NEW ORLEANS, LA: The long awaited debut album by New Orleans jazz vocalist Stephanie Jordan has finally arrived. The Stephanie Jordan Big Band will host a CD Release Party at Café Istanbul during French Quarter Fest weekend in the Healing Center located at 2372 St. Claude Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana on Friday, April 13, 2012 at 8:00 PM. The new CD; “Stephanie Jordan Sings a Tribute to the Fabulous Lena Horne" honors the legendary Grammy Award winner who starred in many films and whose one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music (1981), was hailed as her masterpiece.
Jordan said that 16-years ago, a month long singing engagement in Istanbul, Turkey was the first time that she had traveled alone out of the US. “It was then that I began to believe that she could be a professional jazz singer. I remember thinking, wow; exotic places, worldwide travel, and glamorous surroundings, this could work. Interestingly, at the Palace Hotel where I was performing hung a beautiful painting of New Orleans' own Sidney Bechet. That confirmed that jazz was the route for me." The reflections of that trip are the main reason why Jordan chose Café Istanbul as the site for her CD release.
In describing the new CD, noted jazz critic Ted Panken writes, “Great lyrics permeate this beautifully rendered homage, and Jordan has the skill sets to do them justice—a voice that projects from a whisper to a scream, impeccable diction, dead-center pitch, fluid phrasing. Backed by a breathe-as-one 8-piece unit of top-shelf New Orleanians that sounds twice its size, and counterstated by a cohort of virtuoso soloists, she finds fresh, unfailingly swinging approaches to this well-traveled repertoire, melding into a personal argot elements garnered from such distinguished mentors as Shirley Horn, Abbey Lincoln, Nancy Wilson—and Lena Horne herself—while sounding like no one other than Stephanie Jordan. As she aptly puts it, “it's a tribute, not a copy."
The program offers Jordan a magnificent platform on which to showcase her exuberant spirit and abundant talent, but also contains an autobiographical component. The back story starts in the spring of 1983, when Horne visited New Orleans for the third and final time, bringing her one-woman show to the Saenger Theater for several weeks. The contractor was Jordan's father, Edward “Kidd" Jordan—best known as an outcat improviser who navigates the interstellar spaces of late period John Coltrane, but also a distinguished educator and first-call session musician. He procured tickets for his family. “I have witnessed hundreds of performances, by a lot of big-name singers and that one never left me," says Jordan . . .
“That night was the first time I'd ever witnessed a true jazz singer with everything—the fame, the fortune, the beauty, the style, the wit, the charm, the big band." Jordan continues. “After she did some subtle things where she talked about her life, she sang 'From This Moment On,' which blew me away. The whole theater was on edge. Then, when she sang 'Yesterday When I Was Young,' everyone jumped up and erupted. I had never witnessed one person on stage send an audience into a frenzy like that. It was like, 'Oh! This is jazz singing, for real . . .'"
Panken continues, “The album's title track, Yesterday When I Was Young, a Charles Aznavour gem that Horne documented on the 1969 LP Lena and Gabor. Jordan's sodium pentothal treatment—the truth WILL be told—is evocative of the magical phrasing of Shirley Horn, a close friend (of Jordan) from D.C. days."
The full album continues Jordan's signature treatment of jazz standards from the Big Band era performed with select solos by “Kidd;" her brothers Marlon and flutist Kent Jordan; and Uncle Maynard Chatters. Roderick Paulin's solo treatment on Stormy Weather is enchanting while Emmy Award recipient Mike Esneault provides musical utopia on the keys throughout the album.
Jordan's only regret is that Horne isn't around to hear this heartfelt offering. “I was two years into doing tributes to her, when she died," she says. “It was devastating to me. The full line-up of musicians includes; Mike Esneault, Arranger, Piano; Bobby Campo, Trumpet; Blake Daniels, Trumpet; Troy Davis, Drums and Percussions; Tony Dagradi, Baritone Sax; B.J. McGibney, Trombone; Roderick Paulin, Tenor Sax; Chris Severin, Bass; Maynard Chatters, Trombone; Steve Masakowski, Guitar; Edward Kidd Jordan, Tenor Sax; Kent Jordan, Flute; and Marlon Jordan, Trumpet.
Admission to the CD Release Party is $20 per person which includes a free signed copy of “Stephanie Jordan Sings a Tribute to the Fabulous Lena Horne" CD with the first 100 advance tickets purchased.
The national debut of the new CD will take place later this spring.
Jordan said that 16-years ago, a month long singing engagement in Istanbul, Turkey was the first time that she had traveled alone out of the US. “It was then that I began to believe that she could be a professional jazz singer. I remember thinking, wow; exotic places, worldwide travel, and glamorous surroundings, this could work. Interestingly, at the Palace Hotel where I was performing hung a beautiful painting of New Orleans' own Sidney Bechet. That confirmed that jazz was the route for me." The reflections of that trip are the main reason why Jordan chose Café Istanbul as the site for her CD release.
In describing the new CD, noted jazz critic Ted Panken writes, “Great lyrics permeate this beautifully rendered homage, and Jordan has the skill sets to do them justice—a voice that projects from a whisper to a scream, impeccable diction, dead-center pitch, fluid phrasing. Backed by a breathe-as-one 8-piece unit of top-shelf New Orleanians that sounds twice its size, and counterstated by a cohort of virtuoso soloists, she finds fresh, unfailingly swinging approaches to this well-traveled repertoire, melding into a personal argot elements garnered from such distinguished mentors as Shirley Horn, Abbey Lincoln, Nancy Wilson—and Lena Horne herself—while sounding like no one other than Stephanie Jordan. As she aptly puts it, “it's a tribute, not a copy."
The program offers Jordan a magnificent platform on which to showcase her exuberant spirit and abundant talent, but also contains an autobiographical component. The back story starts in the spring of 1983, when Horne visited New Orleans for the third and final time, bringing her one-woman show to the Saenger Theater for several weeks. The contractor was Jordan's father, Edward “Kidd" Jordan—best known as an outcat improviser who navigates the interstellar spaces of late period John Coltrane, but also a distinguished educator and first-call session musician. He procured tickets for his family. “I have witnessed hundreds of performances, by a lot of big-name singers and that one never left me," says Jordan . . .
“That night was the first time I'd ever witnessed a true jazz singer with everything—the fame, the fortune, the beauty, the style, the wit, the charm, the big band." Jordan continues. “After she did some subtle things where she talked about her life, she sang 'From This Moment On,' which blew me away. The whole theater was on edge. Then, when she sang 'Yesterday When I Was Young,' everyone jumped up and erupted. I had never witnessed one person on stage send an audience into a frenzy like that. It was like, 'Oh! This is jazz singing, for real . . .'"
Panken continues, “The album's title track, Yesterday When I Was Young, a Charles Aznavour gem that Horne documented on the 1969 LP Lena and Gabor. Jordan's sodium pentothal treatment—the truth WILL be told—is evocative of the magical phrasing of Shirley Horn, a close friend (of Jordan) from D.C. days."
The full album continues Jordan's signature treatment of jazz standards from the Big Band era performed with select solos by “Kidd;" her brothers Marlon and flutist Kent Jordan; and Uncle Maynard Chatters. Roderick Paulin's solo treatment on Stormy Weather is enchanting while Emmy Award recipient Mike Esneault provides musical utopia on the keys throughout the album.
Jordan's only regret is that Horne isn't around to hear this heartfelt offering. “I was two years into doing tributes to her, when she died," she says. “It was devastating to me. The full line-up of musicians includes; Mike Esneault, Arranger, Piano; Bobby Campo, Trumpet; Blake Daniels, Trumpet; Troy Davis, Drums and Percussions; Tony Dagradi, Baritone Sax; B.J. McGibney, Trombone; Roderick Paulin, Tenor Sax; Chris Severin, Bass; Maynard Chatters, Trombone; Steve Masakowski, Guitar; Edward Kidd Jordan, Tenor Sax; Kent Jordan, Flute; and Marlon Jordan, Trumpet.
Admission to the CD Release Party is $20 per person which includes a free signed copy of “Stephanie Jordan Sings a Tribute to the Fabulous Lena Horne" CD with the first 100 advance tickets purchased.
The national debut of the new CD will take place later this spring.
For more information contact Sylvain Music Notes.
