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Louis Jordan

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Louis Jordan was an American saxophonist, singer, songwriter and bandleader. He was born in Brinkley, Arkansas, in 1908. His father was a music teacher and the leader of a brass band, and as a child Louis learned the clarinet and then the saxophone. As a teenager he played with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, a travelling show. In the 1930s he worked in Philadelphia and New York, singing and playing alto saxophone in Chick Webb's orchestra alongside Ella Fitzgerald. In 1938 he started a group of his own, the Tympany Five.

Music and breakthrough

In the 1940s Jordan became the king of the jukebox. With hits such as Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby, Five Guys Named Moe, Caldonia and Choo Choo Ch'Boogie he reached number 1 on the black music charts eighteen times, and he also scored with a white audience. He recorded duets with Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong and appeared in short musical films. His band was small, five or six musicians, but played as hard as a big band. Saturday Night Fish Fry (1950) was one of the first popular songs with the word rocking in the chorus and a distorted electric guitar.

Influence

Jordan made jump blues: fast, swinging dance music that blended jazz, blues and boogie-woogie, with funny lyrics about city life. In this way he laid the foundations of rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll. Producer Milt Gabler used his records as a model for Bill Haley, and Chuck Berry borrowed guitar licks from Jordan's guitarist Carl Hogan. Jordan died in 1975.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Saturday Night Fish Fry and notice the call-and-response singing between Jordan and his band. Listen too for the short guitar licks played on two strings at once: exactly the kind of riff Chuck Berry would later take over.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

Categories: Artists