The 1950s were a golden age for female jazz singers. They sang arrangements that were often more sophisticated than the material handed to girl singers in the swing era, and yet a genuinely popular audience existed for them. They weren’t performing for fellow conservatory students. They were entertainers who had achieved a high level of artistry.
One singer who emerged from the ‘50s found her way to the recording studio only in 1960—and then the session was lost until now. Comes Love demonstrates Sheila Jordan’s octave-gliding vocal range and—more vitally—her emotional breadth. She’s frisky (and bursts into fast scatting) on “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If it Ain’t Got that Swing).” And then she’s rueful on “Ballad of the Sad Young Men,” alluring on “Comes Love” and resigned on “Don’t Explain.” Jordan could bring out the emotional nuances, the granular implications, in every word.
The names of the musicians accompanying her on this session are lost to memory. They were a small combo of piano, bass and drums, providing an empathetic and uncluttered setting her the songs and her voice.
