Harlem Jazz Hero
New York
Sheila Anderson’s moniker “Queen of Hang” reflects her reputation as a devout supporter of the live jazz scene. She may be found anywhere from Newark, New Jersey to Staten Island to the Village to Harlem (where she lives), quietly digging the music in her unassuming style — or she may be the evening’s buoyant emcee. Her attendance is always welcomed and acknowledged — “‘the Queen of Hang is present!’”
But she doesn’t only hang: For more than two decades Sheila has worked in and for jazz. She’s been a broadcast script-writer, worked in publishing, had columns in Hot House Jazz magazine and elsewhere, produced festivals (in Somerville, now the Central Jersey Jazz Festival), and events (Harlem Jazz Shrines) consulted with JazzMobile among other organizations, curated jazz for the Newark Museum, and since 1995 has been a program host on WBGO-FM jazz radio.
Recognizable though she is — especially for her voice, with its wealth of inflections — few people may know of Sheila’s formidable early career with the NAACP. A native of Buffalo, at age 16 she was elected New York State Youth President under director Roy Wilkins, a position she held for four years, gaining what she’s called “a crash course in public speaking. . . Through that experience I was able to build self-confidence.”
With gumption, Sheila dove into several jobs in publishing, was president of the Bookbinders Guild of New York, created The Art of Jazz — an award-winning weekly 30-minute TV program for Time Warner Cable in NYC– and wrote books now available as The Little Red Book of Musicians’ Wisdom and How To Grow As A Musician: What All Musicians Must Know To Succeed (second edition, 2019).
Who is she to have those secrets? While hanging out, Sheila Anderson has been listening. Like all the JJA Jazz Heroes, she’s heard a lot. She shares it, readily, in her books, in conversation when you run into her out and about, over WBGO, hosting her program “Saturday Night Jazz.” Talk about an advocate! What she says! Hear her out!
— Ronald E. Scott
Amsterdam News
