The Best of Louis Jordan

Louis Jordan's heyday was in the 1940's, and his shuffling, swinging "jump" sound combined with his goofy and humorous man-about-town schtick and sax solos. The earliest hit on here is slow "Knock Me A Kiss", was done in 1941.

A full nine years before Bill Haley, Jordan did "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" with an engaging boogie-woogieing piano and bass. Yes, remember, "Take me right back to the track, jack."
"Let The Good Times Roll" has a sound similar to "Heartbreak Hotel", which means early rock.

The partying "Saturday Night Fish Fry" is one of two songs that go beyond the average 2:30 time. It clocks in 5:20 but its excess length doesn't diminish the song. Hearing "It was rockin'" and the electric guitar there, this would've been a great Haley song.

"Caldonia" was the song that made me realize Jordan's connection to rock and roll, as I learned in my music class. That boogieing sound and Haley style rock just blends here, and the way he shouts "Caldonia" like "CaldoNYAAA" A singsong type monologue is included here, which shows another influence to rock.

"School Days" is basically a series of old nursery rhymes set to a snazzy jazzy beat. I remember those rhymes, e.g. Humpty Dumpty, Little Jack Horner, from the past, and was amused to hear them like this. "Five Guys Named Moe" has a similar sound.

Then there were songs with goofy titles like "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" of chickens telling the farmer to let them get to sleep because chickens have work to do laying eggs. "Beans and Corn Bread" has some silly lyrics. "Beans and cornbread had a fight/beans knocked corn bread outta sight/cornbread said now that's all right." "Barnyard Boogie" is plain silly piano and sax jazz, with Jordan going "oink oink" "moo moo" at times, and is about the animals boogieing in the barnyard.

Jordan could do city blues as well, as evidenced by "Buzz Me Blues", and the slower-paced "What's The Use Of Getting Sober", and "Somebody Done Changed The Lock On My Door." And with the Calypso Boys, he combined the Caribbean sound in his music in "Run Joe".

Most of his biggest hits are here, although not "GI Jive" or "Is You Or Is You Ain't My Baby." Better get the Five Guys Named Moe album for those songs.

Jordan is unjustly underrated when taking the history of rock and roll into consideration and is an artist requiring more evaluation and examination. His music anticipated rock and roll a decade before "Rock Around The Clock" and small wonder Chuck Berry, B.B. King, and Van Morrison acknowledged his influence.

Make no mistake, Jordan was more than a musician - he was an entertainer, and specifically, a comedian. There is a strong lacing of humor through almost every song. For example, in "Saturday Night Fish Fry", you will learn of the events that caused him to warn in the last verse "If you ever want to get a fist in your eye, just mention a Saturday night fish fry." In "Beware, Brother, Beware", Jordan gives an appreciative audience of men hilarious advice for the dubious objective of avoiding marriage at all costs: "If she saves your dough and won't go to a show......Beware! If her sister calls you brotha, you better get furtha.....Beware! If she calls on the phone and says `are you alone', you say `no I got three girls with me!'" In "Caledonia", Jordan squeals out the last syllable of the lady's name in such a way that you will instantly know this is what inspired Little Richard to squeal "Lucille" a few years later. In "Beans and Cornbread", we learn of a fight that almost breaks up the marriage of these two foods. There's a nice call and response in this song, in "I Want You to Be My Baby", and in "Five Guys Named Moe".

You can't help but love this guy, so buy this CD! The only good reason you could possibly have for not buying it is that you are buying the Boxed Set instead.

One of my most thrilling discoveries was when I first came acros Louis Jordan, a Forties jump-blues singer and sax player. His popularity was so widespread during the decade that between 1943 and 1950, Jordan was atop the charts with 18 songs for a total of 113 weeks! Songs like "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie," "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" and "Saturday Night Fish Fry" display his swinging blues 'n' boogie style. It's no surprise that Jordan was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 as an early influence.

The 20 tracks on the CD belong in any serious collector's library. ESSENTIAL