Louis Jordan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Background information
Also known as "The King of the Jukebox"
Born July 8, 1908
Brinkley, Arkansas, United States
Died February 4, 1975 (aged 66)
Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres Swing
jump blues
jazz
blues
R&B
big band
comedy music
Occupations Bandleader, songwriter, singer, saxophonist, actor
Instruments Alto saxophone, saxophone, piano, clarinet
Years active 1932–1975
Labels Decca, Mercury
Associated acts Tympany Five
Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was a pioneering American musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", he was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the later years of the swing era. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him no. 59 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Jordan was one of the most successful African-American musicians of the 20th century, ranking fifth in the list of the all-time most successful black recording artists according to Billboard magazine's chart methodology. Though comprehensive sales figures are not available, he scored at least four million-selling hits during his career. Jordan regularly topped the R&B "race" charts, and was one of the first black recording artists to achieve a significant "crossover" in popularity into the mainstream (predominantly white) American audience, scoring simultaneous Top Ten hits on the white pop charts on several occasions. After Duke Ellington and Count Basie, Louis Jordan was probably the most popular and successful African-American bandleader of his day.
Jordan was a talented singer with great comedic flair, and he fronted his own band for more than twenty years. He duetted with some of the biggest solo singing stars of his day, including Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Jordan was also an actor and a major black film personality—he appeared in dozens of "soundies" (promotional film clips), made numerous cameos in mainstream features and short films, and starred in two musical feature films made especially for him. He was an instrumentalist who played all forms of the saxophone, but specialized in the alto, in addition to playing piano and clarinet. A productive songwriter, he wrote or co-wrote many songs that became influential classics of 20th-century popular music.
Although Jordan began his career in big-band swing jazz in the 1930s, he became famous as one of the leading practitioners, innovators and popularizers of "jump blues", a swinging, up-tempo, dance-oriented hybrid of jazz, blues and boogie-woogie. Typically performed by smaller bands consisting of five or six players, jump music featured shouted, highly syncopated vocals and earthy, comedic lyrics on contemporary urban themes. It strongly emphasized the rhythm section of piano, bass and drums; after the mid-1940s, this mix was often augmented by electric guitar. Jordan's band also pioneered the use of electric organ.
With his dynamic Tympany Five bands, Jordan mapped out the main parameters of the classic R&B, urban blues and early rock'n'roll genres with a series of hugely influential 78 rpm discs for the Decca label. These recordings presaged many of the styles of black popular music in the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and exerted a huge influence on many leading performers in these genres. Many of his records were produced by Milt Gabler, who went on to refine and develop the qualities of Jordan's recordings in his later production work with Bill Haley, including "Rock Around The Clock".
Early life and musical career
Jordan was born on July 8, 1908 in Brinkley, Arkansas, where his father, James Aaron Jordan, was a local music teacher and bandleader for the Brinkley Brass Band and for the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. His mother, Adell, died when Louis was young.
Jordan studied music under his father, and started out on clarinet. In his youth he played in his father’s bands instead of doing farm work when school closed. He also played piano professionally early in his career, but alto saxophone became his main instrument. However, he became even better known as a songwriter, entertainer and vocalist.
Jordan briefly attended Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock, Arkansas, and majored in music. After a period with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, with one of his band colleagues having been Leon "Pee Wee" Whittaker, and with local bands including Bob Alexander’s Harmony Kings, he went north to Philadelphia and then New York. In 1932, Jordan began performing with the band of Clarence Williams, and when in Philadelphia played clarinet in the Charlie Gaines band.
In late 1936 he was invited to join the influential Savoy Ballroom orchestra led by drummer Chick Webb. Based at New York's Savoy Ballroom, Webb's orchestra was renowned as one of the very best big bands of its day and they regularly beat all comers at the Savoy's legendary "cutting contests". Jordan worked with Webb until 1938, and it proved a vital stepping stone in his career—Webb (who was physically disabled) was a fine musician but not a great showman. The ebullient Jordan often introduced songs as he began singing lead; he later recalled that many in the audience took him to be the band's leader, which undoubtedly boosted his confidence further. This was the same period when the young Ella Fitzgerald was coming to prominence as the Webb band's lead female vocalist; she and Jordan often duetted on stage and they would later reprise the partnership on several records, by which time both artists were major stars.
In 1938, Jordan was fired by Webb for trying to convince Fitzgerald and others to join his new band. By this time Webb was already seriously ill with tuberculosis of the spine. He died after a spinal operation on June 16, 1939, aged only 30; following his death, Ella Fitzgerald took over the band.
Early solo career
Jordan's first band, drawn mainly from members of the Jesse Stone band, was originally a nine-piece, but he soon scaled it down to a sextet after landing a residency at the Elks Rendezvous club at 464 Lenox Avenue in Harlem. The original lineup of the sextet was Jordan (saxes, vocals), Courtney Williams (trumpet), Lem Johnson (tenor sax), Clarence Johnson (piano), Charlie Drayton (bass) and Walter Martin (drums). In his first billing, as "Louie Jordan's Elks Rendez-vous Band", his name was spelled as "Louie" so people would know not to pronounce it "Lewis".
The new band's first recording date for Decca Records (on December 20, 1938) produced three sides on which they backed an obscure vocalist called Rodney Sturgess, and two novelty sides of their own, "Honey in the Bee Ball" and "Barnacle Bill The Sailor". Though these were credited to "The Elks Rendezvous Band", Jordan subsequently changed the name to the "Tympany Five" due to the fact that Martin often used tympany drums in performance. (The word "tympany" is also an old-fashioned colloquial term meaning "swollen, inflated, puffed-up", etymologically related to "timpani", or "kettle drum," but historically separate.)
The various lineups of the Tympany Five (which often featured two or three extra players) included Bill Jennings and Carl Hogan on guitar, renowned pianist-arrangers Wild Bill Davis and Bill Doggett, "Shadow" Wilson and Chris Columbus on drums and Dallas Bartley on bass. Jordan played alto, tenor and baritone saxophone and sang the lead vocal on most numbers.
Their next recording date in March 1939 produced five sides including "Keep A-Knockin'" (originally recorded in the 1920s and later covered famously by Little Richard), "Sam Jones Done Snagged His Britches" and "Doug the Jitterbug". Lem Johnson subsequently left the group, and was replaced by Stafford Simon. Sessions in December 1939 and January 1940 produced two more early Jordan classics, "You're My Meat" and "You Run Your Mouth and I'll Run My Business". Other members who passed through the band during 1940 and 1941 included tenorist Kenneth Hollon (who recorded with Billie Holiday); trumpeter Freddie Webster (from Earl Hines' band) was part of the nascent bebop scene at Minton's Playhouse and he influenced Kenny Dorham and Miles Davis.
Early 1940s
Jordan in 1946
In 1941 Jordan signed with the General Artists Corporation agency, who appointed Berle Adams as Jordan's agent. Adams secured an engagement at Chicago's Capitol Lounge, supporting The Mills Brothers, and this proved to be an important breakthrough for Jordan and the band.
The Capitol Lounge residency also provides a remarkable yardstick of the scale of Jordan's success. During this engagement, the group was paid the standard union scale of US$70 per week – $35 per week for Jordan and $35 split between the rest of the band. Just seven years later, when Jordan played his record-breaking season at the Golden Gate Theater in San Francisco during 1948, he reportedly grossed over US$70,000 in just two weeks.
During this period bassist Henry Turner was sacked and replaced by Dallas Bartley. This was followed by another important engagement at the Fox Head Tavern in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Working in the looser environment of Cedar Rapids, away from the main centers, the band was able to develop the novelty aspect of their repertoire and performance. Jordan later identified his stint at the Fox Head Tavern as the turning point in his career, and it was also while there that he found several songs that became early hits including "If It's Love You Want, Baby", "Ration Blues" and "Inflation Blues".
In April 1941 Decca launched the Sepia Series, a 35-cent line that featured artists who were considered to have the "crossover potential" to sell in both the black and white markets, and Jordan's band was transferred from Decca's "race" label to the Sepia Series, alongside The Delta Rhythm Boys, the Nat King Cole Trio, Buddy Johnson and the Jay McShann Band.
By the time the group returned to New York in late 1941, the lineup had changed to Jordan, Bartley, Martin, trumpeter Eddie Roane and pianist Arnold Thomas. Recording dates in November 1941 produced another early Jordan classic, "Knock Me A Kiss", which became a significant jukebox seller, although it did not make the charts. However Roy Eldridge subsequently recorded a version, backed by the Gene Krupa band, which became a hit in June 1942, almost a year after the Jordan recording came out; it was also covered by Jimmie Lunceford.
These sessions also produced Jordan's first big-selling record, "I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town", originally recorded by Casey Bill Weldon in 1936, although again it did not make the charts. It too was covered by Lunceford, in 1942, whose version reached No. 12 on the pop charts, and it was also covered by Big Bill Broonzy and Jimmy Rushing.
Sessions in July 1942 produced nine prime sides, allowing Decca to stockpile Jordan's recordings as a hedge against the American Federation of Musicians' recording ban, which was declared the same month. The ban—imposed in order to secure royalty payments for union musicians for each record sold—led to Jordan's enforced absence from the studio for the next year, and it also prevented many seminal bebop performers from recording during one of the most crucial years of the genre's history.
"I'm Gonna Leave You on the Outskirts of Town" was an "answer record" to Jordan's earlier "I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town", but it became Jordan's first major chart hit, reaching No. 2 on Billboard's Harlem Hit Parade. His next side, "What's the Use of Getting Sober" (When You're Gonna Get Drunk Again)", became Jordan's first No. 1 hit, reaching the top of the Harlem Hit Parade in December 1942. A subsequent side, "The Chicks I Pick Are Slender, Tender and Fine", reached No. 10 in January 1943. Their next major side, the comical call-and response number "Five Guys Named Moe", was one of the first recordings to solidify the fast-paced, swinging R&B style that became the Jordan trademark and it struck a chord with audiences, reaching No. 3 on the race charts in September 1943. The song was later taken as the title of a long-running stage show that paid tribute to Jordan and his music. The more conventional "That'll Just About Knock Me Out" also fared well, reaching No. 8 on the race charts and giving Jordan his fifth hit from the December 1942 sessions.
In late 1942, Jordan and his band relocated to Los Angeles, working at major venues there and in San Diego. While in L.A., Jordan began making "soundies", the earliest precursors of the modern music video genre, and he also appeared on many Jubilee radio shows and a series of programs made for the Armed Forces Radio for distribution to American troops overseas. Unlike many musicians, Jordan's career was uninterrupted by the draft, except for a 4-week Army camp tour. Due to a "hernia condition" he was classified 4F.
Decca was one of the first labels to reach an agreement with the Musicians' Union and Jordan returned to recording in October 1943. At this session Jordan and his band recorded "Ration Blues", which dated from their Fox Head Tavern days but had a new timeliness with the imposition of wartime rationing. It became Jordan's first crossover hit, charting on both the white and black pop charts. It was also a huge hit on the Harlem Hit Parade, where it spent six weeks at No. 1 and stayed in the Top Ten for a remarkable 21 weeks, and it reached No. 11 in the general "best-sellers" chart.
Commercial success
Jordan in New York, July 1946, shortly after getting second billing to Glen Gray at the Paramount
In the 1940s, 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"), "Blue Light Boogie", the comic classic "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens", "Buzz Me," "Ain't That Just Like a Woman (They'll Do It Every Time)", and the multi-million seller "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie".
One of his biggest hits was "Caldonia", with its energetic screaming punchline, banged out by the whole band, "Caldonia! Caldonia! What makes your big head so hard?" After Jordan's success with it, the song was also recorded by Woody Herman in a famous modern arrangement, including a unison chorus by five trumpets. Muddy Waters also cut a version. However, many of Jordan's biggest R&B hits were inimitable enough that there were no hit cover versions, a rarity in an era when poppish "black" records were rerecorded by white artists, and many popular songs were released in multiple competing versions.
Jordan's raucous recordings were also notable for their use of fantastical narrative. This is perhaps best exemplified on the freewheeling party adventure "Saturday Night Fish Fry", a two-part 1950 hit that was split across both sides of a 78. It is arguably one of the earliest American recordings to include all the basic elements of the classic rock'n'roll genre (obviously exerting a direct influence on the subsequent work of Bill Haley) and it is certainly one of the first widely popular songs to use the word "rocking" in the chorus and to prominently feature a distorted electric guitar.
Its distinctive comical adventure narrative is strikingly similar to the style later used by Bob Dylan in his classic "story" songs like "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" and "Tombstone Blues". "Saturday Night Fish Fry" is also notable for the fact that it dispenses with the customary instrumental chorus introduction, but its most prominent feature is Jordan's rapid-fire, semi-spoken vocal. His delivery, clearly influenced by his experience as a saxophone soloist, de-emphasizes the vocal melody in favor of highly syncopated phrasing and the percussive effects of alliteration and assonance, and it is arguably one of the earliest examples in American popular music of the vocal stylings that eventually evolved into rap.
Jordan's original songs joyously celebrated the ups and downs of African-American urban life and were infused with cheeky good humor and a driving musical energy that had a massive influence on the development of rock and roll. His music was popular with both blacks and whites, but lyrically, most of his songs were emphatically and uncompromisingly "black" in their content and delivery.
Loaded with wry social commentary and coded references, they are also a treasury of 1930s/40s black hipster slang, and through his records Jordan was probably one of the main popularizers of the slang term "chick" (woman). Sexual themes often featured strongly and some sides—notably the saucy double entendre of "Show Me How To Milk The Cow"—were so risqué that it seems remarkable that they were issued at all.
"King of the Jukebox"
The prime of Louis Jordan's recording career, 1942–1950, was a period of segregation on the radio. Despite this he was able to score the crossover No. 1 single "G.I. Jive"/"Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby?" in 1944, thanks in large part to his performance with his orchestra of the song in the Universal 1944, all-star wartime musical Follow the Boys. Two years later, MGM had its cartoon cat Tom sing "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby?" in the 1946 Tom and Jerry cartoon short "Solid Serenade". He appeared in the 1946 Monogram Pictures movie Swing Parade of 1946 and starred in the 1947 all-black, full-length Astor Pictures film Reet, Petite and Gone.
During this period Jordan again placed more than a dozen songs on the national charts. However, Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five dominated the 1940s R&B charts, or as they were known at the time, the "race" charts. In this period Jordan scored a staggering eighteen No. 1 singles and fifty-four Top Ten placings. To this day Louis Jordan still ranks as the top black recording artist of all time in terms of the total number of weeks at #1—his records scored an incredible total of 113 weeks in the No. 1 position (the runner-up being Stevie Wonder with 70 weeks). From July 1946 through May 1947, Jordan scored five consecutive No. 1 songs, holding the top slot for 44 consecutive weeks.
Jordan's popularity was boosted not only by his hit Decca sides, but also by his prolific recordings for Armed Forces Radio and the V-Disc transcription program, which helped to make him as popular with whites as with blacks. He also starred in a series of short musical films, as well as making numerous "soundies" for his hit songs. The ancestor of the modern music video, "soundies" were short film clips designed for use in audio-visual jukeboxes. These were in addition to guesting in Follow the Boys.
Decline of popularity
In 1951, Jordan put together a short-lived big band that included musicians such as Pee Wee Moore and others, at a time when big bands were on their way out; this is considered the beginning of his commercial decline, even though he reverted to the Tympany Five format within a year. By the mid-1950s, Jordan's records were not selling as well as they used to and he ended up leaving Decca Records.
The first label to sign Jordan was Aladdin Records, with whom Jordan recorded 21 songs in early 1954; nine singles were released from these sessions, with three of the songs remaining unreleased. In 1955, Jordan recorded with RCA "independent" subsidiary "X" Records, who changed their name to Vik Records while Jordan was with them. Three singles were released under the "X" imprint and one under the Vik imprint; four of the tracks went unreleased. It was in these sessions that Jordan intensified his sound to compete with rock 'n roll.
In 1956, Mercury Records signed Jordan, releasing two LP's and a handful of singles. Jordan's first LP with Mercury, Somebody Up There Digs Me (1956), showcased updated rock n' roll versions of previous hits such as "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens", "Caldonia", "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie", "Salt Pork, West Virginia", and "Beware!"; its follow-up, Man, We're Wailin' (1957), featured a more laid back "late night" sound. Although Mercury intended for this to be a comeback for Jordan, the comeback did not turn out to be a success, and the label let Jordan go in 1958.[10] Jordan would record sporadically in the 1960s with Warwick (1960), Black Lion (1962), Tangerine (1962–1965), Pzazz (1968), and again in the early 1970s with Black and Blue (1973), Blues Spectrum (1973), and JSP (1974).
In 1962 he appeared on the album Louis Jordan Sings by British trumpeter and bandleader Chris Barber. Speaking in 2012, Barber recalled seeing Jordan in the early 1960s at The Apollo in New York, with the intention of bringing him to record in the UK for the first time. Barber said:
".. playing with him was just frightening. It's a bit like an amateur guitar player from a back street who has just bought a Spanish guitar, working with Segovia. He didn't make you feel small, but he was just so perfect in what he did. ... I still remember watching him singing, but he would accompany himself on the alto, and you were convinced he was playing the alto while he was singing... the breath hadn't gone from his last word before he was playing he alto and it seemed to be simultaneous... He got a very raw deal from history... In the Chick Webb band there were two regular singers - Ella and Louis Jordan. And yet really history has consigned him to just being a comedy vocal thing with a bit of rock and roll, and the first alto... but he was such a consumately good singer that it's sad that he wasn't known more for it."
Jordan died in Los Angeles, California, from a heart attack on February 4, 1975.[14] He is buried at Mt. Olive Cemetery in his wife Martha's hometown of St. Louis, Missouri.
During an interview late in life, Jordan made the controversial remark that rock and roll music was simply rhythm and blues music played by white performers.
Although Jordan wrote (or co-wrote) a large proportion of the songs he performed, he did not benefit financially from many of them. Many of his self-penned biggest hits, including "Caldonia", were credited to Jordan's then wife Fleecie Moore as a means of avoiding an existing publishing arrangement. The marriage was acrimonious and short-lived—on two occasions, Moore stabbed Jordan after domestic disputes, almost killing him the second time—and after their divorce Fleecie retained ownership of the songs. However, Jordan may have taken credit for some songs written by others—he is credited as the co-writer of "Saturday Night Fish Fry", but Tympany Five pianist Bill Doggett later claimed that in fact he had written the song
Films
As well as singing in many films, and appearing in Meet Miss Bobby Sox (1944) and Follow the Boys (1944), Jordan starred in several race films: Beware (1946), and Reet, Petite, and Gone and Look Out Sister (both 1947, when the race films ended).
His prolific use of film as a promotional vehicle broke new ground, garnering admiration from the trade press, including Billboard, which gushed, "The movies have helped the one-nighters, which have also been helped by recordings, which have also helped the movies, which in turn have become more profitable. It’s a delicious circle, and other bands are now exploring the possibilities..."
Private life
Jordan is believed to have been married five times. His first wife was named Julia or Julie, but by 1932 he was married to Texas singer and dancer Ida Fields. He and Fields divorced, and in 1942 he married childhood sweetheart Fleecie Moore. After their divorce, he married dancer Vicky Hayes in 1951, and separated from her in 1960. Finally, he married singer and dancer Martha Weaver in 1966.
Singles
1930s
Year Title Details Peak chart positions
[note 4]
1939 "Honey in the Bee Ball"
Composer: Louis Jordan
Recorded: December 30, 1938
Label: Decca 7556
1939 "Barnacle Bill the Sailor"
Composer: Frank Luther, Carson Robison
Recorded: December 30, 1938
Label: Decca 7556
1939 "Flat Face"
Composer: Courtney Williams
Recorded: March 29, 1939
Label: Decca 7590
1939 "Doug the Jitterbug"
Composer: Jordan
Recorded: March 29, 1939
Label: Decca 7590
1939 "Keep a-Knockin’"
Composer: Jordan, Perry Bradford, J. Mayo Williams
Recorded: March 29, 1939
Label: Decca 7609
1939 "At the Swing Cat’s Ball"
Composer:
Recorded: March 29, 1939
Label: Decca 7609
1939 "Sam Jones Done Snagged His Britches"
Composer: Perry Bradford, J. Mayo Williams
Recorded: March 29, 1939
Label: Decca 7623
1939 "Swinging in a Cocoanut Tree"
Composer: J. Mayo Williams
Recorded: March 29, 1939
Label: Decca 7623
1939 "Honeysuckle Rose"[note 5]
Composer: Fats Waller, Andy Razaf
Recorded: November 14, 1939
Label: Decca 7675
1939 "But I’ll Be Back"
Composer: Jordan
Recorded: November 14, 1939
Label: Decca 7675
1939 "‘Fore Day Blues"
Composer: Perry Bradford, J. Mayo Williams
Recorded: November 14, 1939
Label: Decca 7693
1939 "You Ain’t Nowhere"
Composer: Jordan, Don Redman
Recorded: November 14, 1939
Label: Decca 7693
1939 "You’re My Meat"
Composer: Skeets Tolbert
Recorded: November 14, 1939
Label: Decca 7719
1939 "Jake, What a Snake"
Composer: J. Mayo Williams
Recorded: November 14, 1939
Label: Decca 7719
Blank in chart positions indicates release that did not chart.
1940s
Year Title Details Peak chart positions[note 6]
R&B Pop C&W
1940 "Hard Lovin’ Blues"[note 7]
Composer: Yack Taylor
Recorded: January 25, 1940
Label: Decca 7705
1940 "You Run Your Mouth and I’ll Run My Business"[note 8]
Composer: Lil Armstrong
Recorded: January 25, 1940
Label: Decca 7705
1940 "I'm Alabama Bound"
Composer: Mike Jackson, Robert Hoffman
Recorded: January 25, 1940
Label: Decca 7723
1940 "June Teenth Jamboree"
Composer: Sammy Price
Recorded: January 25, 1940
Label: Decca 7723
1940 "You Got to Go When the Wagon Comes"[note 9]
Composer: Randy Culbreth, Jasper Thomas
Recorded: March 13, 1940
Label: Decca 7729
1940 "After School Swing Session (Swinging with Symphony Sid)"
Composer: Jordan, Buddy Feyne
Recorded: March 13, 1940
Label: Decca 7729
1940 "Lovie Joe"[note 10]
Composer: Jordan, Will Marion Cook
Recorded: March 13, 1940
Label: Decca 7745
1940 "Somebody Done Hoodooed the Hoodoo Man"
Composer: Wesley Wilson
Recorded: March 13, 1940
Label: Decca 7745
1940 "Bounce the Ball (Do Da Little Um Day)"
Composer: Mike Jackson
Recorded: March 13, 1940
Label: Decca 3253
1940 "Don’t Come Crying on My Shoulder"
Composer: Arthur Altman, Manny Kurtz, Murray Mencher
Recorded: April 29, 1940
Label: Decca 3253
1940 "Never Let Your Left Hand Know What Your Right Hand’s Doin’"
Composer: Ted Delaney, Georgia South
Recorded: April 29, 1940
Label: Decca 7777
1940 "Penthouse in the Basement"
Composer: Walter Bishop, Sr.
Recorded: March 13, 1940
Label: Decca 7777
1940 "Oh Boy, I’m in the Groove
Composer: Ella Fitzgerald
Recorded: April 29, 1940
Label: Decca 3360
1940 "Waitin’ for the Robert E. Lee"
Composer: L. Wolfe Gilbert, Lewis F. Muir
Recorded: April 29, 1940
Label: Decca 3360
1940 "Do You Call that a Buddy? (Dirty Cat)"
Composer: Wesley Wilson
Recorded: September 30, 1940
Label: Decca 8500
1940 "Pompton Turnpike"
Composer: Will Osborne, Dick Rogers
Recorded: September 30, 1940
Label: Decca 8500
1940 "I Know You (I Know What You Wanna Do)"
Composer: Jordan
Recorded: September 30, 1940
Label: Decca 8501
1940 "A Chicken Ain't Nothin' but a Bird"
Composer: Emmett "Babe" Wallace
Recorded: September 30, 1940
Label: Decca 8501
1941 "T-Bone Blues"[note 11]
Composer: T-Bone Walker, Les Hite
Recorded: January 24, 1941
Label: Decca 8525
1941 "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie"[note 12]
Composer: Pinetop Smith
Recorded: January, 24 1941
Label: Decca 8525
1941 "The Two Little Squirrels (Nuts to You)"
Composer: Mack David, Eddie Lane, Vee Lawnhurst
Recorded: January 24, 1941
Label: Decca 8537
1941 "Pan-Pan"
Composer: Jerry Daniels
Recorded: January 24, 1941
Label: Decca 8537
1941 "Saxa-Woogie"[note 13]
Composer: Jordan
Recorded: April 2, 1941
Label: Decca 8560
1941 "Brotherly Love (Wrong Ideas)"
Composer: Jordan, Leonard Feather, J. Mayo Williams
Recorded: April 2, 1941
Label: Decca 8560
1941 "Boogie Woogie Came to Town"
Composer: Jordan, Walter Bishop, Sr., J. Mayo Williams
Recorded: April 2, 1941
Label: Decca 8581
1941 "Saint Vitus Dance"
Composer: Mike Jackson
Recorded: April 2, 1941
Label: Decca 8581
1942 "I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town"[note 14]
Composer: Andy Razaf, Casey Bill Weldon
Recorded: November 22, 1941
Label: Decca 8593
1942 "Knock Me a Kiss"[note 15]
Composer: Mike Jackson
Recorded: November 15, 1941
Label: Decca 8593
1942 "How 'Bout That?"
Composer:
Recorded: November 15, 1941
Label: Decca 8605
1942 "The Green Grass Grows All Around"
Composer: Arthur Johnson, J. Mayo Williams
Recorded: November 22, 1941
Label: Decca 8605
1942 "Mama Mama Blues (Rusty Dusty Blues)"[note 16]
Composer: J. Mayo Williams
Recorded: November 15, 1941
Label: Decca 8627
1942 "Small Town Boy"
Composer: Jordan, Dallas Bartley
Recorded: November 22, 1941
Label: Decca 8627
1942 "I'm Gonna Leave You on the Outskirts of Town"[note 17]
Composer: Jordan, Clarence Williams
Recorded: July 21, 1942
Label: Decca 8638
3
1942 "It's a Low Down Dirty Shame"[note 18]
Composer: (Big Bill Broonzy rec 3/38)
Recorded: July 21, 1942
Label: Decca 8638
1942 "What's the Use of Getting Sober (When You're Gonna Get Drunk Again)"[note 19]
Composer: Bubsy Meyers
Recorded: July 21, 1942
Label: Decca 8645
1
1943 "The Chicks I Pick Are Slender and Tender and Tall"[note 20]
Composer: Mike Jackson
Recorded: July 21, 1942
Label: Decca 8645
10
1943 "Five Guys Named Moe"[note 21]
Composer: Jerry Bresler, Larry Wynn
Recorded: July 21, 1942
Label: Decca 8653
3
1943 "That'll Just 'Bout Knock Me Out"
Composer: Jordan, Casey Bill Weldon
Recorded: July 21, 1942
Label: Decca 8653
8
1943 "Ration Blues"[note 22]
Composer: Jordan, Collenane Clark, Antonio Cosey
Recorded: October 4, 1943
Label: Decca 8654
1 11 1
1944 "Deacon Jones"
Composer: Hy Heath, Johnny Lange, Richard Long
Recorded: October 4, 1943
Label: Decca 8654
7
1944 "G.I. Jive"
Composer: Johnny Mercer
Recorded: March 15, 1944
Label: Decca 8659
1 1
1944 "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby"[note 23]
Composer: Jordan, Billy Austin
Recorded: October 4, 1943
Label: Decca 8659
3 2 1
1945 "Mop! Mop!"
Composer: Claude Demetrius, J. Mayo Williams
Recorded: March 15, 1944
Label: Decca 8668
1
1945 "You Can't Get That No More"
Composer: Jordan, Sam Theard
Recorded: March 15, 1944
Label: Decca 8668
2 11
1945 "Caldonia"[note 24][note 25]
Composer: F. Moore
Recorded: April 19, 1945
Label: Decca 8670
1 6
1945 "Somebody Done Changed the Lock on My Door"[note 26]
Composer: Casey Bill Weldon
Recorded: April 19, 1945
Label: Decca 8670
3
1946 "Buzz Me"
Composer: F. Moore, Danny Baxter aka Dave Dexter, Jr.
Recorded: January 19, 1946
Label: Decca 18734
1 9
1946 "Don't Worry 'Bout That Mule"
Composer: F. Moore, C. Stewart, W. Davis, D. Groaner
Recorded: July 18, 1945
Label: Decca 18734
1
1946 "Salt Pork, West Virginia"
Composer: F. Moore, Bill Tennyson
Recorded: July 16, 1945
Label: Decca 18762
2
1946 "Reconversion Blues"
Composer: F. Moore, Steve Graham
Recorded: October 15, 1945
Label: Decca 18762
2
1946 "Beware (Brother, Beware)"[note 27]
Composer: F. Moore, Morry Lasco, Dick Adams
Recorded: January 23, 1946
Label: Decca 18818
2 20
1946 "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin'"[note 28]
Composer: Joe Greene
Recorded: January 23, 1946
Label: Decca 18818B
3
1945 "My Baby Said Yes (Yip, Yip de Hootie)"[note 29]
Composer: Leo Robin
Recorded: July 1944
Label: Decca 23417
14
1945 "Your Socks Don't Match"
Composer: Leon Carr, Leo Corday
Recorded: July 1944
Label: Decca 23417
1946 "Stone Cold Dead in the Market (He Had It Coming)"[note 30]
Composer: Wilmoth Houdini
Recorded: October 9, 1945
Label: Decca 23546
1 7
1946 "Petootie Pie"[note 31]
Composer: Lorenzo Pack, Frank Paparelli, Raymond Leveen
Recorded: October 9, 1945
Label: Decca 23546
3
1946 "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie"
Composer: Vaughn Horton aka George Vaughn Horton, Denver Darling, Milt Gabler
Recorded: January 23, 1946
Label: Decca 23610
1 7
1946 "That Chick's Too Young to Fry"
Composer: Tommy Edwards, Jimmy Hillard
Recorded: January 23, 1946
Label: Decca 23610
3
1946 "Ain't That Just Like a Woman (They'll Do It Every Time)"
Composer: F. Moore, Claude Demetrius
Recorded: January 23, 1946
Label: Decca 23669
1 17
1946 "If It's Love You Want, Baby That's Me"
Composer: Sid Robin aka Sidney Rabinowitz
Recorded: June 26, 1946
Label: Decca 23669
1946 "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens"
Composer: Joan Whitney, Alex Kramer
Recorded: june 26, 1946
Label: Decca 23741
1 6
1946 "Let the Good Times Roll"
Composer: F. Moore, Sam Theard
Recorded: June 26, 1946
Label: Decca 23741
2
1947 "Texas and Pacific"
Composer: Jack Wolf Fine, Joseph E. Hirsch
Recorded: October 10, 1946
Label: Decca 23810
1 20
1947 "I Like 'Em Fat Like That"
Composer: Jordan, Claude Demetrius, J. Mayo Williams
Recorded: March 1, 1944
Label: Decca 23810
5
1947 "Open the Door, Richard!"
Composer: Jack McVea, Dan Howell, Dusty Fletcher, John Mason
Recorded: January 23, 1947
Label: Decca 23841
2 6
1947 "It's So Easy"
Composer: Allen Roberts, Doris Fisher
Recorded: January 23, 1947
Label: Decca 23841
1947 "Jack, You're Dead"
Composer: Dick Miles, Walter Bishop, Sr.
Recorded: October 10, 1946
Label: Decca 23901
1 21
1947 "I Know What You're Puttin' Down"
Composer: Jordan, Bud Allen
Recorded: October 10, 1946
Label: Decca 23901
3
1947 "Boogie Woogie Blue Plate"
Composer: Joe Bushkin, Johnny DeVries
Recorded:
Label: Decca 24104
1 21
1947 "Sure Had a Wonderful Time"
Composer: F. Moore, Claude Demetrius
Recorded: October 10, 1946
Label: Decca 24104
1947 "Look Out"
Composer: Jordan, Leo Robin
Recorded: June 4, 1947
Label: Decca 24155
5
1947 "Early in the Mornin'"
Composer: Jordan, Dallas Bartley, Leo Hickman
Recorded: April 23, 1947
Label: Decca 23155
3
1948 "Barnyard Boogie"
Composer: Jordan, Wilhelmina Gray
Recorded: April 23, 1947
Label: Decca 24300
2
1948 "How Long Must I Wait for You"
Composer: Lucky Millinder, Jerry Black
Recorded: July 16, 1945
Label: Decca 24300
9
1948 "Reet, Petite and Gone"
Composer: Jordan, Lora Lee
Recorded: October 10, 1946
Label: Decca 24381
4
1948 "Inflation Blues"
Composer: Jordan, Allegretto Alexander, Tommy Southern
Recorded: December 1, 1947
Label: Decca 24381
1948 "Run Joe"
Composer: Jordan, Walter Merrick, Joe Willoughby
Recorded: April 23, 1947
Label: Decca 24448
1 23
1948 "All for the Love of Lil"
Composer: Jerry Bresler, Larry Wynn
Recorded: October 10, 1946
Label: Decca 24448
13
1948 "Don't Burn the Candle at Both Ends"
Composer: Jordan, Benny Carter, Irving Gordon
Recorded: December 19, 1947
Label: Decca 24483
4
1948 "We Can't Agree"
Composer: Jordan, Wilhelmina Gray
Recorded: November 24, 1947
Label: Decca 24483
14
1948 "Daddy-O"[note 32]
Composer: Don Raye, Gene De Paul
Recorded: December 18, 1947
Label: Decca 24502
7
1948 "You're Right on Track"[note 33]
Composer: Irving Gordon, Benny Carter
Recorded: December 18, 1947
Label: Decca 24502
1948 "Pettin' and Pokin'"
Composer: Jordan, Leo Robin
Recorded: December 1, 1947
Label: Decca 24527
5
1948 "Why'd You Do It, Baby?"
Composer:
Recorded: December 18, 1947
Label: Decca 24527
1949 "Roamin' Blues"
Composer: Jordan, Jeff Dane, Ben Lorre
Recorded: November 24, 1947
Label: Decca 24571
10
1949 "Have You Got the Gumption?"
Composer: Bill Austin, Pinetop Smith
Recorded: November 24, 1947
Label: Decca 24571
1949 "You Broke Your Promise"
Composer: Irving Taylor, George Wyle
Recorded: February 1949
Label: Decca 24587
3
1949 "Safe, Sane and Single"
Composer: Jordan, Hy Heath, Johnny Lange
Recorded: February 7, 1949
Label: Decca 24587
1949 "Cole Slaw (Sorghum Switch)"
Composer: Jesse Stone
Recorded: April 12, 1949
Label: Decca 24633
7
1949 "Every Man to His Own Profession"
Composer: Jordan, William J. Tennyson, Jr.
Recorded: April 23, 1949
Label: Decca 24633
10
1949 "You Run Your Mouth, I’ll Run My Business"[note 34]
Composer: Lil Armstrong
Recorded: January 1940
Label: Decca 24643
1949 "A Chicken Ain’t Nothin’ but a Bird"[note 35]
Composer: Emmett "Babe" Wallace
Recorded: September 30, 1940
Label: Decca 24643
1949 "Baby, It's Cold Outside"[note 36]
Composer: Frank Loesser
Recorded: April 8, 1949
Label: Decca 24644
6 9
1949 "Don't Cry, Cry Baby"[note 37]
Composer: Clarence Maher, Bennie Martini, Sail Tepper
Recorded: April 28, 1949
Label: Decca 24644
1949 "Beans and Corn Bread"
Composer: F. Moore, Fred B. Clark
Recorded: April 12, 1949
Label: Decca 24673
1
1949 "Chicky-Mo, Craney-Cro"
Composer: Jordan, Wesley Wilson
Recorded: November 24, 1947
Label: Decca
1949 "Saturday Night Fish Fry (Pts. 1 & 2)"
Composer: Jordan, Ellis Walsh, Al Carters
Recorded: August 9, 1949
Label: Decca 24725
1 21
Blank in chart positions indicates release that did not chart.
V-Discs
Year Title Details Peak chart positions
[note 38]
1943 "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby"
Composer: Jordan, Billy Austin
Recorded:
Label: V-Disc 158
1943 "Knock Me a Kiss"
Composer: Mike Jackson
Recorded:
Label: V-Disc 158
1942 "I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town"
Composer: Andy Razaf, Casey Bill Weldon
Recorded:
Label: V-Disc 175
1943 "I've Found a New Baby"
Composer: Jack Palmer, Spencer Williams
Recorded:
Label: V-Disc 175
1943 "Five Guys Named Moe"
Composer: Jerry Bresler, Larry Wynn
Recorded:
Label: V-Disc 196
1943 "Jumpin' at the Jubilee"
Composer: Jordan
Recorded:
Label: V-Disc 196
1943 "You Can't Get That No More"
Composer: Jordan, Sam Theard
Recorded:
Label: V-Disc 237
1943 "The End of My Worries"
Composer: Jordan
Recorded:
Label: V-Disc 237
1944 "How High Am I"
Composer: Jordan, J. Mayo Williams
Recorded:
Label: V-Disc 376
1944 "Hey Now Let's Live"
Composer: Jordan, J. Mayo Williams
Recorded:
Label: V-Disc 376
1944 "Deacon Jones"
Composer: Hy Heath, Johnny Lange, Richard Long
Recorded:
Label: V-Disc 478
1944 "I Like 'Em Fat Like That"
Composer: Jordan, Claude Demetrius, J. Mayo Williams
Recorded:
Label: V-Disc 478
1944 "Bahama Joe"
Composer: F. Moore
Recorded:
Label: V-Disc 513
1944 "Nobody but Me"
Composer: F. Moore
Recorded:
Label: V-Disc 513
1950s
Year Title Details Peak chart positions[note 39]
R&B Pop C&W
1950 "School Days"
Composer: Gus Edwards, Will D. Cobb
Recorded: April 28, 1949
Label: Decca 24815
5
1950 "I Know What I've Got"
Composer: Jordan, Sid Robin aka Sidney Rabinowitz
Recorded: February 1949
Label: Decca 24815
1950 "Push-Ka-Pee Shee Pie"
Composer: Jordan, Walter Merrick, Joe Willoughby
Recorded: April 12, 1949
Label: Decca 24877
1950 "Hungry Man"
Composer: Bobby Troup
Recorded: August 9, 1949
Label: Decca 24877
1950 "Baby's Gonna Go Bye Bye"
Composer: Dave Franklin, Van Alexander
Recorded: April 12, 1949
Label: Decca 24981
1950 "Heed My Warning"
Composer: Jordan, Howard Bowman
Recorded: April 12, 1949
Label: Decca 24981
1950 "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie"[note 40]
Composer: Pinetop Smith
Recorded: January, 24 1941
Label: Decca 25394
1950 "Saxa-Woogie"[note 41]
Composer: Jordan
Recorded: April 2, 1941
Label: Decca 25394
1950 "Honeysuckle Rose"[note 42]
Composer: Fats Waller, Andy Razaf
Recorded: November 14, 1939
Label: Decca 25473
1950 "T-Bone Blues"[note 43]
Composer: T-Bone Walker, Les Hite
Recorded: January 24, 1941
Label: Decca 25473
1950 "Onion"
Composer: Jordan, Bill Doggett
Recorded: April 12, 1949
Label: Decca 27058
1950 "Psycho-Loco"
Composer: Jordan, Bill Doggett
Recorded: April 12, 1949
Label: Decca 27058
1950 "Blue Light Boogie (Pts. 1 & 2)"
Composer: Jessie Mae Robinson
Recorded: June 25, 1950
Label: Decca 27114
1
1950 "I Want a Roof Over My Head"
Composer: Brooks, Harvey
Recorded: June 26, 1950
Label: Decca 27129
1950 "Show Me How (You Milk the Cow)"
Composer:
Recorded: June 26, 1950
Label: Decca 27129
1950 "I'll Never Be Free"[note 44]
Composer: Bennie Benjamin, George David Weiss
Recorded: August 1950
Label: Decca 27200
7
1950 "Ain’t Nobody’s Business but My Own"[note 45]
Composer: Porter Grainger, Everett Robbins
Recorded: August 1950
Label: Decca 27200
1950 "Tamburitza Boogie"
Composer: Steve Crlencia, George Vaughn aka George Vaughn Horton
Recorded: August 18, 1950
Label: Decca 27203
10
1950 "Trouble Then Satisfaction"
Composer: George Vaughn aka George Vaughn Horton, Matthew Strange
Recorded: August 21, 1950
Label: Decca 27203
1951 "Lemonade"
Composer: Jordan, Wihelmina Gray
Recorded: Aust 18, 1950
Label: Decca 27324
5
1951 "(You Dyed Your Hair) Chartreuse"
Composer: Billy Moore, Jr., J. Leslie McFarland
Recorded: August 18, 1950
Label: Decca 27324
1951 "Tear Drops from My Eyes"
Composer: Rudy Toombs
Recorded: December 21, 1950
Label: Decca 27428
4
1951 "It's a Great, Great Pleasure"
Composer: Jordan, William J. Tennyson, Jr.
Recorded: August 18, 1950
Label: Decca 27428
1951 "Weak Minded Blues"
Composer: Jordan
Recorded: March 15, 1951
Label: Decca 27547
5
1951 "Is My Pop in There?"
Composer: Brooke Taylor, Wayne Vaughn
Recorded: March 1951
Label: Decca 27547
1951 "I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby"
Composer: Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh
Recorded: March 1, 1951
Label: Decca 27620
1951 "You Will Always Have a Friend"
Composer: Jordan, Joe Willoughby
Recorded: August 1950
Label: Decca 27620
1951 "If You're So Smart How Come You Ain't Rich"
Composer: F. Norman, B. Friedman, Walter Bishop, Sr.
Recorded: June 5, 1951
Label: Decca 27648
1951 "How Blue Can You Get?"
Composer: Jane Feather
Recorded: June 1951
Label: Decca 27648
1951 "Please Don't Leave Me"
Composer:
Recorded: June 13, 1951
Label: Decca 27694
1951 "Three-Handed Woman"
Composer: Ben Raleigh, Hilda Taylor
Recorded: June 13, 1951
Label: Decca 27694
1951 "Trust in Me"
Composer:
Recorded: June 5, 1951
Label: Decca 27784
1951 "Cock-a-Doodle Doo"
Composer: Vaughn Horton aka George Vaughn Horton
Recorded: July 30, 1951
Label: Decca 27784
1951 "May Every Day Be Christmas"
Composer: Jordan
Recorded: June 1951
Label: Decca 27806
1951 "Bone Dry"
Composer: Walt Barrows, Bernard Zee, Libby Zee
Recorded: June 13, 1951
Label: Decca 27806
1952 "Lay Something on the Bar (Besides Your Elbows)"
Composer: Billy Austin, Sheldon Smith
Recorded: November 28, 1951
Label: Decca 27898
1952 "No Sale"
Composer:
Recorded: June 26, 1946
Label: Decca 27898
1951 "Louisville Lodge Meeting"
Composer: Ervin Drake, Jimmy Shirl
Recorded: June 5, 1951
Label: Decca 27969
1951 "Work Baby Work"
Composer: Jack Adrian
Recorded: November 28, 1951
Label: Decca 27969
1952 "Slow Down"
Composer: Jordan, Russell Royster
Recorded: November 1951
Label: Decca 28088
1952 "Never Trust a Woman"
Composer: Jordan, Bill Doggett
Recorded: November 1951
Label: Decca 28088
1952 "Junco Partner"
Composer: Bob Shad, Robert Ellen
Recorded: April 1952
Label: Decca 28211
1952 "Azure-Te"
Composer: Wild Bill Davis, Don Wolf
Recorded: April 1952
Label: Decca 28211
1952 "Oil Well, Texas"
Composer: Jordan, Elton Hill, Bill Tennyson
Recorded: April 1952
Label: Decca 28225
1952 "Jordan for President"
Composer: Jordan
Recorded: May 1952
Label: Decca 28225
1952 "Friendship"
Composer: Jordan, Claude Demetrius
Recorded: January 20, 1947
Label: Decca 28444
1952 "You're Too Much Fat"
Composer: Jordan, Ben Lorre, Jeff Dane
Recorded: December 1, 1947
Label: Decca 28444
1953 "You Didn't Want Me Baby"
Composer: F. Moore
Recorded: December 1952
Label: Decca 28543
1953 "A Man's Best Friend"
Composer: Ray McKinley
Recorded: December 1952
Label: Decca 28543
1953 "It's Better to Wait for Love"
Composer: Walter Bishop, Sr.
Recorded: February 1952
Label: Decca 28664
1953 "Just Like a Butterfly"
Composer: Mort Dixon, Harry Woods
Recorded: February 1952
Label: Decca 28664
1953 "Hog Wash"
Composer: Jordan, Bill Tennyson
Recorded: May 1953
Label: Decca 28756
1953 "House Party"
Composer: Jordan, Rose Marie McCoy, Julian Dash, George Kelly
Recorded: May 1953
Label: Decca 28543
1953 "Time Marches On"[note 46]
Composer: Jordan, Joe Willoughby
Recorded: April 1952
Label: Decca 28820
1953 "There Must Be a Way"
Composer: David Saxon, Sammy Gallop
Recorded: July 1952
Label: Decca 28820
1953 "I Want You to Be My Baby"
Composer: Jon Hendricks
Recorded: June 28, 1953
Label: Decca 28883
1953 "You Know It Too"
Composer: Jordan, Earlie Walsh
Recorded: June 28, 1953
Label: Decca 28883
1953 "The Soona Baby"
Composer: Jordan, Bill Doggett, Arthur Johnston
Recorded: December 3, 1952
Label: Decca 28982
1953 "Fat Sam from Birmingham"
Composer: Bob Astor, J. Mayo Williams
Recorded: June 1951
Label: Decca 28983
1954 "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out"
Composer: Jimmy Cox
Recorded: January 4, 1954
Label: Decca 29018
1954 "Lollypop"
Composer:
Recorded: January 4, 1954
Label: Decca 29018
1954 "Only Yesterday"
Composer:
Recorded: February 1953
Label: Decca 29166
1954 "I Didn't Know What Time It Was"
Composer: Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers
Recorded: February 1953
Label: Decca 29166
1954 "If It's True"
Composer: Gus Bentley, Don Redman
Recorded: January 2, 1954
Label: Decca 29263
1954 "Wake Up Jacob"
Composer: Gene DePaul, Don Raye
Recorded: January 1, 1954
Label: Decca 29263
1954 "Locked Up"
Composer: George Kelly, Wayne Watts, Sidney Wyche
Recorded: January 4, 1954
Label: Decca 29424
1954 "Perdido"
Composer: Juan Tizol
Recorded: January 1, 1954
Label: Decca 29424
1954 "I Want You To Be My Baby"[note 47]
Composer: Jon Hendricks
Recorded: June 28, 1953
Label: Decca 29655
1954 "Come And Get It"
Composer: Alfred Cobbs
Recorded: November 1951
Label: Decca 29655
1954 "I Gotta Move"
Composer: Mamie Thomas, Leroy Kirkland
Recorded: January 1954
Label: Decca 29860
1954 "Everything That's Made of Wood (Was Once a Tree)"
Composer: Jordan, Walter Bishop, Sr.
Recorded: May 1953
Label: Decca 29860
1954 "Time Marches On"[note 48]
Composer: Jordan, Joe Willoughby
Recorded: April 1952
Label: Decca 30223
1954 "Run Joe"[note 49]
Composer: Jordan, Dr. Walt Merrick, Joe Willoughby
Recorded: April 23, 1947
Label: Decca 30223
1954 “Whiskey Do Your Stuff”
Composer: Shitfe Henri aka Shifty Henry
Recorded: January 1954
Label: Aladdin 3223
1954 “Dad Gum Ya Hide, Boy”
Composer: Browley Guy, Jr.
Recorded: January 1954
Label: Aladdin 3223
1954 “I’ll Die Happy”
Composer: Jon Hendricks, Connie Moore
Recorded: February 195
Label: Aladdin 3227
1954 “Ooo-Wee”
Composer: Howard Biggs, Thomas
Recorded: January 1954
Label: Aladdin 3227
1954 “A Dollar Down”
Composer: Jesse Stone
Recorded: February 1954
Label: Aladdin 3243
1954 “Hurry Home”
Composer: Buddy Bernier, Bob Emmerich, Joseph Meyer
Recorded:April 1954
Label: Aladdin 3243
1954 “I Seen Watcha Done”
Composer: Jordan
Recorded: January 1954
Label: Aladdin 3246
1954 “Messy Bessy”
Composer: Jon Hendricks
Recorded: February 1954
Label: Aladdin 3246
1954 “Louie's Blues”
Composer: Jordan
Recorded: February 1954
Label: Aladdin 3249
1954 “If I Had Any Sense, I’d Go Back Home”
Composer: Rosemarie McCoy
Recorded: April 1954
Label: Aladdin 3249
1954 “Yeah, Yeah Baby!”
Composer: Rudy Toombs
Recorded: February 1954
Label: Aladdin 3264
1954 “Put Some Money in the Pot, Boy (‘Cause the Juice is Running Low)”
Composer: Adelia Davis
Recorded: February 1954
Label: Aladdin 3264
1954 “Fat Back and Corn Liquor”
Composer: Rudy Toombs
Recorded: February 1954
Label: Aladdin 3270
1954 “The Dripper”
Composer: Jordan
Recorded: January 1954
Label: Aladdin 3270
1954 “Gal, You Need a Whippin’”
Composer: Jordan, Antonio Cosey
Recorded: January 1954
Label: Aladdin 3279
1954 “Time is a Passin’”
Composer: Jordan
Recorded: January 1954
Label: Aladdin 3279
1954 “Gotta Go”
Composer: Jordan
Recorded: February 1954
Label: Aladdin 3295
1954 “It’s Hard to be Good Without You”
Composer: Jordan, Eddie Lane
Recorded: January 1954
Label: Aladdin 3295
1955 “Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets)”
Composer: Richard Adler, Jerry Ross
Recorded: March 18, 1955
Label: X 0116
1955 “It’s Been Said”
Composer: Nellie Lutcher
Recorded: March 18, 1955
Label: X 0116
1955 “Bananas”
Composer: Bennie Benjamin, George David Weiss
Recorded: March 18, 1955
Label: X 0148
1955 “Baby Let’s Do It Up”
Composer: Winfield Scott
Recorded: March 18, 1955
Label: X 0148
1955 “Chicken Back”
Composer: Ernie Hays, Timmie Rogers, Joe Taylor
Recorded: October 18, 1955
Label: X 0182
1955 “Where Can I Go?”
Composer: Jordan, Clyde Jones
Recorded: October 18, 1955
Label: X 0182
1955 “Rock 'n Roll Call”
Composer: Jack Hammer aka Earl Burroughs, Rudy Toombs
Recorded: October 18, 1955
Label: Vik 0192
1955 “Baby, You’re Just Too Much”
Composer: Aaron Schroeder
Recorded: October 18, 1955
Label: Vik 0192
1956 “Big Bess”
Composer: Teddy McCrae, Mamie Thomas
Recorded: October 23, 1956
Label: Mercury 70993
1956 “Cat Scratchin’”
Composer: R. Refond
Recorded: October 23, 1956
Label: Mercury 70993
1956 "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens (remake)
Composer: Joan Whitney, Alex Kramer
Recorded: 1956
Label: Mercury 71023
1956 "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" (remake)
Composer:Vaughn Horton aka George Vaughn Horton, Denver Darling, Milt Gabler
Recorded: 1956
Label: Mercury 71023
1957 “Rock Doc”
Composer: Allman, Lloyd Shaffer
Recorded: January 25, 1957
Label: Mercury 71052
1957 “Morning Light”
Composer: Don Benoliel, Jerry Ragovoy
Recorded: January 25, 1957
Label: Mercury 71052
1957 “Fire”
Composer: Jordan, Brook Benton
Recorded: January 25, 1957
Label: Mercury 71106
1957 “Ella Mae”
Composer: Mayme Watts
Recorded: 1957
Label: Mercury 71106
1957 "I Found My Piece of Mind"
Composer: Pee Wee Crayton
Recorded: 1957
Label: Mercury 71206
1957 "I Never Had a Chance"
Composer: Irving Berlin
Recorded: 1957
Label: Mercury 71206
1958 “Sweet Hunk of Junk”
Composer:
Recorded: June 9, 1958
Label:Mercury 71319
1958 “Wish I Could Make Some Money”
Composer:
Recorded: June 9, 1958
Label: Mercury 71319
Blank in chart positions indicates release that did not chart.
1960s
Year Title Details Peak chart positions[note 50]
R&B Pop C&W
1960 "Bills"
Composer: Leslie Ann Butler, Terry Dossie
Recorded:
Label: Warwick M–583
1960 "Fifty Cents"
Composer:
Recorded:
Label: Warwick M–583
1962 "You're My Mule"
Composer: Jordan, William Jones, Lawernce Washington
Recorded:
Label: Tangerine 924
1962 "Texarkana Twist"
Composer: D. DeLuca, F. Jordan
Recorded:
Label: Tangerine 924
1962 "Workin' Man"
Composer:
Recorded:
Label: Tangerine 926
1962 "The Meeting"
Composer:
Recorded:
Label: Tangerine 926
1963 "Hardhead"
Composer: Eddie Curtis
Recorded:
Label: Tangerine 930
1963 "Never Know When a Cheating Woman Changes Her Mind"
Composer: Floyd Dixon
Recorded:
Label: Tangerine 930
1963 "Don't Send Me Flowers When I'm in the Graveyard"
Composer: Floyd Dixon
Recorded:
Label: Tangerine 933
1963 "Point of No Return"
Composer: Carole King, Gerry Goffin
Recorded:
Label: Tangerine 933
1964 "What I Say"[note 51]
Composer: Ray Charles
Recorded:
Label: Tangerine 937
1964 "Old Age"
Composer: Jordan, Mabel Davis, Ray Charles
Recorded:
Label: Tangerine 937
1964 "Time Is Running Out"
Composer:
Recorded:
Label: Tangerine 942
1964 "Troubadour"
Composer:
Recorded:
Label: Tangerine 942
1964 "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens" (remake)
Composer: Joan Whitney, Alex Kramer
Recorded:
Label: Tangerine 947
1964 "Saturday Nite Fish Fry" (remake)
Composer: Jordan, Ellis Walsh, Al Carters
Recorded:
Label: Tangerine 947
1965 "Comin' Down"
Composer: Bobby Darin, Howlett Smith
Recorded:
Label: Tangerine 958
1965 "65 Bars"
Composer: Don Padgett, Howlett Smith
Recorded:
Label: Tangerine 958
1963 "Just to Look at You"
Composer: Irwin Schuster, Jeff Berry
Recorded:
Label: Josie 903
1963 "You Made a Fool Out of Me"
Composer: Jordan, Salle Bell
Recorded:
Label: Josie 903
1968 "Sakitumi"
Composer:
Recorded:
Label: Pzazz 015
1968 "Santa Claus, Santa Claus"
Composer: Teddy Edwards
Recorded:
Label: Pzazz 015
Blank in chart positions indicates release that did not chart.
Albums
Studio albums
Somebody Up There Digs Me (1956)
Man, We're Wailin' (1957)
Live albums
Live Jive
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