Customer Reviews

Louis Jordan & His Tympani Five

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I know what you're thinking: "A set of five discs of the best of Louis Jordan? 131 tracks of great jump blues and swing? For this price? There's got to be something wrong here."

Amazingly, there isn't. These five discs are superbly produced, placing Louis Jordan's career in chronological order from 1938 to 1950, and the sound quality is top-notch. Almost all his classics are here, "Caldonia," "Saturday Night Fish Fry," "Knock Me a Kiss," "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie," plus many surprises you might never have heard before. The only major songs missing are the good numbers he turned out after 1950, when his popularity faded, like "I Want You to Be My Baby." But otherwise: this is the whole deal and then some, for a pretty incredible price.

Louis Jordan is the link between big band swing of the thirties and the rock `n' roll of the fifties. Starting out as a saxophonist in Chick Webb's 1930s big band, Louis struck out on his own in 1938 with his small group The Tympany Five (not always five people, but the name stuck anyway). They played hard-driving blues swing numbers with creative, crazy lyrics, and scored hit after hit on both the R&B and pop charts for ten years. While jazz drifted toward be-bop, which wasn't danceable, Louis Jordan offered the dancing hepcats and new kind of music to sweat and swing to. His band was a swing dancer's dream, and still is. No musician had a bigger effect on the modern swing movement than Louis Jordan, and his numbers are endlessly covered by other bands. But there's nothing like the real deal: Jordan swung hard on sax, had a wicked sense of humor, was a born entertainer, and lead a band that seemed to be having more fun than anyone.

Each disc comes with its own liner notes booklet, with information on the history and development of the band (plus tidbits about Jordan's busy personal life). Here's what the discs cover:

Disc A: 1938-1940. The weakest disc, since the band is still figuring out their style, and the recording technology is poorer so the sound is muddier. Jordan hasn't yet discovered his signature songs, but there are some excellent pieces here, like "At the Swing Cat's Ball," "June Tenth Jamboree," the slow and sultry "Pompton Turnpike," and "Oh Boy, I'm in the Groove" (a title that fits Jordan perfectly).

Disc B: 1941-1944. After completely changing the original band, Jordan started to become a sensation and scored huge hit records. Boogie woogie takes over the sound, and the bands start swinging hard. The classics here are the sexy "Knock Me a Kiss," the fast and furiously funny "Five Guys Named Moe," and the wonderful slow dance "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby." With the advent of WWII, Jordan recorded timely and funny war tunes: "Ration Blues," "You Can't Get that No More," and "G.I. Jive." Of the lesser-known pieces, the best is the infectious swing-stomper, "Saxawoogie." It's a boogie, it's a woogie, it's a banger!

Disc C: 1944-46. "Reconversion Blues" bids goodbye to war, but Jordan keeps pulling out even bigger hits. "Caldonia Boogie" is one of his signature numbers, along with "Salt Pork West Virginia," "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" (probably his most loved song today), "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens," and my personal favorite, "Reet, Petite and Gone." Tunes you might not know, but which you'll love: "How Long Must I Wait for You?" (Train number one is gone...train number two is gone...) and "Jack You're Dead." Jordan also sings duets with Bing Crosby ("My Baby Said Yes," "Your Socks Don't Match") and Ella Fitzgerald ("Stone Cold Dead in the Market," a Latin piece, and "It's So Easy").

Disc D: 1947-1949. Actually, there's no music from 1948 because of a recording ban. Jordan's humor really blooms on this, the funniest of the CDs. The big hits here: "Barnyard Boogie," "Coleslaw," and "Beans and Cornbread." Most of the great numbers here are surprises, like "Chicky-Mo, Craney Crow," the teasing "Daddy-O," and the all-talk comedy piece "Friendship." Jordan also dips into West Indian music with "Early in the Morning" and "Run Joe."

Disc E: 1949-1950. The best disc; Jordan's last big hits before his popularity vanished were amongst his best and most creative (he uses the organ a lot on these numbers): the boppin' instrumental "Onion," the lengthy "Saturday Night Fish Fry," the slow-simmering "Blue Light Boogie," and the silly "Chartreuse." He sings with Ella again on the awesome "Baby It's Cold Outside" and "I'll Never Be Free." He teams up with the other Louis, Louis Armstrong, for "Life is So Peculiar" and "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You." These two jokers were made for each other.

Don't turn down this amazing deal. The amount of great music you get for the price here is astonishing. All swing, R&B, and early rock fans should grab this now.

I have both this set from JSP and the two disc MCA Best Of and in terms of sound quality there is no doubt that the JSP set is far better. Gone are most of the static from"Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" and many other songs that had fair sound on the MCA set. JSP does an incredible job at a discount price. Plus, this set offers an additional 90+ songs. Don't be fooled by the low price -- THIS IS A MUST BUY!

it's hard to express my feelings towards louis jordan's music. i could listen to it over and over, never tiring of it. i previously had the "best of" album and had worn out that cd. this set, considering the price for 5 discs, is surprisingly wonderful in both quality and track listings. it gives a great overview of his best years, as opposed to the 2-cd "anthology" recently released, with poor sound quality in my opinion. also, this has all the more popular tunes included on the easy to find 'best of" along with many more great songs. i could go on forever. buy this! for the price, what have you got to lose? nothin! the only thing that will happen is you might find yourself dancin around the room. just wait, you'll be movin in some way! aww-reet!

Louis Jordan takes you back to the time of zoot suits, racing forms, colorful characters, rationing and the war effort, and most of all, trains, trains, and more trains!! His music, language, and tempos are all infused with the rhythm of "the clicky-clack" and make this box set one of the drivingest, jivingest, greatest, and above all, MOST FUN sets of music you will ever listen to! Whether his songs are set in the coolest barnyard this side of Old MacDonald ("A Bird Ain't Nothin' But a Chicken,""Barnyard Boogie,""Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens")or on one of the many trains that criscrossed America throughout the 1940s ("Texas and Pacific," "Choo,Choo,Ch'Boogie," "Salt Pork, West Virginia"), Jordan's music is all about fun and is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Don't be intimidated by the size of this set; just one listen, and you'll be startled by how your attention is kept riveted to the speaker through five discs of sheer delights. Several guest greats assist, including Bing Crosby ("My Baby Said Yes"), Louis Armstrong ("Life is So Peculiar"), and, featured on a dozen or so tracks, the immortal Ella Fitzgerald ("Stone Cold Dead in the Market"). Quibblers may not like the fact that several really good songs from Let the Good Times Roll: The Anthology are not present ("Louisville Lodge Meeting," "Bone Dry," "Fat Sam From Birmingham"), but considering you get more than five hours of great music, this is a minor complaint. In any case, you must purchase this set today. Jordan's infectuous joy and pure sense of fun will have you humming and swinging for hours to come! Let The Good Times Roll!!!

I know what you're thinking: "A set of five discs of the best of Louis Jordan? 131 tracks of great jump blues and swing? For this price? There's got to be something wrong here."

Amazingly, there isn't. These five discs are superbly produced, placing Louis Jordan's career in chronological order from 1938 to 1950, and the sound quality is top-notch. Almost all his classics are here, "Caldonia," "Saturday Night Fish Fry," "Knock Me a Kiss," "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie," plus many surprises you might never have heard before. The only major songs missing are the good numbers he turned out after 1950, when his popularity faded, like "I Want You to Be My Baby." But otherwise: this is the whole deal and then some, for a pretty incredible price.

Louis Jordan is the link between big band swing of the thirties and the rock `n' roll of the fifties. Starting out as a saxophonist in Chick Webb's 1930s big band, Louis struck out on his own in 1938 with his small group The Tympany Five (not always five people, but the name stuck anyway). They played hard-driving blues swing numbers with creative, crazy lyrics, and scored hit after hit on both the R&B and pop charts for ten years. While jazz drifted toward be-bop, which wasn't danceable, Louis Jordan offered the dancing hepcats and new kind of music to sweat and swing to. His band was a swing dancer's dream, and still is. No musician had a bigger effect on the modern swing movement than Louis Jordan, and his numbers are endlessly covered by other bands. But there's nothing like the real deal: Jordan swung hard on sax, had a wicked sense of humor, was a born entertainer, and lead a band that seemed to be having more fun than anyone.

Each disc comes with its own liner notes booklet, with information on the history and development of the band (plus tidbits about Jordan's busy personal life). Here's what the discs cover:

Disc A: 1938-1940. The weakest disc, since the band is still figuring out their style, and the recording technology is poorer so the sound is muddier. Jordan hasn't yet discovered his signature songs, but there are some excellent pieces here, like "At the Swing Cat's Ball," "June Tenth Jamboree," the slow and sultry "Pompton Turnpike," and "Oh Boy, I'm in the Groove" (a title that fits Jordan perfectly).

Disc B: 1941-1944. After completely changing the original band, Jordan started to become a sensation and scored huge hit records. Boogie woogie takes over the sound, and the bands start swinging hard. The classics here are the sexy "Knock Me a Kiss," the fast and furiously funny "Five Guys Named Moe," and the wonderful slow dance "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby." With the advent of WWII, Jordan recorded timely and funny war tunes: "Ration Blues," "You Can't Get that No More," and "G.I. Jive." Of the lesser-known pieces, the best is the infectious swing-stomper, "Saxawoogie." It's a boogie, it's a woogie, it's a banger!

Disc C: 1944-46. "Reconversion Blues" bids goodbye to war, but Jordan keeps pulling out even bigger hits. "Caldonia Boogie" is one of his signature numbers, along with "Salt Pork West Virginia," "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" (probably his most loved song today), "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens," and my personal favorite, "Reet, Petite and Gone." Tunes you might not know, but which you'll love: "How Long Must I Wait for You?" (Train number one is gone...train number two is gone...) and "Jack You're Dead." Jordan also sings duets with Bing Crosby ("My Baby Said Yes," "Your Socks Don't Match") and Ella Fitzgerald ("Stone Cold Dead in the Market," a Latin piece, and "It's So Easy").

Disc D: 1947-1949. Actually, there's no music from 1948 because of a recording ban. Jordan's humor really blooms on this, the funniest of the CDs. The big hits here: "Barnyard Boogie," "Coleslaw," and "Beans and Cornbread." Most of the great numbers here are surprises, like "Chicky-Mo, Craney Crow," the teasing "Daddy-O," and the all-talk comedy piece "Friendship." Jordan also dips into West Indian music with "Early in the Morning" and "Run Joe."

Disc E: 1949-1950. The best disc; Jordan's last big hits before his popularity vanished were amongst his best and most creative (he uses the organ a lot on these numbers): the boppin' instrumental "Onion," the lengthy "Saturday Night Fish Fry," the slow-simmering "Blue Light Boogie," and the silly "Chartreuse." He sings with Ella again on the awesome "Baby It's Cold Outside" and "I'll Never Be Free." He teams up with the other Louis, Louis Armstrong, for "Life is So Peculiar" and "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You." These two jokers were made for each other.

Don't turn down this amazing deal. The amount of great music you get for the price here is astonishing. All swing, R&B, and early rock fans should grab this now.

Wolf Shadow, great review. Louis Jordan was my uncle and I have almost all of these great cuts on original 33 1/3s and even 45s and 78s. I will buy this CD to preserve my Louis collection which I hardly ever played in the past 40 years.

I give it four stars instead of five because his grearest blues hit "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" is not included in over 130 cuts.

There are others I would have liked to have seen included like 'School Days', which we loved as kids years ago. Plus more of his blues solos. Lots of people did not consider my uncle a "serious" musician, which he surely was.

All in all, a great box set well worth the price.

I'll be straight up about this - John Coltrane cited this group as one of his favourites and I bought it on that recommendation. The restoration is excellent by JSP; it's a bargain at the price; and the music is terrific for the car or walkman. Fun stuff.

The sound quality on this set is great with one exception: "Five Guys Named Moe" sounds horrible! It sounds like it was dubbed from an out-of-round record! What's most puzzling is that this is the only track that sounds bad, and that this was one of Louis Jordan's biggest hits, with many superior transfers available. JSP usually does a stellar job with sound - what happened here?! Luckily, I still have my LP version. Otherwise I'd give this set 5 stars.

Louis Jordan was one of the prime forces in directing us to the music we have today. Chuck Berry obviously copped licks from Carl Hogan, the guitar player for Louis in the mid 40's. Louis played Blues, boogie Woogie, Swing, Jazz and pop tunes with a drive and energy all his own. Recently heard a conversation between a couple of coworkers where they were arguing who had done the first rap record. Needless to say their jaws dropped when I said they were not even close because Louis Jordan had that style and rythmn down in 1949! Check out "Saturday Night Fish Fry" and see if you don't agree. The rythmn, the drive, rappin' a story, are all there. Just one of the many nuggets to be mined in this collection. These are the roots of popular music. Real musicians who did it not just for the money, but for the love and the creativity of it.

Don't think twice-- buy it! Great collection goes on and on, and never runs out of steam. Louis Jordan was at his peak when these were recorded. I repeat: buy!