Saturday Night Fish Fry: The Original & Greatest Hits

It's easy to see in what high regard the industry holds Louis Jordan simply by scrolling through this site and seeing the wide variety of CDs covering his music, and from a diverse collection of distributors: MCA of course, given that his entire hit recording career was spent with Decca, as well as Universal, Jazz Archives, Blue Note, Verve, Melodie Jazz Classic, Epm Musique, Delta, Proper Box, and Jsp, to name just a few. The ideal purchase, of course, would be the multi-cd anthology from Bear Family of Germany, but not everyone can afford that set.

This one from the U.K.-based Jasmine outlet is as good as any of the reasonably-priced volumes currently on the market when it comes to originals of his hit singles [he had 57 on what then passed for the R&B charts between 1942 and 1951, 14 of which crossed over to the Billboard Pop charts, and, in addition, he had two more make the Pop charts only]. It's one of several single-CDs I have covering Louis, another of which is the 22-track Let The Good Times Roll from Castle Pie, also based in England. However, as far as I can tell that is not yet listed in Amazon's catalogue.

In a 24-selection compilation Jasmine gives you 22 of those hits, with only tracks 2 and 23 being obscure cuts - at least in North America [they may have had some significance in the U.K.]. The sound reproduction is excellent and the liner notes quite informative.

Born on July 8, 1908 in Brinkley, Arkansas, Louis, whose instrument of choice was the saxophone, first recorded for Brunswick way back in 1929 with The Jungle Band, then moved over to the Clarence Williams orchestra in the early part of the 1930s before linking up with Chick Webb's band from 1936 to 1938. He formed his own band in 1938 which eventually became known as The Tympany Five, always showing a clear preference for the comedy-oriented songs that became his mainstay.

An extremely popular entertainer, some of the biggest names in the business cut records with him, including Bing Crosby with whom he recorded the # 14 Pop hit (Yip Yip De Hootie) My Baby Said Yes in 1945, one of the two Pop-only hits he had [the other was 1948's Run Joe, a # 23 with The Calypso Boys].

He also had several major hits in conjunction with the great Ella Fitzgerald - Stone Cold Dead In The Market (He Had It Coming), a # 1 R&B/# 7 Pop in 1946 and its flipside, Patootie Pie [# 3 R&B], Baby, It's Cold Outside, a # 6 R&B/# 9 Pop in 1949, and I'll Never Be Free [# 7 R&B in 1950]. Also, in late 1948 a duet with Martha Davis doing Daddy-O reached # 7 R&B, and on each of I'll Never Be Free, Tamburitze Boogie, and Lemonade in 1950/51 his organist was non other than Bill Doggett, later of Honky Tonk fame.

Some 18 of his R&B hit singles reached # 1 [only G.I. Jive made it to # 1 Pop], and in this volume you get 13 of those. Together, his # 1s spent a total of 113 weeks at that position which is a record likely never to be broken or even equalled. His best ever was Choo Choo Ch'Boogie [later covered by Bill Haley] which spent 18 weeks at # 1 in 1946, followed closely by Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens [17 weeks at # 1 in late 1946/early 1947], Boogie Woogie Blue Plate [14 weeks at # 1 in the fall of 1947], and Saturday Night Fish Fry [12 weeks at # 1 in late 1949].

Louis, who passed away from a heart attack at age 66 on February 4, 1975, appeared in several films, among them Follow The Boys, Meet Miss Bobby Sox, and Swing Parade Of 1946, in 1983 was inducted into the Blues Hall Of Fame, and in 1987 was similarly honoured by the R&R Hall Of Fame in the Early Influence category. If you have never sampled Louis Jordan, this is as good a place as any to start. Recommended.

For those who know about Louis Jordan, well, they already know. For everyone else, Louis Jordan is an absolute master. You will be amazed. So much of the music of the sixties and seventies is a pale reflection of the genius of Louis Jordan. Take the plunge, you'll be very happy.

This Louis Jordon disc may have been remastered but that don't mean a thing even if it got the swing.
This disc sounds terrible, not even good enough for the car on a rainy night. Has a good selection of
well known Jordon tunes but the quality of the sound reproduction is just terrible. Best thing one can
do with this disc is cover it with stick-on felt and make a coaster out of it---that poor! I will bet
"Jasmine Records", ( the producer/ distributor ) $1000 US dollars that Amazon offers at least 5 other discs that sound vastly superior to this unit. Stay way away from this one!

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews  4.4 out of 5 stars