A Jazz Voice Finds a Mellower Range

WHEN the jazz singer Sheila Jordan is in Manhattan, she has

ready access to the musicians, clubs and urban energy she

has cherished since she moved there nearly 60 years ago to

immerse herself in the music

But when it’s time for Ms. Jordan to learn new music or work

on arrangements, she is too conscious of the neighbors

around her one-bedroom apartment in Chelsea, her primary

residence. So she heads for her farmhouse on the outskirts

of Middleburgh, N.Y., 43 miles west of Albany, where she can

sing any time of the day or night without worry.

“When I come up here,” she said, “I feel totally undressed musically. I feel I can try out any kind

of idea I have.”

On her five and a quarter acres of land atop Canady Hill, her only close neighbors have been

the cows the farmer next door once kept. “I called them the bebop cows,” Ms. Jordan said. “They

didn’t like ballads. If I sang them a slow tune, they left. If I sang bebop, they came running over.”

Bebop has been the mainstay of Ms. Jordan’s long career.

Ms. Jordan celebrated her 80th birthday last November, and her touring schedule has not

slowed, despite surgery for angioplasty a year ago and an irregular heartbeat that, as she puts

it, “sure doesn’t swing.” Her recent visits to Middleburgh have been squeezed between tour

dates in Germany, Japan and Britain, along with several appearances stateside. “After I get

home,” she said, “I pack a few things and come up here a few days to get a rest.”

There are plenty of places to wind down in and around Ms. Jordan’s three-bedroom, 2,000-

square-foot home. In the living room, there are a soft black leather couch and an easy chair with

a built-in massager, a Christmas gift from her daughter, Tracey Jordan, a marketing and

promotions consultant for Abkco Music & Records. A covered front porch with cushioned wicker

chairs overlooks the Helderberg Mountains.