PORTRAIT OF SHEILA

Vinyl LP repressing of this 1963 album from the jazz vocalist. This LP reissue is part of Blue Note's 75th anniversary celebration. Portrait Of Sheila is the debut album by Sheila Jordan. In the 1963 Down Beat magazine Critics Poll, she was ranked first in the vocal category for Talent Deserving Wider Recognition. According to the sleeve notes (written by Nat Hentoff), Alfred Lion of Blue Note decided to record Jordan after hearing her sing at the Page Three Club in Greenwich Village, New York, even though the label "had as a policy not recorded jazz vocalists before". Track 4, "Dat Dere", showcases Jordan's predilection for performing voice and bass duets. According to biographer Ellen Johnson, Jordan originally wanted to devote Portrait of Sheila entirely to bass and voice, but the idea was turned down by Blue Note.