Customer Reviews

Louis Jordan & The Tympany Five

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

 

 

A lot of people have no idea who Louis Jordan is nowadays, even though they've surely heard his music before. He's played in movies, clubs, commercials, those late-night infomercials for compilations of songs that you just have to order off of QVC.

I'm a huge fan of Louis Jordan, and finding footage of him is extremely rare. I was always trying to find a blank tape in time whenever AMC would show a "soundie" of him in between films, but I could never find one fast enough. Thank goodness for Amazon.com!

This DVD has some very rare footage of Louis Jordan, as well as some Cab Calloway and Nat King Cole. There are excerpts of a film with Jordan and a lot of dancing girls with some really terrible acting, at the same time, completely charming and fun to watch. Louis Jordan was the king of "hoochie-mamma" videos before anyone even heard of television, let-alone MTV, or Sisqo. Jordan was also the father of rap, well, pretty darn close to it, listen to "Brother B'ware" (a cute little ditty warning young men of the signs that they've been caught by a lady).

The menu on the DVD is pretty bad as well as the completely cheesy narrator. But otherwise, this DVD has it all, great music, terrible acting (but in a good way), and girlies galore! What more could you want?

A nice collection of film and short clips showcasing the life of the Godfather of R&B and king of swingin' Jump Blues Louis Jordan. It is by no means a comprehensive documentary or biography (for that go out and get Chilton's book "Let the Good Times Roll: The Story of Louis Jordan and His Music") - - Despite the fact that there aren't any interviews with surviving members of his band, next of kins or Louis Jordan followers and authorities (I personally can name atleast two bandmemebers who are still alive and lucid and a third who was when it was in production) or behind the scenes type stuff... it is nice to have 40 minutes of Louis Jordan "soundy" clips on DVD and fun to watch... so let's thank the producers, but I hope one day something a bit more comprehensive comes along.

Excellent Story and just love Louis way of Clean Rap. Should be called the "Father of Clean Rap"