Jazz singer Sheila Jordan has died

Sheila Jordan.

Michael Stewart

Sheila Jordan, one of the great underappreciated voices in jazz, has died at the age of 96.

Despite a career that unfolded in fits and starts due to racial tensions, a troubled marriage and the challenges of single motherhood, Jordan recorded one of the most beloved vocal jazz records of the 1960s, Portrait of Sheila on Blue Note Records, and was recognized 50 years later by the National Endowment of the Arts as a Jazz Master, the genre’s highest honor.

“And I put my nickel in, and up came Bird, playing ‘Now is the Time,’ and I said that’s the music,” she said. “That’s the one I’ll dedicate my life to.”

Jordan, who was white, became good friends with Parker — he called her “the lady with the million dollar ears.” In 1952, she married one of his close collaborators, Duke Jordan, and went on to work with many Black jazz artists, often facing prejudice from other white people because of it.

“You find a way because the music is very important,” she said. “That’s how I survived, knowing that once or twice a week I’d get a sitter for Traci, and I’d go and sing in this club, and then I’d get up the next morning and go do my day gig.”

Many have said her voice was unlike any other.

Jordan never hit the big time, but she was a distinguished educator. For decades, she taught jazz vocal workshops at the City College of New York as well as many other institutions. In 2012, the National Endowment for the Arts named her a Jazz Master. And Sheila Jordan kept performing — even into her 90s.