Louis Jordan

musicology #0651- Let the Good Times ROLL

Tribute to DON Pedro #1

Louis Jordan – Let The Good Times Roll

cracking on with a new selection in tribute to a genuine living legend who i call Don Pedro, a KING amongst pawns who is an inspiration. Before i kick off though allow me to talk a while.

Hopefully everyone knows a ‘Don Pedro’ one of them Cats whose actions speak MUCH louder than their words. Trailblazers who lead, Shepherds not sheep who ‘Walk the Walk’ rather than ‘Talk the Talk’. I first met Don Pedro in my late teens, the man was sharp like PAPER. Never settling for anything less than the best that life was offering. International traveller with a taste for the fine things. Don Pedro hustled with the best and could sell snow to eskimos. The best hustlers are the ones that present opportunities rather than try to take you for what you’ve got and Don Pedro was right up there with the champions. Life was/is NEVER dull when you are rolling with the Don. Memories are made of these connections and relationships like these are rare and full of life. Pedro lives life to the FULL and this selection is in his honour. Enough with the words and on with the music. STRICTLY boss tunes for the Don from across the musical spectrum

Roll on DON Pedro you touch and continue to inspire everyone who has the fortune to call you friend…

First up is a slice from one of the Rhythm and Blues pioneers whose Tympany 5 was instrumental in changing the direction of urbanmusicology from Big Band Swing to Small Band Rhythm & Blues and in the process inspired a new genre. a GENUINE legend Louis Jordan and Don Pedro speak the same language, sing from the same hymn sheet, blow the same horn and would have rolled together in the 1940’s. NO doubt.

Fitting start to the selection as Don Pedro ALWAYS made sure to ‘Let The Good Times Roll’

musicology #0607

Blues’N’Rhythm #2

Joe Turner & Pete Johnson – Roll ‘Em Pete

As important as Sam Cooke was to Soul, Big Joe took Jump, Boogie Woogie, Blues and Rhythm rolled them all up into a package and fathered Rock & Roll. Of course there were others who contributed, (Louis Jordan, Count Basie, Amos Milburn, Wynonnie Harris to name but 4), and as with all ‘Popular’ music no one person was responsible but as Doc Pomus is quoted to have said “Rock & Roll would never have happened without him…and as previously mentioned on themusicologist the dynamic duo’s late 40’s cut ‘Rocket 88 Boogie’ was the ‘inspiration’ behind Ike Turner’s seminal ‘Rocket 88’, a tune that has long been canonised into Rock and Roll history..

Today’s cut was recorded in the Big Apple on December 30th 1938…I’ll repeat that 1938 and released on a Columbia 78, which I was planning on laying down here but in truth it’s a piece scratchy !! so instead it’s the (top quality 24 bit), remastered version that certainly does the original justice….I can only imagine what it would have been like to witness these two in action back in Kansas City in the 1930’s a musical hotbed that kicked every bit as hard as Chicago, New Orleans and New York…Roll ‘Em Pete….

musicology #459

TheManWithTheBag #9

(Amos Milburn – Let’s Make Christmas Merry Baby)

Intended on breaking the mould today and throwing the cut early?, (unless of course you’re in NYC, LA, ‘Chi’ or pretty much any State in America), but as Robert Burns wrote:

“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!”

So stick that in yer pipes and smoke it !! while we slide into this cut from one of the great Rhythm & Blues pioneers Amos Milburn who, (along with Louis Jordan), had a major impact on the transition from swing to Rhythm & Blues in the mid 1940’s. recorded in 1949 for Eddie & Leo Mesner’s powerhouse Aladdin label, (the home of West Coast Rhythm & Blues).

musicology #288

twolegendsclash #11

(Sidney Bechet & His New Orleans Feetwarmers – Preachin’ Blues)

“What  a weeping and a waling, when the two legends clash….”

Final cut from Sidney Bechet and what a treat…Recorded in New York during January or Febuary 1940. A precursor to the Rhythm & Blues that was to follow and in turn be reclassified as Rock & Roll. All the hallmarks are there, small line-up, Electric Guitar, Boogie Woogie Piano, honking Sax…

Before signing Bechet off, according to a piece of information on Wikipedia;

“In the 1940s, (Louis), Jordan released dozens of hit songs, including the swinging ‘Saturday Night Fish Fry’ (one of the earliest and most powerful contenders for the title of First rock and roll record),”

I’m a BIG fan of Louis Jordan and his music certainly deserves all the accolades and he was certainly at the forefront in the development of Rhythm & Blues but  the above mentioned cut was released in 1949. Whereas this one from Bechet is almost a decade earlier !!…which, as far as I can hear is as close to ‘Rock & Roll’ as it gets, Especially Brother Bechet’s playing.

As it’s the end of the Bechet road it just leaves me to thank the inspirational Cat for leaving us a recorded legacy of the HIGHEST quality…I’m sure he’s up there standing at the gate cutting the angel Gabriel to ribbons.

Blow Bechet…Blow.

musicology #276

newyearboogie #4

(Roy Milton’s Solid Senders – New Years Resolution Blues)

Today’s cut is courtesy of pioneering combo The Solid Senders, led by singer, drummer and band leader Roy Milton who together with Joe Liggins and Johnny Otis helped shape, (in the late 40’s), the emerging sound that became known as Rhythm & Blues. A much smaller sound than the precceding style made popular by the likes of Count Basie, Louis Jordan and Joe Turner. The contribution of female pianist Camille Howard is worthy of special mention as it was, (along with Milton’s drums), the driving force behind Milton’s hits. For themusicologist Roy Milton’s vocals and the Solid Senders music always hit ‘the spot’.

p.s the sentiment in the cut does not reflect, (as is often the case), my own feelings on the subject.