[cookie]

Lynn: The work shop lasted about a little over an hour and a half. They got started around 12:15 and people had to leave around 1:45. It was a kind of informal hang after that until soundcheck (which was a lesson in itself). After soundcheck, people were still hanging with Sheila and Cameron. They were incredibly generous with their time. I left at about 2:30 (I also spent time chatting with the director of Jazz Studies at Binghamton, Mike Carbone and ran into one of my old theory professors from undergrad school. He was a cat who I loved alot. He helped me get through college theory and encouraged my compositions. Guy named Paul Goldstaub. Excellent composer and teacher---that was a bonus thrill to see him again!).

Sheila's lead sheets were excellent. I complimented her on them and she used that as an opportunity to talk about the importance of a lead sheet (she was the master of finding the teachable moment!). Basically, her lead sheets are just what you describe yourself as using: melody, words, changes. Sheila's contained the additional information of rhythmic "kick" figures indicated above the staff (most notably on "Four"). She discussed how a lead sheet differs from an arrangement and demonstrated how to talk over an intro, ending, and tempo with the accompanists. The charts were very clean and easy to read. They were definitely the ideal type lead sheets; not just your average changes/slashes sketch.

I bet Mark was fun to work with. A dual workshop with Sheila and Mark would be somethin' else.

What I love about Sheila is that she learned about jazz from hanging around instrumentalists. She knows how to work with instrumentalists; how to speak their language. I thought that she showed remarkable respect for the rhythm section while directing how they should play. It was a "we" thing, not an "I" thing.

There were, I think, 7 singers plus Sheila----which was great because when trading bars, the choruses worked out perfectly around the circle. It was a really intimate, warm group. There was another lady there who is doing some professional singing in the area (she has worked with Sheila before at Jazz in July), a really good college girl, a woman who just loved to sing and improvise, and several women I recognized as graduates of our college who are now music teachers. There was also a little girl there with one of the women, but she didn't sing (she was cute though). There were also a few observers in the audience, several older community members who just wanted to watch Sheila work.

The concert tonight was a joy. Just a joy. Two of my students went with me and they were blown away. Sheila and Cameron were so playful. She sang many, many songs and medleys of songs. She was educating and entertaining and having a grand old time. She used songs to tell stories and illuminate ideas. I loved her "Fred and Ginger" medley!

She lives within two hours of me but is always performing all over the country and the world! She doesn't perform in this area very often. I saw her with Harvey, oh, maybe 10 years ago in Corning (that concert was memorable!! Wow!). That's where I first heard Sheila's Blues and the Bird/Tribute/Quasimodo thing.

Sheila performed her song "The Crossing" as an encore after a standing ovation. It spoke to me. I mentioned it to her after the show and she kindly gave me a copy.

I don't know what more to say. Today was a great, great day. I had the opportunity to hang out with one of my "idols". She challenged me. Sure, I know the mechanics. She told the students exactly what I tell my students. She encouraged me and was very complimentary, but she challenged me to reach beyond the way I'm performing (and teaching) now. She suggested that I scat sing acapella to expand my approach to the tune I sang (I did scat sing---the only good chorus I got off all weekend--- but it was accompanied). That thought terrified me, but it was just the sort of thing I wouldn't have been bold enough to think of. It was something I could take away and think of as a possible performance device. Sheila was thinking outside of the box even as she was checking off the boxes of the basics!

Just wow, wow and more wow. I'll have trouble getting to sleep. I'm like a little kid who just spent the day at Disneyland.

[Gary Sisco]

Wicked cool, Cookie. Thanks for the great report. I love to listen to Sheila -- and I'm very persnickity about singers -- but have never had the chance to hear her live. (Cameron Brown's no slouch, either.)

[lynn]

Thanks Cookie - a great day indeed.

[Tom Storer]

This looked like a nice thread to report that five years later, at age 80, Sheila is still going strong. I saw her last night with a good Paris rhythm section (Frank Avitabile, p; Thomas Bramerie, b; Aldo Romano, d). She needs help stepping on and off the stage, but her wit, her energy, her intonation, her breath, her improviser's imagination, she's still got it all going. A fabulous concert. She did the old hip tunes she prefers, like "Hum Drum Blues" and "Baltimore Oriole," as well as "Autumn in New York," "How Deep is the Ocean," Abbey Lincoln's "Bird Alone". She brought up a local singer/teacher named Thierry Péala, very skilled, and they traded lyrics and scat on "Confirmation." She closed with "Sheila's Blues," natch.

She was having a blast and her utter spontaneity was a joy as always. During one song, a baby cried, and she instantly sang, "I heard a baby cry/Hush, little baby, don't you cry/Daddy's gonna buy you an apple pie," etc., finishing the song as a lullaby with ad lib lyrics. The baby stopped crying and everyone was charmed. It was a joy to hear Sheila again, right in the thick of it as ever!

[tippy]

Hey, I went to her class too. I don’t remember what year it was. Probably 2001. It was in a small room in Midtown with about 6 singers. I never saw this thread before now so thanks, Tom. Great reports. Glad to hear she is still traveling and singing. That’s pretty awesome.

[Tom Storer]

Tippy, you sing? I didn't know that!

[tippy]

That was another life ago, Tom. But yeah that’s the only thing I ever wanted to do since I was maybe 4, before I even started kindergarten. People in the neighborhood would bribe me with nickels and fudgesicles because it did always make me feel shy unless I was by myself. It’s not an easy thing to do. I admire people like Cookie (and Lynn) and, of course, Ms. Jordan a great deal.

[Alino]

thank you for this beautiful report Cookie. I wish I was there too.

It's many years I follow Sheila's work, and I have almost all her records.
This 2008 is a good year since we had her and Cameron Brown's Here And How vol.2 cd -Omnitone; after too many years of delay - and her and Steve Kuhn's '70s ECM record in CD for the first time (Ecstacy, if I remember well). Two very good examples of her art.

[rollhead]

Sheila Jordan and Steve Kuhn have played in Albany a few times over the last few years, and I can kick myself for missing them.

Sheila Jordan -- as might have been noted earlier in this thread -- was Charlie Parker's favorite singer. And Steve Kuhn, as might also have been noted, was John Coltrane's pianist before McCoy Tyner.

[picsou]

I saw her in Lausanne a few years back.
Had the chance to exchange a few words at the break, and a CD signed.
"Bird alone" was great!

[Pete C]

I saw Jordan and Kuhn earlier this year--she sings like someone 20-30 years younger. It's rare for singers in their upper 70s to maintain such fluidity and control. In fact, she just turned 80 last month.