The One That Got Away: Louis Jordan vs. the White Devils
(9 downloads)Friday, Dec 14, 2007
Father of R&B and all around nutcase Louis Jordan, believe it or not, was one of the most successful black recording artists of the 20th century. Perhaps no longer a household name, he and his Tympani Five rivaled Basie and Ellington in popularity on the band circuit and they sold Brazilians, perhaps Godzillians, of records. Records like this one, “What’s the Use of Getting Sober”, re-popularized by Joe Jackson, which are artifacts from his reign as Prince of the cross-over market; infiltrating the living rooms and dance halls of otherwise respectable folks across the nation.‘King of the Jukebox’ was another of the many epithets dubbed on Jordan over his career. And he was a major influence on the Bill Haley and the Comets act who, to a degree, were putting white faces on a style of music and showmanship that was largely developed by Jordan in the 30's and 40's. Matter of fact, he worked with Bill Haley on the production of “Rock Around the Clock” so it might be said that he was complicit in his own counterfeit (Haley openly admitted his debt to Jordan). Anyway, this is one of the reasons those who remember who he was, largely acknowledge Jordan as not just the Father of R&B but also of Rock n’ Roll. Of course it’s far more complicated than that but at the end of the day he was really important, and he was also really famous and got plenty of recognition for his efforts, and if he was getting ripped off by the white owned record companies, he still had cash to spare and some modicum of control over his destiny. So, fortunately, at least this isn’t one of those pitiful stories of a talented black artist being manipulated and then discarded, penniless, by the white power structure and the institutionalized racism that serves as its foundation.
If you’re white and reading this, you should be ashamed of yourself!
Decca 8645, 1942