Customer Reviews

Sheila

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sheila Jordan has recorded a handful of albums using only the bass for musical accompaniment. Of them all, this one is the most thrilling. Perhaps Old Time Feeling is more musically varied, but this '70s outing finds the singer at her most emotionally direct. Her singing is stripped of all curlicue and adornment, with a little grit thrown in. "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life" is particularly searching, almost disturbing in its examination of a relationship that finds the singer not giving any value to a life spent apart from the "you" being sung to. I've never heard another version that brings up quite the same questions and feelings. The album is essential just for this song. But the prickly excitement of "Hold Out Your Hand," the haunting mystery of "The Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers," and the delirious abandon of "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" are worth the price as well. This is one of Sheila's top three albums.

This is an obscure record, but most all Sheila Jordan records are obscurities even to the majority of jazz listeners.
The cohesion of Jordan and her bass accompanyist Arild Andersen is uncanny, the material is as challenging as anything in Jordan's song book, and the result is a top tier chamber vocal jazz disk. Really.
For the champions of singers like Jeanne Lee and Sheila Jordan this record is a small treasure, for all others it probably won't sound like much.

I heard Sheila's recent NPR interview and came to listen to this album after they referenced it. I was much for familiar with "Portrait of Sheila", which I love and this one is great as well. The combination of her voice with the bass leaves you with nothing to cover up the emotion and purity of her singing and the music. A wonderful album.