Black Music has shaped music as we know it today, mostly good, some bad. Mostly rap had to do with that, but in the early years they called it jive. Cab Calloway might be the first true rapper. But for myself Louis Jordan might have a hand in rap in the beginning. He was funny and he was sharp. And his rhythm and blues are the seeds that would become rock and roll.
Louis Jordan has been well preserved on CD. My first introduction to him was Joe Jackson's 1981 Jumpin Jive which he pays tribute to Jordan and Calloway on the title track. Jordan glory years was on Decca and MCA/Universal has kept his Best Of Louis Jordan in print which has the wonderful Choo Choo Cha Boogie, Run Joe, Early In The Morning and Beware Brother Beware. Rhino tries to do a good job with an overview Just Say Moe which cherry picks the Decca/Aladdin/X/Mercury years. One Guy Named Louis (Capitol Jazz) has the complete Aladdin singles and shows Jordan falling out of place with the music that made him famous, Rock And Roll Call (Bluebird/RCA) has him mismashed with the pop sound that RCA saddled him with and might be the least of his music, which isn't bad. Rock N Roll (retitled No Moe)(Verve/Mercury) has Mickey Baker playing wild guitar as Jordan revisits his past hits and makes them rock out with Quincy Jones producing. Underrated but later years showed Jordan on Ray Charles Tangerine Label and 1973 his last minor hit with I Believe In Music.
Bear Family has the complete Decca recordings and it's very very pricey and may be too much for the casual fan to get into (it's a 9 Cd Set). JSP and Proper have much cheaper box sets out there, the JSP is a 5 CD set but the Proper 4 CD Jivin With Jordan is the better buy, with much more emphasis on his Decca hits rather then big band early years of the JSP Louis Jordan & His Tympani Five Box. The Proper Set sells at around 21 dollars but I got mine for 7 dollars at Half Priced Books a few years ago. And the sound quality despite the cheap price is pretty good. Proper does a good job in quality remastering, just like JSP does.
Jasmine Records, another import label takes a look at the Rock And Roll Years, which deals with Jordan's time at RCA and Mercury. Disc 1 is the RCA/X years and towards the end it's more pop standards than rock, but the disc 2 Mercury years is more spirited and more fun. Quincy Jones seemed to have more of a knack to understand and respect Jordan and Mickey Baker is the unsung hero of these sessions. My favorite remains not the rock versions of Choo Choo Ca Boogie or Beware but rather the mambo influenced Morning Light or the bluesy A Man Ain't A Man which was done more jazzier with Chris Barber on the Rhino best of. But it all goes to show that import labels such as Jasmine or Proper are more into the music than Universal is, which owns the Decca and Mercury masters of Jordan.
As it been stated, everybody should own a Louis Jordan album. The man has done more to shape rock and roll rhythm and blues and even rap. He even was instrumental in making music videos too. Just Say Moe! The Rhino Anthology tries its best to even his music output from Five Guys Named Moe to I Believe In Music and includes Ain't That Just Like A Woman, to which Universal didn't include on the two best of Louis Jordan albums but did on Number 1's. And it has less tracks than the 20 Best Of Louis Jordan. So in the end, I'd go with the Best rather than Number 1's. and Amazon has that and the Best Of Volume 2 aka Five Guys Named Moe for a price of a 45. Likewise the bare bones 20th Century Masters that's out of print but it is a cheap way to acquire some of Louis' hits without overdoing it.
The only Jordan sides that haven't been available to the public are the Ray Charles Tangerine Recordings and if and when Joe Adams, the guy behind those records decides to release them we probably be all dead. Most of his later day stuff is import only, the Chris Barber sessions more jazz than jump blues and I Believe In Music is a farewell ending, haven't heard anything other than the title track. Whatever the case may be, there's lots of Louis out there to be discovered. He may not agree with the rappers of today nor the screaming sirens of R n B but whatever you hear nowadays, chances are Louis Jordan was behind it. Just ask Chuck Berry.
One Day Records has joined in the Louis Jordan reissue wagon by putting together a 50 song called Louis Jordan-The Anthology and while it's okay, it still leaves off key tracks. In the long run, The Proper 4 CD Jivin With Jordan remains the best overview for those on a budget if you want more than just the MCA/Geffen stuff out there. The majority of songs that Joe Jackson did for his Jordan tribute Jumpin Jive, a lot of them can be found on the Proper box.
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