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Featured Artist |
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Louis Jordan |
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If you go to a Swing Dance and
don’t hear at least one song by
Louis Jordan & His
Tympany Five,
you should ask for your money back! Louis Jordan has been
rightly called the father of Rhythm & Blues and he profoundly influenced
it's development and the subsequent development of rock & roll. |
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Jordan was a prolific songwriter
and artist, and a masterful and unrivaled entertainer and musician.
During the most successful 8 year run of his career from 1942-1950, he had
an amazing 57 R&B chart hits, 18 of which hit #1, totaling 113 weeks in the
#1 slot.
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Originally from Brinkley,
Arkansas, Jordan played in Chick Webb's band at the Savoy Ballroom in New
York City in the 1930s, then formed his own outfit, the Tympani Five.
Jordan paid his band members very well, but was a perfectionist and one of
the strictest leaders in the business, demanding punctuality and long
rehearsals. Especially popular during WW II, Jordan recorded numerous
songs
for the Armed Forces Radio Service and the V-Disc program.
His style of music featured swinging, danceable rhythms and clever lyrics
that were popular not only with the Rhythm & Blues market but also with the
emerging pop music audience, traits that did not pass unnoticed by a young
artist in St. Louis, MO named Chuck Berry. In fact, artists such as
Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, B.B. King and Bill Haley have noted the great
influence Louis Jordan had on their music. Berry was quoted as saying
"I identify myself with Louis Jordan more than any other artist."
Bands continue to cover Jordan's songs to this day. |
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To summarize,
Jordan's music and lyrics are just plain awesome! |
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Some of
Jordan's classic songs include:
o Choo Choo Ch' Boogie ("You
reach your destination but alas and alac, you need some compensation
to get back in the black" .....);
o Hungry Man (…"I
often fly, up to the Maine coast, to get broiled lobster, with some plain
toast"…);
o Knock Me A Kiss (..."I'll
cut out cake just for your sake, Baby, C'mon, and Knock Me A Kiss"... );
o Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens
("We got worms to dig and ground to scratch, It takes a lot of work
a gettin' chicks to hatch"...);
o After School Swing Session
("That’s the start of, the after school swing session, the jump jump jumpin’
session, I’m a lucky kid, do your symphony Sid, talkin’ ‘bout the kids
‘round the town"…)
o A Chicken Ain’t Nothin’ But a Bird ("It was a dish for old Caesar,
and King Henry the Third,
but Columbus was hip, he said you can’t fool me, a chicken ain’t nothin’ but
a bird"…) |
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For more information about music from the swing era,
click here. |
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For questions or information about Hepcats activities,
contact Mike Richardson,
info@Luv2SwingDance.com; or 859-420-2426. |
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