With a lilting, gently seductive voice, known for practically surreal sudden pitch changes, and boasting a positively preternatural connection to jazz's history, Sheila Jordan earned a sizeable fanbase from the 1950s on. She started out in the late-1940s, still in her early-teens, working semi-professionally in Detroit clubs, before jetting to New York where she studied under Charles Mingus and Lennie Tristano. By the 1960s, Jordan was regularly releasing classics such as the classic PORTRAIT OF SHEILA on the revered Blue Note imprint. The epitome of cabaret combined with the smokey gin joints, Jordan prolifically performed well into her eighties, forming a long-term partnership with bass player Harvie Swartz in 1983.