Recorded in 1991 at Kimballโs East in Oakland, "Better Than Anything: Live" was beautiful in every way, well-recorded and featuring the finest musicians imaginable. On bass, Harvie S and on piano another great, Alan Broadbent. In fact they dance together, waxing eloquent across the ocean of music that Jordan creates on the fly.
"...her casual between-song banter, in which she shared anecdotes about her amazing journey from small-town poverty to the heights of bebop to her current status as a grand dame of jazz.... both entertaining and revealing." - Bill Milkowski/Jazz Times
NEA Jazz Master, Sheila Jordan, is one of the most consistently creative jazz singers of all time - a superb scat singer, and an emotional interpreter of ballads. Jordan was one of the few singers to lead her own Blue Note album (1962). It would be a decade before she appeared on records again, working with Carla Bley, Roswell Rudd, and co-leading a group with Steve Kuhn in the late '70s.
Jordan recorded a memorable duet album with bassist Arild Andersen for SteepleChase in 1977, and has since teamed up with bassist Harvie S. By the 1980s, Jordan was performing jazz again full-time and gaining long deserved recognition. As a leader, she recorded for East Wind, Grapevine, SteepleChase, Palo Alto, Blackhawk, and Muse, resurfacing in 1999 with Jazz Child.
Although Jordan has only 21 albums as a leader to her credit in her 68 years as a vocalist, she has made countless appearances in nightclubs and at festivals all over the world. And every time she hits the stage, she continues to pay tribute to her idol and main inspiration, Charlie Parker.
"...Alan Broadbent....wrote the sumptuously beautiful large-format orchestrations..."(Sir Paul McCartney's "Kisses on the Bottom") - The Wall Street Journal
Native New Zealander, Alan Broadbent, was invited into the studio scene as a pianist for the great Nelson Riddle, David Rose and Johnny Mandel, then asked to be a part of Natalie Cole's "Unforgettable" CD, touring as her pianist and, later, as her conductor. Alan wrote the orchestral arrangement for Cole's video with her Father, "When I Fall In Love", winning Alan him his first Grammy.
He became a member of Charlie Haden's Quartet West, touring Europe, the UK and the US, and won his second Grammy, for the orchestral accompaniment behind Shirley Horn, of Leonard Bernstein's "Lonely Town".
As a soloist and with his jazz trio, Broadbent has been twice nominated for the Grammys' Best Instrumental Performance. In 2007 he was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit, an honor he holds in high regard.
Broadbent was Diana Krall's conductor for her orchestra concerts and on her "Live in Paris" DVD. He was the arranger on the late Glenn Frey's CD, "After Hours", and wrote six string arrangements for Sir Paul McCartney's "Kisses On The Bottom" with the London Symphony. Through his orchestral arrangements and jazz improvisations, in popular music and standard songs, Broadbent is discovering deeper feelings of communication and love.
Award winning bassist, educator, composer, arranger, and producer, Harvie S is continually challenging himself and his peers, expanding the borders of musical direction.
Harvey has performed and recorded with Stan Getz, Chet Baker, Dexter Gordon, Tony Bennett, Ray Baretto, Michael Brecker, Jean Pierre Rampal, Paquito DโRivera, Gil Evans, Art Farmer, Mark Turner, Jim Hall, Stefon Harris, Billy Hart, Lee Konitz, Yusef Lateef, Dave Leibman, Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny, Paul Motion, Chico OโFarrill, Danilo Perez, Maria Schneider, Zoot Sims, Toots Thielemans, Ray Vega, James Williams, Phil Woods, Louie Bellson and countless others.
He can be heard on twenty albums as a leader, fifteen as a co-leader, and over four hundred albums as a sideman.
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