Search - Louis Jordan :: One Guy Named Louis

Louis Jordan is simply one of the most influential figures in American music. A successful swing-era singer and saxophonist with bandleader Chick Webb, Jordan was the first to successfully fuse swing and urban blues in a small-combo format, creating the style known as "jump blues" in 1941. He was a supercharged performer, singing and rapping over a tidal wave of boogie rhythm and spinning off the forms of America's musical future, essential progenitor of rhythm & blues and the rock & roll that followed it. This CD collects all of the songs Jordan recorded during his 1954 tenure with Aladdin, a period when his greatest commercial successes for Decca lay behind him but when his enthusiasm and energy were unabated. The music can wander to the sentimental balladry of "Till We Two Are One," but high spirits usually prevail, from the boisterous, half-spoken vocals of "Whiskey Do Your Stuff" and "I'll Die Happy" to the raucous, alto-saxophone sound on the instrumentals "Gotta Go" and "For You." The bands are uncredited with the exception of appearances by guitarist Mickey Baker, a cornerstone of New York R&B recording in the period. --Stuart Broomer