Louis Jordan’s “Rockin’ Period”
(1954-1958) Discography
compiled by David Gasten
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Collecting Louis Jordan's rockin' period just got incredibly easy, thanks to the release of Jasmine Records' The Rock 'N' Roll Years 1955-58 (2011). This compilation brings Louis Jordan's X, Vik and Mercury Records sessions together for the first time. Read more about this important reissue in our Collecting Louis Jordan page. |
Louis Jordan is to this day one of the most influential black performers in recording history. Jordan had no less than eighteen #1 hits on the R&B charts in the 1940’s and early 1950’s, a feat that to this day has only been topped by Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin, who both have 20 #1 hits each to their name on the R&B charts. Jordan also ties for the longest-running R&B #1 of all time (“Choo Choo Ch’Boogie”, 18 weeks in 1946) and is second only to James Brown in the number of top ten singles he has had on the R&B charts (JB had 51, LJ had 50). Louis Jordan’s appeal with the black community in the 1940’s was universal to the point that you couldn’t get away from him. His music was distinctively black, but was also relatively clean lyrically and fun as hey, which allowed him to cross over into the pop market as well, which he did 20 times between 1943 and 1949.
This entire time, Jordan had been exclusively with Decca Records. Jordan’s final major hit for Decca was a #5 single from 1951 called “Weak Minded Blues”; three years later, in 1953, the hits had dried up and Decca let him go. The successful R&B indie label Aladdin Records opted to sign Jordan on, and Jordan worked with them throughout 1954.
Like many of the jump blues performers of the late 1940's and early 1950's, Jordan was sadly overlooked as the market for intense R&B trasitioned into the rock n' roll explosion of the mid-1950's. While Jordan was with Decca, he never went over-the-top in the intensity department, preferring to keep the music fun and enjoyable for the wide range of audiences that had grown accustomed to his music. But when Aladdin Records opted to sign Jordan on, Jordan began transitioning toward a harder-edged sound that was in keeping with the times. This really started to kick into gear in 1955, the following year, when RCA Records' "indie" subsidiary "X" Records signed Jordan on; they would change their name to Vik Records while Jordan was with them. Sadly, it didn't sell records, and RCA let him go after a handful of sessions. In 1956, Mercury Records went over-the-top in giving Jordan a large recording budget and staging a "comeback" for Jordan. This too failed, and Mercury let Jordan go in 1958. But regardless, the music he would create for Aladdin, “X”, Vik, and Mercury Records from 1954 to 1958 is incredibly solid and intense, and just as fun as ever.
It is this “rockin’” period of Jordan’s career that has been the most influential to us and to other swing and jump blues revivalists worldwide, and because of that, we are publishing Louis Jordan’s “Rockin’ Period” Discography in its entirety here.
All of the tracks in this discography are available on the following CD's:
MR - Various Artists: Mercury R+B '46-'62 (Polygram [Germany], 1989)
RR - Rock 'n' Roll (Mercury/Polygram [France], 1989)
CA - One Guy Named Louis: The Complete Aladdin Sessions (Capitol Jazz [USA], 1992)
RC - Rock 'n Roll Call (Bluebird Records/RCA [USA], 1993)
AX - The Aladdin, X & Vik Recordings 1953-55 (Rev-Ola Records [UK], 2006)
RD - Rock Doc! Louis Jordan on Mercury 1956-1957 (Rev-Ola Records [UK], 2008)
RY - The Rock 'N' Roll Years 1955-58 (Jasmine Rercords [UK], 2011)
—Louis Jordan on Aladdin Records— |
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Title |
Label |
Serial No. |
Recorded |
Available on: |
“Whiskey Do Your Stuff” b/w “Dad Gum Ya Hide, Boy” |
Aladdin |
3223 |
1-?-1954 |
CA, AX |
“I’ll Die Happy” b/w “Ooo-Wee” |
" |
3227 |
2-?-1954/1-?-1954 |
" |
“A Dollar Down” b/w “Hurry Home” |
" |
3243 |
2-?-1954/4-?-1954 |
" |
“I Seen Watcha Done” b/w “Messy Bessy” |
" |
3246 |
1-?-1954/2-?-1954 |
" |
“Louie’s Blues” b/w “If I Had Any Sense, I’d Go Back Home” |
" |
3249 |
2-?-1954/4-?-1954 |
" |
“Yeah, Yeah Baby!” b/w “Put Some Money in the Pot, Boy (‘Cause the Juice is Running Low)” |
" |
3264 |
2-?-1954 |
" |
“Fat Back and Corn Liquor” b/w “The Dripper” |
" |
3270 |
2-?-1954/1-?-1954 |
" |
“Gal, You Need a Whippin’” b/w “Time is a Passin’” |
" |
3279 |
1-?-1954 |
" |
“Gotta Go” b/w “It’s Hard to be Good Without You” |
" |
3295 |
2-?-1954/1-?-1954 |
" |
“’Til We Two Are One” |
" |
Initially unreleased |
1-?-1954 |
" |
“Private Property (No Trespassing)”, “For You” |
" |
Initially unreleased |
2-?-1954 |
" |
Louis Jordan’s Aladdin contract consisted of three sessions (or series of sessions) in January, February, and April of 1954. The exact dates of the recordings are unknown. The result was nine singles and three unreleased tracks, or 21 songs in all. All of these recordings, including the initially unreleased songs, are available on two different compilations: One Guy Named Louis: The Complete Aladdin Sessions (Capitol Jazz [USA], 1992) and The Aladdin, X, and Vik Recordings 1953-1955 (Rev-Ola Records [UK], 2006). |
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—Louis Jordan on “X”/Vik Records— |
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Title |
Label |
Serial No. |
Recorded |
Available on: |
“Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets)” b/w “It’s Been Said” |
“X” |
0116 |
3-18-1955 |
RC, AX, RY |
“Bananas” b/w “Baby Let’s Do It Up” |
" |
0148 |
3-18-1955 |
" |
“Slow, Smooth, and Easy” |
" |
Initially unreleased |
3-18-1955 |
" |
“Slow, Smooth, and Easy” an unreleased song?! That’s a crime; it's one of the best in the LJ catalog. These three songs from a March 18, 1955 session are all great, but “Slow, Smooth and Easy” was not released in any form until Bear Family trawled the vaults and released two comprehensive compilations of the “X”, Vik and Mercury material on vinyl in the mid-1980’s. |
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“Chicken Back” b/w “Where Can I Go?” |
" |
0182 |
10-18-1955 |
" |
“Chicken Back” is a bopping, bouncy tune about how all parts of the chicken are good to eat, although the very end focuses on "chicken" of a different type when LJ announces, "I even like the last part over the fence!" It's a very rare double-entendre from an artist that usually didn't go there. |
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“Rock N’ Roll Call” b/w “Baby, You’re Just too Much” |
Vik |
0192 |
10-18-1955 |
" |
On September 10, 1955, RCA announced that they would rechristen their “indie” subsidiary, “X” Records, under the new name Vik Records. The name change commenced with single #0184 (“Turn the Light On” b/w ”Boom-De-De-Boom” by Eddie Fontaine, which was released as both an “X” and a Vik single). This makes the “Rock N’ Roll Call” 45 LJ’s only single on the Vik label, even though both “Chicken Back” b/w “Where Can I Go?” and “Rock N’ Roll Call” b/w “Baby, You’re Just too Much” were recorded during the same session. “Rock N’ Roll Call” b/w “Baby, You’re Just too Much” is one hard-jumpin' single that announces in no uncertain terms that LJ is in the intensity game for real now, and doing it with the best of ‘em! “Rock N’ Roll Call” is a list song that names off a bunch of random names of people who are invited to come rock and roll with Louis the Jordan; it ends with LJ singing “If I haven’t called your name, you’re invited just the same; come on one and all, let’s rock and roll and have a ball!” “Baby, You’re Just too Much” is the song that originally alerted me to the fact that there was a later, harder rockin’ period of LJ’s music that I needed to seek out. I discovered this tune on a 1990’s swing revival-period compilation called Lovers’ Swing (BMG/RCA Victor, 1999). |
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“A Man Ain’t a Man”, “Texas Stew”, “Hard Head” |
Vik |
Initially unreleased |
4-17-1956 |
RC, RY |
The “X”/Vik recordings consisted of four singles plus four unreleased tracks, so twelve tracks in all. And what a line up of tunes it is! The “X”/Vik tracks catch LJ finishing the transition toward a harder jumpin' sound that he began making during the Aladdin period, but it’s in these sessions that he finally pours in the whole can of boss sauce. The final three tracks LJ recorded for Vik were not released initially and, like “Slow, Smooth, and Easy”, were not released until Bear Family uncovered them in the mid-1980’s. All three of the songs were written by Eddie Curtis and have a spacious, large-band feel. “Hard Head” and “A Man Ain’t A Man” would become late-career concert staples for LJ, and we would record them both twice more. Both “Hard Head” and “A Man Ain’t A Man” are awash with harp (not harmonica, mind you, but celestial-sounding harp!) of all things. Frankly, the sound of the harp doesn’t fit these jump blues tracks well at all, although the performances are quite good regardless. “Texas Stew” and “A Man Ain’t A Man” both feature lady vocalist Dorothy Smith, who would be featured prominently in LJ’s second Mercury LP Man, We’re Wailin’ (1957). An important caveat: if you purchase Cherry Red subsidiary Rev-Ola’s The Aladdin, X, and Vik Recordings 1953-1955 (2006), you will have everything except for the songs from this 4-17-1956 session (“A Man Ain’t a Man”, “Texas Stew”, “Hard Head”). I am assuming that these were omitted due to space constraints on the CD. |
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12” LP: Somebody Up There Digs Me(Mercury MG 20242, 1956) Track List: 7. Let The Good Times Roll*
* Recorded 10-22-1956 All tracks arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones
Rock ‘N’ Roll (Mercury/Polygram [France], 1989)
“Caldonia,” “Let the Good Times Roll”, and “Salt Pork West Virginia” are on the compilation Mercury R+B '46-'62 (Polygram [Germany], 1989)
From the liner notes of the Rock ‘N’ Roll (1989) compilation:
"Louis Jordan moved to Mercury [Records] in 1956….In the hope of obtaining a hit, the Mercury company put all its resources into the recordings. The results of the first session [featured on this LP] were excellent. With the complicity of a luxury orchestra…brought together by Quincy Jones, who officiated as arranger, Louis Jordan came up with good new versions of his old hits, using a more contemporary vein (“Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie” and “Caldonia” with a superb contribution from guitarist Mickey Baker) that unfortunately made no impact on the charts." (p. 5)
Somebody Up There Digs Me was Mercury's attempt to revive Louis Jordan's career with scorching, high-octane rock and roll versions of his hits from the 1940’s. In my opinion, this one album is probably the best way to get into Louis Jordan for the novice. This album gives you a good sampling of the songs LJ is still famous for today, at intensity levels comparable to what we are used to today, and all in excellent sound quality. |
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7” non-LP singles and initially unreleased tracks: |
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Title |
Label |
Serial No. |
Recorded |
Available on: |
“Big Bess” b/w “Cat Scratchin’” |
Mercury |
70993 |
10-23-1956 |
RR, RD, RY, MR |
These are two new (at the time) songs recorded during the Somebody Up There Digs Me sessions (the same session as the album tracks "Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying" and "I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts of Town" were recorded in, to be exact), and also feature the arranging and conducting efforts of the great Quincy Jones. “Big Bess” tears it up with honkin’ saxophone and handclaps propelling the proceedings, and runs at about the same tempo as Somebody Up There Digs Me’s high-octane version of “Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens”. “Cat Scratchin’” is a little more mid-tempo but still intense, and is a story about Louis and his friends painting the town red and getting into trouble with the law. One verse has one of Louis’ friends landing in jail, and it contains these great lines: “I ran to the judge and said, ‘What did he do?’, and he said, ‘He was crawling around Main Street like a tiger in a zoo.’” This single is another scorcher and not to be missed. |
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“Rock Doc” b/w “Morning Light” |
Mercury |
70152 |
1-25-1957 |
Both sides on RR and RY; "Rock Doc" on RD |
“Rock Doc” is a fun tune about gloriously failing sanity tests in a psychoanalyst’s office. The b-side, “Morning Light”, was left off of Rev-Ola’s Rock Doc! Louis Jordan on Mercury 1956-57, probably for space reasons. Rev-Ola’s compilations are rather infamous for leaving off stuff and not telling you what they left out. However, it is on Rock ‘N’ Roll and on the Jasmine Records compilaiton The Rock 'n' Roll Years 1955-58. |
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“Fire” b/w “Ella Mae” |
Mercury |
71106 |
1-25-1957 |
RR, RD, RY; "Ella Mae" on MR |
“Fire” (Take 4, without overdubs) |
Mercury |
Initially unreleased |
1-25-1957 |
MR |
The final release version of "Fire" is overdubbed with sirens and Louis Jordan yelling, “Help! Help!” to get the idea that he’s on fire and needs a woman to quench the fire. It also has some handclap overdubs. The initially unreleased "Fire (Take 4)" is the track without these embellishments. |
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“I Want to Know”, “I’ve Found My Peace of Mind” |
Mercury |
Initially unreleased |
c. early summer 1957 |
RY |
“I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire”, “A Day Away From You” |
Mercury |
Initially unreleased |
c. early summer 1957 |
RY |
Here’s a complete session that went unreleased until Bear Family got to them and released them on their two Rockin' And Jivin' LP’s in the 1980’s. They've since seen a CD reissue on Jasmine Records' The Rock 'N' Roll Years 1955-58 (2011). “I’ve Found My Peace of Mind” was rerecorded and released on the second LJ Mercury LP, Man, We’re Wailin’ (1957), which we will discuss next. |
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12” LP: Man, We’re Wailin’(Mercury MG 20331, 1957) Track List: 7. A Man Ain’t a Man**§
* Recorded 8-28-1957 §Featuring Dorothy Smith on background vocals
Man, We’re Wailin’ (Universal [Japan], 2005) The Rock 'N' Roll Years 1955-58 (Jasmine Records [UK], 2011)
Other CD compilations which contain portions of Man, We’re Wailin’:
Rock ‘N’ Roll (Polygram [France], 1989) (“Saturday Night Fish Fry”, “I Got My Mojo Working”, “The Jamf”) No Moe! The Greatest Hits (Polygram [USA], 1992) (“Saturday Night Fish Fry”, “Sunday”, “The Slop”, “Sweet Lorraine”) Rock Doc! Louis Jordan on Mercury 1956-57 (Rev-Ola [UK], 2008) (all tracks except “I Never Had the Chance”)
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The original liner notes bill Man, We’re Wailin’ as:
“Louis Jordan And His Brilliant Tympany 5 In A Typical Late, Late, Late Night Club Performance.”
That's a pretty apt and succinct description of this album. The size of the band is cut down significantly, with the entire horn section replaced by a Hammond-style organ. The organ and smaller band give the album an “after hours” mood that has its jumping moments (e.g. “Saturday Night Fish Fry” and the instrumentals “The Slop” and “The Jamf”), but overall gravitates toward a smoky, sensual late-night mood.
“I’ve Found My Peace of Mind” has a slight gospel feel to it, and “I Got My Mo-jo Working” and “A Man Ain’t a Man” swing gently and are great for the cool-down part of a swing dance. “I Never Had a Chance” and the instrumentals “The Nearness of You” and “I Hadn’t Anyone ‘Till You” are all classic end-of-the-night slow dance tracks that make you want to grab a girl that you really like and gaze lovingly and caringly into her eyes as the two of you hold each other and sway softly back and forth. Yes, the vibe is quite different from the hard-rocking Somebody Up There Digs Me, even though the rockin’ portions of the album jump with the best of ‘em.
Man, We’re Wailin’ is to my knowledge the LJ album that features lady vocalist Dorothy Smith the most prominently. Dorothy provides prominent backing vocals on several of the tracks, and even takes over on lead vocals on their unique rendition of “Route 66”. I have no idea what became of Dorothy Smith or who else she sang for but she did a great job on the material she sings here. |
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“Because of You” (Lead vocal by Austin Powell), “I Cried for You” (lead vocal by Dorothy Smith) |
Mercury |
Initially unreleased |
8-28-1957 |
RY |
These are two more songs from the Man, We’re Wailin’ sessions recorded alongside Dorothy Smith’s “Route 66” that didn’t make it to the album. Both feature lead vocals by singers other than Louis Jordan. |
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“Sweet Hunk of Junk”, “Wish I Could Make Some Money” |
Mercury |
71319 |
6-9-1958 |
Both tracks on RY; “Sweet Hunk of Junk” on MR |
“I Love You So”, “That’s What True Love Can Do” |
Mercury |
Initially unreleased |
6-9-1958 |
RY |
SPECIAL MENTION:Posthumous 1980's releases of Bear family's vinyl-only Rockin' and Jivin' LP's, which contain the complete LJ Mercury Sessions; these are currently out-of-print. |
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12” LP: Rockin' And Jivin' Vol. 1(Bear Family Records [Germany], BFX 15201, 1986) Track List: 11. Salt Pork, West Virginia* * From Somebody Up There Digs Me (Mercury, 1956)
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12” LP: Rockin' And Jivin' Vol. 2(Bear Family Records [Germany], BFX 15201, 1986) Track List: 11. A Man Ain't A Man* * From Man, We’re Wailin’ (Mercury, 1957)
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