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Louis Jordan

Louis Jordan was a pioneering jazz, blues and R&B sax player and songwriter. In the 1930s and 1940s he was one of the leading performers of "Jump Blues", an up-tempo combination of jazz, blues and boogie. With the addition of the electric guitar in the 1940s, this style formed the basis for Rhythm and Blues and later Rock & Roll. His music had great influence on artists such as Wynonie Harris, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bill Haley & His Comets.

Louis Jordan was born in Brinkley, Arkansas in 1908, and studied clarinet under his father, a bandleader, but later switched to the alto saxaphone. Moving to New York in 1932, Louis Jordan played with the swing bands of Clarence Williams, Charlie Gaines and Chick Web, based at the Savoy Ballroom. He often played duets with Ella Fitzgerald, Chick Webb's lead female vocalist.

Jordan formed his own band, the Tympani Five, in 1938, issuing a series of popular records in the next few years. In 1942 he released his first big hit "I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts of Town", later covered by Big Bill Broonzy and Jimmy Rushing. Later that year, "What's The Use Of Getting Sober" reached the top of the "race" charts. Louis Jordan's 1943 "Ration Blues" was a huge hit, reaching #11 in the national best sellers chart. It was followed by a string of R&B hits including "Saturday Night Fish Fry", "Caldonia" and "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby". The number of hits in the 1940s earned Jordan the title "King of the Jukebox".

Jordan's popularity declined in the 1950's. He changed his sound to full Rock & Roll with "Let The Good Times Roll" and "Salt Pork, West Virginia", but these records had little success. He continued to record into the early 1960s, but only a few fans bought his records. Louis Jordan died in 1975, aged 66.

In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #59 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

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