For her 76th-birthday celebration at the Triad Club, SHEILA JORDAN did her acclaimed high-wire act: she sang all night with only a bass. It's risky to sing two-dozen songs with no drummer to keep time, no pianist to dictate the chords. But when you hear Sheila's authentic bebop vocabulary, the bluesy wail in her tone, and her emotional bravery, you feel that this is her strength. Her bassist Cameron Brown has his own, having worked with everybody from the far-out (Don Cherry, Archie Shepp) to the most lyrical (Chet Baker). He and Sheila listened intently to each other, swapping the ball with complete unpredictability. This is jazz at its very essence -- communicative, spontaneous and from the heart. Songs from America's Tin Pan Alley, Broadway and jazz classics, sometimes strung into lustrous garlands of medleys, all receive the Jordan treatment as she gets back to 'bassics'. If you missed it, you missed it, but that fateful evening in a small club on the upper West Wide of Manhattan will continue to delight and inspire thanks to the current CD..

with Cameron Brown

Tracks: Hum Drum Blues; Mood Indigo; It's You or No One; Brother Where Are You?; Blues Medley for Miles; The Promise of You; Astaire/Rogers Medley; Straight Ahead; Fats Meets Bird Medley; Birk's Works (w/ Jay Clayton); Sheila's Blues; The Crossing.

 Humdrum Blues

 It's You Or No One

 The Promise Of You

 Astaire/Rogers Medley