MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Singer Sheila Jordan has died at the age of 96.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AM I BLUE")
SHEILA JORDAN: (Singing) I'm just a woman, a lonely woman, waiting on a weary shore.
KELLY: Jordan was considered one of the great voices in jazz, but she was barely known outside that world. NPR's Neda Ulaby has this remembrance.
NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Sheila Jordan was born to a family without much money in Pennsylvania coal country. She told NPR in 2014 that she was unhappy as a kid, and the only thing she could do about it was sing. And then, one day she spotted something on a jukebox - Charlie Parker and his Reboppers.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JORDAN: And I put my nickel in and up came Bird playing "Now's The Time." I said that's the music. That's the one I'll dedicate my life to...
(SOUNDBITE OF CHARLIE PARKER'S REBOPPERS' "NOW'S THE TIME")
JORDAN: ...Whether I sing it, teach it, whatever.
ULABY: Jordan, who was white, became good friends with Parker and went on to work with many Black jazz artists, often facing violent racism because of it. Her voice was unlike any other.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FALLING IN LOVE WITH LOVE")
JORDAN: (Singing) I fell in love with love one night when the moon was high. I was unwise with eyes unable to see. I fell in love with love, with love everlasting. But love fell out with me.
ULABY: She never really hit the big time, but in 2012, the National Endowment for the Arts named Sheila Jordan a jazz master. And she kept performing even into her 90s.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WORKSHOP BLUES")
JORDAN: (Singing) Come on and sing this little blues I wrote for you. Let's make it swing. It's groovy what a blues can do. So come with me and sing the workshop blues.
ULABY: She recorded 19 albums since the turn of this century, including this one, "Portrait Now."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WORKSHOP BLUES")
JORDAN: (Singing) Let's make it swing. It's groovy what a blues can do. So come with me and sing the workshop blues.
ULABY: Sheila Jordan died at her apartment on Monday in New York City, according to her longtime bassist. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WORKSHOP BLUES")
JORDAN: (Vocalizing). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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