Lynne Jordan & The Shivers
July 30
Tickets: City Winery, Chicago
Show: 8 p.m. Doors open 6 p.m.
In a city (Chicago) brimming with classic blues and jazz divas, Lynne Jordan stands apart. Not only do her soaring vocals dip effortlessly into blues, jazz, funk, rock, and even country but her bawdy personality wins over any crowd. Her talent so dazzled the Second City that the late Chicago film critic Roger Ebert declared her his “favorite diva.” Backed by her sizzling band The Shivers, Jordan quickly developed into a Chicago institution, playing jazz and blues clubs, The Chicago Blues Fest, swanky lounges and even the charity circuit throughout the country. She brought her special brand of storytelling, raw humor, and performance to Chicago, New York, and Atlanta with her sold-out show, A Musical Tribute to Nina Simone.
Growing up in Dayton Ohio, Jordan came from a family of church-going singers who encouraged humility. She down-played her big voice until she was singled out to star in school musicals. Arriving in Chicago to study at Northwestern University, Jordan promptly changed her major from journalism to theater and has been performing non-stop ever since. She performed as an Arts Ambassador representing the City of Chicago in Moscow and Kyiv and has graced stages throughout Europe and South America and was featured in the Jazz Opera, Don’t Worry, Be HaRpy by French composer Isabelle Olivier. The show returned to Paris for a third tour in June 2016. Lynne is currently featured live with the great Corky Siegel Chamber Blues -- “an exhilarating experience!” She has released two CDs to date and is featured on recordings by Tom Waits, Urge Overkill, Toronzo Cannon and several compilations, most notably a tribute to Janis Joplin, titled Blues Down Deep: Songs of Janis Joplin which also featured Etta James, Otis Clay, Taj Mahal & Koko Taylor.
“For so long, I was told to nail my music to a genre or language, and like [Nina], I never did. I will sing in English, French, Hebrew or Japanese. It’s the song and the story that matters.” Stories inspire Lynne and she has gained a solid reputation in the Live Lit (Storytelling) community by performing monologues from her upcoming one-woman show: A GREAT BIG DIVA which highlights segments of her life, including: making it in showbiz in a plus-sized body, love and loss, plus stories of her own family history that date back to slavery. These compelling and oftentimes hilarious stories are all accompanied by live music.
Artist website: https://lynnejordan.com/