03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘Portrait Now' by Sheila Jordan Review: An Autobiography in Jazz
In 1962, the jazz singer Sheila Jordan recorded her first album, which was titled 'Portrait of Sheila' when issued by Blue Note Records in early 1963. Sixty years—and roughly 25 albums—later, she went into a Bronx, N.Y., studio and cut her newest one, 'Portrait Now,' which refers to that first release in its title.
What makes that six-decade span even more noteworthy is that Ms. Jordan was hardly a newcomer in 1963; she would turn 35 that year, and had already spent most of her career on the fringes of the jazz world. And even when she reached her mid-40s—the age when such major singers as Billie Holiday and Nat King Cole arrived at the end of their lives and careers—she was still getting started as a recording artist: She cut her second album as leader, 'Confirmation,' in 1975.
