Tobin's Run on 51: Bird, Bebop, and 52nd Street

Sheila Jeanette Dawson, Nov. 18 1928, Detroit, Michigan, USA.

Raised in poverty in Pennsylvania's coal-mining country, Jordan began singing as a child and by the time she was in her early teens was working semi-professionally in Detroit clubs. Her first great influence was Charlie Parker and, indeed, most of her influences have been instrumentalists rather than singers. Working chiefly with black musicians, she met with disapproval from the white community but persisted with her career. She was a member of a vocal trio, Skeeter, Mitch And Jean (she was Jean), who sang versions of Parker's solos in a manner akin to that of the later Lambert, Hendricks And Ross.

After moving to New York in the early 50s, she married Parker's pianist, Duke Jordan, and studied with Lennie Tristano, but it was not until the early 60s that she made her first recordings. One of these was under her own name, the other was The Outer View with George Russell, which featured a famous 10-minute version of You Are My Sunshine.

In the mid-60s her work encompassed jazz liturgies sung in churches and extensive club work, but her appeal was narrow even within the confines of jazz. By the late 70s jazz audiences had begun to understand her uncompromising style a little more and her popularity increased - as did her appearances on record, which included albums with pianist Steve Kuhn, whose quartet she joined, and an album, Home, comprising a selection of Robert Creeley's poems set to music and arranged by Steve Swallow.

A 1983 duo set with bassist Harvie Swartz, Old Time Feeling, comprises several of the standards Jordan regularly features in her live repertoire, while 1990's Lost And Found pays tribute to her bebop roots. Both sets display her unique musical trademarks, such as the frequent and unexpected sweeping changes of pitch, which still tend to confound an uninitiated audience. Her preference to the bass and voice set led to another remarkable collaboration with bassist Cameron Brown, whom she has been performing with all over the world for more than ten years so far and they have released the live albums I’ve Grown Accustomed to the Bass and Celebration. Entirely non-derivative, Jordan is one of only a tiny handful of jazz singers who fully deserve the appellation and for whom no other term will do.

Originally from Nottingham, England, bassist Mark Lewandowski now resides in New York. He is a first class honours graduate of London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has studied with US bass legend Henry Grimes. While still at college he made a big impact on the scene playing regularly at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, the Southbank and other major venues both as sideman and bandleader. He won the Yamaha Jazz Award and is now continuing his studies in New York City as part of the Artist Diploma programme at the prestigious Juilliard School. He has played with Martin Carthy, Winton Marsalis, John Surman, and Buddy Greco, among others. 

Native New Yorker Charles Goold, is one of the city's hardest working jazz drummers of his generation. Son of Ned Goold, legendary saxophonist, Charles was able to hear, live and embody jazz from the day he was born! Under the tutelage of his father, Charles was able to get "real" jazz education from an early age, playing weekly gigs at Smalls with his father from the age of 14 and going to see and study with many legendary NY greats. Goold recently graduated from the Juilliard School. He has performed with a wide variety of artists from classic stalwarts like John Hendricks, The Cab Calloway Orchestra and Andy Bey to more contemporary acts like Johnny O'Neal, Steve Nelson and a concert with Tony Bennett, Ne-Yo, Savion Glover and Brandon Flowers of the Killers at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, collaborations with rap legends Talib Kweli and Ghostface Killah along with performing on the Off-Broadway Musical "Old Hats."  

Phil Robson is a multi-award-winning, internationally-acclaimed guitarist, composer and bandleader. Originally from the UK, he relocated to NYC at the end of 2015 and is rapidly becoming one of the major figures on the music scene. He's worked with many of the greats, including David Liebman, Charles Earland, Steve Lacy, Maceo Parker, Barbra Streisand and BBC big band, and has also led his own bands featuring US stars such as Mark Turner, Billy Hart, Donny McCaslin, James Genus, Adam Nussbaum and many more. He and partner Christine Tobin have co-led the seminal UK band Partisans for more than 20 years.

Photo credit: Anthony Statham

Steve Wilson is a seminal American jazz multi-instrumentalist, who is best known in the musical community as a alto and soprano saxophonist and a flautist. He also plays the clarinet and the piccolo. Wilson has maintained a busy career working as a session musician, and has contributed to many musicians of note both in the recording studios & as a sideman on tours such as Chick Corea, Michael Brecker, Dave Holland, etc.