The Rock N Roll Years 1955-58 ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED SET

Louis Jordan, who is now getting the praise as a rock and roll/R & B pioneer he should have gotten decades ago, was one of the most dynamic and brilliant groups of the 1940's, with a slew of number one hits, movies and a huge biracial following that adored his live performances with his group the Tympani 5, although tympani drums were abandoned after the first year or two, and the group usually numbered seven. Who knows - he may have been into numerology, which I doubt because he was a Baptist, or just plain liked the name. As the fifties came in, Jordan found himself struggling to retain his signature sound but tried to update it to hopefully appeal to the rock and roll craze, which wasn't that big of a step considering his emphasis on the beat and songwriting ability, not to mention a great ear for outside writer's tunes. Unfortunately for him, the public just never bought into his rock and roll sound. Possibly teenagers of the day may have considered him the music of their parents, and thus out of it, ignorant of how important a role he played, deeply influencing Bill Haley, Chuck Berry and Ray Charles. Whatever the cause, it was a sad thing to see his music go nowhere, and that is a loss because it sure wasn't because he didn't have the right stuff. The first disc is a collection of singles from the mid-50's. Jordan still has his trademark sense of humor, and tries mightily to show the world he can rock. "Rock Doc" is his affirmation of rock and roll with a spine curdling "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT" showing off his humor. "Fire" is just that - a furious rocker at an equally furious pace. Maybe the best track though is a straight ballad that shows Jordan had a beautiful crooning voice is "A Day Away From You", an absolutely gorgeous song with a beautiful understated sax solo. Why this wasn't as huge as "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" or other popular ballad of the day is a mystery. The second CD is two albums, "Somebody Up There Likes Me" and "Man We're Wailin'". Here we get remakes of Jordan classics and several other unreleased tracks. Here is the possible rough spot. "Caldonia", the speedy remake of "Caldonia Boogie", doesn't have his classic yelp on the word "Caldonia", and the horns aren't as sharp, but guitar legend Mickey Baker offers some blistering guitar to make up for it. If one song doesn't cut it for me, it would have to be the remake of "Beware Brother Beware", taken at far too fast a tempo making the lyrical interplay almost moot. Plus, the overall production quality isn't as good as it could be, hence the one star deduction. Otherwise, it's still great Louis Jordan whether folks at the time dug it or not. Thankfully, his music is being rediscovered, thanks to a fine biography by Stephen Koch, which I recommend, and a London revue "Five Guys Named Moe" that helped rekindle interest in one of America's best ever.

I like Louis Jordan's Music a lot, and this CD set contains some Music that I didn't hear before. So many Musicians that I like were influenced by Louis Jordan, BB King, Freddie King, and Chuck Berry to name a few. Whether this is Rock and Roll, and not Rhythm, and Blues could be debatable, but this is an overall great collection of Songs.

If you like 1950s rock and roll this is as good as it gets. Take it from a musician who plays swing blues and swing jazz this is great stuff to listen to.

love it

Louis Jordan was one of the most influential artists of the 1940s. His influence on the early rockers like Bill Haley and on many of today's blues artists cannot be overstated.This collection of Louis Jordan material was recorded between 1955 and 1958 on the RCA and Mercury labels. The best known of these recordings are the Mercury sessions recorded in separate dates in October 1956 and August 1957. Material from these sessions has been previously released on CD under various titles, including "Roc Doc" and "Louis Jordan: The Mercury Recordings."With the release of this 2 CD collection, buy this one instead of the earlier single CD releases of Louis Jordan's Mercury recordings.Here's what's on this one:CD #1 - Tracks 1-4, recorded for RCA in New York City in March, 1955; tracks 5-9 recorded for RCA in Los Angeles in October 1956; tracks 10-12 recorded for RCA in New York City in April 1956. Tracks 13-28 recorded for Mercury Records in 1956-57.CD #2 - Tracks 1-12 recorded for Mercury Records in October 1956 (these sessions were previously released on an album called Roc Doc) Tracks 13-24 recorded for Mercury Records in August 1957This collection of Louis Jordan standards on CD #2 of this compilation was recorded in 1956-1957 and released in 1957 to capitalize on the popularity of the then new rock n' roll sound. Jordan had been playing this material for decades prior to the release of this album and his sound easily translated into rock and blues; that's not surprising since many of the early rockers had clearly been influenced by Louis Jordan records. (As one example, listen to Jordan's recording of "Rock Doc" from this album and then listen to some Bill Haley and the Comets tracks from 1955-57; Bill Haley had obviously spent some time listening to Louis Jordan albums). These tracks were apparently recorded specifically to tap into the rapidly expanding demand for the R&B and rock n' roll sound that was then in its infancy.These Jordan tracks were arranged and produced for this album by a then very young Quincy Jones, who was obviously trying to make Louis Jordan's music appeal to a younger audience which was listening to artists like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley and Gene Vincent. He succeeded; this album sounds like an R&B and/or a rock n' roll album. Jordan's earlier recordings have a 1940s swing jazz sound to them.Some of the tracks here have become standards. You've undoubtedly heard tracks like "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens", "Caldonia", "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" and "Let The Good Times Roll" covered by other artists, but here are original Louis Jordan performances on an album produced and arranged by Quincy Jones and featuring some first rate jazz session players.Great material throughout. Listen to this album and you'll understand how influential a jazzman like Louis Jordan was in the development of R&B, rock and modern blues. It's no accident that B.B. King recently recorded a tribute album of Louis Jordan compositions; Jordon really was that good.Another advantage of this album is that the sound quality is better than many of Jordan's earlier recordings of this material. By 1956-57, when this album was produced, recording technology had undergone some major improvements since the 1930s and 1940s, when Louis Jordan had first recorded this material.If you're not familiar with Louis Jordan's music, start with this album. It sounds better and more modern than Jordan's earlier recordings. That's not to say Jordan's earlier recordings are inferior quality; they're not. It's just that Quincy Jones made this album sound more like an R&B or rock n' roll album than Jordan's earlier recordings, most of which have a definate 1940s swing sound to them. As a result, this album will likely sound better to modern listeners than Jordan's earlier recordings.A few other recordings from this album are less well known but have been covered recently by John Mayall and Johnny Winter. "Early In The Morning" was covered by John Mayall on his John Mayall & Friends CD, which was released about 6 years ago. Johnny Winter covered "Got My Mojo Working" on his Live In NYC'97 CD.Johnny Winter's Live In NYC'97 album also includes a track called "She Likes To Boogie Real Low" which sounds like it was taken from another Louis Jordan recording called "Blue Light Boogie", which is not on this Jordan CD but which you'll find on many of Jordan's earlier collections. The Johnny Winter version of this track is played at a faster tempo than the Jordan original and has some different lyrics, but listen to the two tracks and the similarities are obvious.

Louis Jordan was one of the most influential artists of the 1940s. His influence on the early rockers like Bill Haley and on many of today's blues artists cannot be overstated.This collection of Louis Jordan material was recorded between 1955 and 1958 on the RCA and Mercury labels. The best known of these recordings are the Mercury sessions recorded in separate sessions in October 1956 and August 1957 and produced by Quincy Jones. These sessions have been previously released on CD under various titles, including "Roc Doc" and Louis Jordan: The Mercury Recordings."With the release of this collection, buy this one instead of the earlier single CD releases of Louis Jordan's Mercury recordings.Here's what's on this one:CD #1 - Tracks 1-4, recorded for RCA in New York City in March, 1955; tracks 5-9 recorded for RCA in Los Angeles in October 1956; tracks 10-12 recorded for RCA in New York City in April 1956. Tracks 13-28 recorded for Mercury Records in 1956-57.CD #2 - Tracks 1-12 recorded for Mercury Records in October 1956 (these sessions were previously released on an album called Roc Doc) Tracks 13-24 recorded for Mercury Records in August 1957This collection of Louis Jordan standards on CD #2 of this compilation was recorded in 1956-1957 and released in 1957 to capitalize on the popularity of the then new rock n' roll sound. Jordan had been playing this material for decades prior to the release of this album and his sound easily translated into rock and blues; that's not surprising since many of the early rockers had clearly been influenced by Louis Jordan records. (As one example, listen to Jordan's recording of "Rock Doc" from this album and then listen to some Bill Haley and the Comets tracks from 1955-57; Bill Haley had obviously spent some time listening to Louis Jordan albums). These tracks were apparently recorded specifically to tap into the rapidly expanding demand for the R&B and rock n' roll sound that was then in its infancy.These Jordan tracks were arranged and produced for this album by a then very young Quincy Jones, who was obviously trying to make Louis Jordan's music appeal to a younger audience which was listening to artists like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley and Gene Vincent. He succeeded; this album sounds like an R&B and/or a rock n' roll album. Jordan's earlier recordings have a 1940s swing jazz sound to them.Some of the tracks here have become standards. You've undoubtedly heard tracks like "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens", "Caldonia" (covered by Downchild Blues Band, among others), "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" and "Let The Good Times Roll" covered by other artists, but here are original Louis Jordan performances on an album produced and arranged by Quincy Jones and featuring some first rate jazz session players.Great material throughout. Listen to this album and you'll understand how influential a jazzman like Louis Jordan was in the development of R&B, rock and modern blues. It's no accident that B.B. King recently recorded a tribute album of Louis Jordan compositions; Jordon really was that good.Another advantage of this album is that the sound quality is better than many of Jordan's earlier recordings of this material. By 1956-57, when this album was produced, recording technology had undergone some major improvements since the 1930s and 1940s, when Louis Jordan had first recorded this material.If you're not familiar with Louis Jordan's music, start with this album. It sounds better and more modern than Jordan's earlier recordings. That's not to say Jordan's earlier recordings are inferior quality; they're not. It's just that Quincy Jones made this album sound more like an R&B or rock n' roll album than Jordan's earlier recordings, most of which have a definate 1940s swing sound to them. As a result, this album will likely sound better to modern listeners than Jordan's earlier recordings.A few other recordings from this album are less well known but have been covered recently by John Mayall and Johnny Winter. "Early In The Morning" was covered by John Mayall on his John Mayall & Friends CD, which was released about 6 years ago. Johnny Winter covered "Got My Mojo Working" on his Live In NYC'97 CD.Johnny Winter's Live In NYC'97 album also includes a track called "She Likes To Boogie Real Low" which sounds like it was taken from another Louis Jordan recording called "Blue Light Boogie", which is not on this Jordan CD but which you'll find on many of Jordan's earlier collections. The Johnny Winter version of this track is played at a faster tempo than the Jordan original and has some different lyrics, but listen to the two tracks and the similarities are obvious.

Immer ein Genuss beim Wiederhören

Bonjour , le colis est bien arrivé , CD bien protégé. Tout est OK. Merci. Bien Cordialement. J.Patonnier

trés belle compilation que cet album de louis jordan.Orchestrations fabuleuses & ce sontles prémices du rock'n'roll,essentiel pour les amateurs; Louis Jordan fait parti intégrante de l'histoire de la musique américaine

取り敢えず今聴くことのできるルイ・ジョーダンのVik録音とMercury録音が全て収録された2枚組。90年代の始めぐらいまで、「ルイ・ジョーダンのMercury時代はDECCA録音の二番煎じでテンションも低くつまらない物。聞く価値はないのでDECCA録音を聞けば良い。」とういう評価が日本の音楽評論家の間では多く、ルイのMercury時代は軽んじられていました。ところがブライアン・セッツァーがこのMercury録音のルイ・ジョーダンのスピード感やミッキー・ベイカーのギターの魅力についてインタビューで度々触れるようになると、漸く評価が上がってきた気がします。確かにMercury録音はDECCA時代の名曲の焼き直しが中心なのですが、決してテンションの低いものではありません。80年代、私はMercury録音を先に耳にしましたが、その後聞いたDECCA録音に比べ寧ろロックを意識したスピード感に心が弾みます。ひょっとするとMercury時代の方が入門者には受け入れられやすいのではないでしょうか。サードパーティ・レーベルによるリリースですが、この2枚組はMercury録音の決定盤である事には変わりありません。ルイの歌声は勿論のこと、若きクインシー・ジョーンズのアレンジ、サム・テイラーのテナー・サックス、そして炸裂するミッキー・ベイカーの剃刀ギターが楽しめる事間違いなしです。