Louis Jordan

Induction Year: 1987

Induction Category: Early Influence

Louis Jordan (vocals, saxophone; born July 8, 1908, died February 4, 1975)

He has been called “the Father of Rhythm & Blues” and “the Grandfather of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” In the Forties, bandleader Louis Jordan pioneered a wild - and wildly popular - amalgam of jazz and blues. The swinging shuffle rhythms played by singer/saxophonist Jordan and his Tympany Five got called “jump blues” or “jumpin’ jive,” and it served as a forerunner of rhythm & blues and rock and roll. In fact, it has been plausibly argued that “Saturday Night Fish Fry,” is worthy of consideration as the first rock and roll record, containing many of the genre’s key ingredients: a distorted electric guitar, an early use of the word rocking, party-themed lyrics, and danceable, uptempo music. Similarly, with their breathless, manic spoken delivery, both “Look Out” and “Saturday Night Fish Fry” - released in 1947 and 1949, respectively - can be seen as early examples of what would come to be known as rap.

Jordan was born into a musical family. His father taught music and was bandleader for the Arkansas-based Rabbit Foot Minstrels. After majoring in music at Arkansas Baptist College, Jordan moved with his family to Philadelphia and then headed to New York by himself. He served stints as a saxophonist with jazz bands and swing orchestras led by Chick Webb and others. He broke off in 1938 to form his own group whose specialty was jump blues delivered with madcap wit and a danceable beat. During the Forties, Jordan ruled the R&B charts like no other performer.

Jordan’s appeal stemmed from his songs’ lively evocation of good times, performed in a swinging style that ranged from hot jazz to bluesy boogie. Jordan supplied a good deal of the slang of early rock and roll and directly influenced the freewheeling spirit of the music. In retrospect, Jordan’s used of syncopated shuffle rhythms in a small-combo context can be viewed as the bridge between big-band swing and rhythm & blues (and, by extension, rock and roll). His incorporation of electric guitar and organ proved a major stepping-stone from jazz to R&B, as well.

Jordan’s peers and contemporaries included , Ella Fitzgerald and Bing Crosby. He would come to have a huge influence on Decca Records labelmate . was another professed acolyte who acknowledged his debt by signing Jordan to his Tangerine label in the early Sixties. Other rock and roll figureheads whom Jordan profoundly influenced were (who adopted “Keep a-Knockin’” from Jordan’s repertoire), Roy Brown and Wynonie Harris. No less a rock and roll pioneer than paid tribute to Jordan with this simple declaration: “I identify myself with Louis Jordan more than any other artist.”

Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five launched 54 singles into the R&B charts in the Forties, including eighteen songs that went to #1. Their most popular numbers included “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie” (#1, 18 weeks), “Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens” (#1, 17 weeks), “Boogie Woogie Blue Plate” (#1, 14 weeks), “Saturday Night Fish Fry” (#1, 12 weeks), “Buzz Me” (#1, 9 weeks), “Caldonia” (#1, 7 weeks), “Jack, You’re Dead” (#1, 7 weeks), “Blue Light Boogie” (#1, 7 weeks) and “G.I. Jive” (#1, 6 weeks), From 1943 to 1950, Jordan occupied the top position for a total of 113 weeks - more than one-fourth of the time! For good reason he was dubbed “King of the Juke Boxes.” His peak year was 1946, when seventeen of his songs made the upper reaches of the R&B chart. His popularity led to starring roles in a series of musical film shorts from the late Forties, including Caledonia, Look Out Sister, and Reet, Petite and Gone.

Jordan’s last hit came in 1951, when “Weak Minded Blues” hit the Top Five. Thereafter, the rock and roll revolution for which he helped lay the groundwork essentially precipitated his decline as a popular artist. His tenure at Decca ended in 1954, after which point he recorded for various labels, including Aladdin and Mercury, without replicating his earlier success (although he still was able to find steady work as a performer). A session for Mercury Records, produced by Quincy Jones, yielded Jordan’s hottest album of the Fifties, Somebody Up There Digs Me! (1956), and he followed it a year later with a top-flight jazz recording, Man, We’re Wailin’!. He remained a revered figure in Europe, but for the most part, the times had passed him by. He would later profess some bitterness about the career setback that rock and roll had dealt him. Jordan recorded for the last time in 1972 and died in February 1975 of a heart attack.

A Louis Jordan revival occurred in 1992 when the musical Five Guys Named Moe, based on his life and music, became a Broadway smash.

TIMELINE

July 8, 1908: Louis Jordan is born in Brinkley, Arkansas.

June 14, 1929: A session with the Jungle Band yields a pair of sides that are believed to be future bandleader Louis Jordan’s first recordings.

1936: Louis Jordan joins Chick Webb’s jazz band on alto saxophone, following stints with various other bands in Arkansas and New York City.

1938: Louis Jordan signs to Decca Records, where he’ll enjoy a record-breaking string of hits that will earn him the title “King of the Juke Boxes.”

October 24, 1942: “I’m Gonna Leave You at the Outskirts of Town” marks Louis Jordan’s first entry into the R&B charts, where he would be a mainstay for ten years.

November 1942: “What’s the Use of Getting Sober,” by Louis Jordan, is released. It will become the first of eighteen chart-topping singles for Jordan and his Tympany Five.

April 29, 1944: Louis Jordan releases the double-sided smash “G.I. Blues” (#1, 6 weeks) b/w “Is You or Is You Ain’t (Ma’ Baby)” (#3).

January 12, 1946: Louis Jordan kicks off his most successful year with “Mop Mop,” his fourth Number One hit. Before the year is out, he will launch sixteen other hits, including the classic “Caldonia.”

August 17, 1946: Louis Jordan’s biggest hit, “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie,” enters Billboard‘s R&B chart, which it will top for an amazing eighteen weeks (over four months!).

January 1947: Louis Jordan opens the year with yet another single, “Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens,” atop the charts. It’s rocking, rolling B side, “Let the Good Times Roll,” would hit #2, and eight more Top Ten hits would follow before the year is out.

August 5, 1950: “Blue Light Boogie,” by Louis Jordan, enters the R&B chart, which it will top for seven weeks. It is the last of eighteen Number One hits for Jordan.

May 12, 1951: The last of Louis Jordan’s fifty-seven hit singles, “Weak Minded Blues,” enters Billboard‘s R&B chart.

January 1954: Louis Jordan leaves Decca Records, ending a wildly successful association that had lasted for one and a half decades.

October 1974: Louis Jordan suffers a heart attack while performing in Sparks, Nevada.

February 4, 1975: Louis Jordan dies while convalescing from a heart attack in Los Angeles.

March 1984: Jump ‘n’ Jive with Louis Jordan, a live album, is posthumously issued on the British JSP label.

July 1985: Joe Jackson releases Jumpin’ Jive, an album that pays tribute to the music of jazz-R&B pioneer Louis Jordan and his peers.

January 21, 1987: Louis Jordan is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the 2nd annual induction dinner. is his presenter.

April 8, 1992: The musical Five Guys Named Moe, based on the songs and persona of Louis Jordan, opens on Broadway.

Essential Songs

Caldonia
Choo Choo Ch’Boogie
Five Guys Named Moe
Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens
Is You Or Is You Ain’t (Ma’ Baby)
Saturday Night Fish Fry
What’s the Use of Getting Sober
Let the Good Times Roll
I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town
Stone Cold Dead in the Market (He Had It Comin’) (with Ella Fitzgerald)

Recommended Reading

Let the Good Times Roll: The Life and Music of Louis Jordan
John Chilton. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994.

Liner notes for Just Say Moe! Mo’ of the Best of Louis Jordan
Peter Grendysa. Rhino, 1992.

Liner notes for Let the Good Times Roll: The Complete Decca Recordings, 1938-1954
Peter Grendysa.  Bear Family, 1998.

The Louis Jordan Discography, 1929-1974
Jacques Lubin and Danny Garcon.