Updated 04-May-2020.
Mondo shtuff from around the internet, all about LOUIS JORDAN!
My botty best at summarizing from Wikipedia: Louis Thomas Jordan was an american musician, songwriter and bandleader . his highest profile came towards the end of the swing era . he fronted his own band for more than twenty years . Jordan was an instrumentalist who played all forms of the saxophone but specialized in the alto . he also played the piano and clarinet . Jordan became known as one of the leading practitioners of jump Jordan’s band pioneered the use of the electronic organ . he mapped out the main parameters of classic genres with his Tympany Five bands . many of his records were produced by Milt Gabler . Jordan ranks fifth in the list of the most successful African-American recording artists . he had at least four million-selling hits during his career . his father, James Aaron Jordan, was a music teacher . at an early age he studied clarinet and saxophone with his father . in his teens he was a member of the Rabbit Foot Minstrels and was playing professionally in the late 1920 in 1938 he started a band that recorded a year later as the Tympany Five . he recorded with Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, and Louis Armstrong . in the 1940s he and the in 1942, Jordan and his band moved to los angeles, where he began making soundies . his career was uninterrupted by the draft except for a four-week Army camp tour . the breadth of Jordan’s gatesmouth Moore: “he could play just as good and just as loud with five as 17 as it was cheaper” Jordan’s raucous recordings were notable for the use of fantastical narrative . “Saturday Night Fish Fry”, a two-part 1950 hit, was split across both sides of a 78-rpm record . it was one of the first popular songs to use the word “rocking” Jordan had five consecutive number one songs, holding the top slot for 44 consecutive weeks . he starred in short musical films and made “soundies” for his hit songs . Jordan started a big band in the early 1950s in 1956, Mercury signed Jordan and released two albums and a handful of singles . Mercury intended this to be a comeback for Jordan, but it was not commercially successful . in the early 1960s he toured barber recalled seeing Jordan at the Apollo Theater in new york in 2012 . he says he was just so perfect in what he did . barber: “he didn’t make you feel small, but he the breath hadn’t gone from his last word before he was playing his alto and it seemed to be simultaneous . in the chick Webb band there were two regular singers – Ella and Louis Jordan . history has consigned him to just being a comedy vocal thing with a bit of rock and roll . but he was such a consummately good singer that it’s sad he wasn’t known more for it in 1932, Jordan met Ida Fields, a Texas-born singer and dancer, in Hot Springs . they married that year . in 1943, she sued Jordan for bigamy . Ida was awarded a $70,000 judgement, later reduced to $30,000 . she began billing herself as “Mrs. Louis Jordan, Queen of the Blues, and her Orchestra” in 1942, Jordan married his childhood sweet Jordan married Vicky on November 14, 1951 in Providence, Rhode Island; they separated in 1960 . he married Martha weaver, a singer and dancer from St. Louis, in 1966 . Ike Turner convinced the president of the company to send Jordan a check for $20,000 . many of the hit songs he wrote were credited to his wife Fleecie Moore . their marriage was acrimonious Moore stabbed Jordan twice after domestic disputes, almost killing him the second time . after their divorce she retained ownership of the songs . but he may have taken credit for some songs written by others . the stamp pane was designed by Carl Herrman of Carlsbad, California . “they are invaluable pieces of history, preserving memories of cultural phenomena that otherwise might have been forgotten” “Johnny B. Goode” opening riff bears a striking similarity to the intro played by Carl Hogan . “johnny b. goode” is reminiscent of “ain’t that