Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Honey in the Bee Ball
2. Barnacle Bill the Sailor
3. Flat Face
4. Keep a Knockin'
5. Sam Jones Done Snagged His Britches
6. Swingin' in a Coconut Tree
7. Doug the Jitterbug
8. At the Swing Cat's Ball
9. Jake, What a Snake
10. Honeysuckle Rose
11. 'Fore Day Blues
12. But I'll Be Back
13. You Ain't Nowhere
14. You're My Meat
15. June Tenth Jamboree
16. You Run Your Mouth and I'll Run My Business
17. I'm Alabama Bound
18. Somebody Done Hoodooed the Hoodoo Man
19. Bounce the Ball (Do da Dittle Um Day)
20. Penthouse in the Basement
21. After School Swing Session (Swinging With Symphony, Sid)
22. Oh Boy, I'm in the Groove
23. Never Let Your Left Hand Know What Your Right Hand's Doin'
24. Don't Come Cryin' on My Shoulder
25. Waiting for the Robert E. Lee
26. Chicken Ain't Nothin' But a Bird
27. Pompton Turnpike
28. Do You Call That a Buddy? (Dirty Cat)
29. I Know You (I Know What You Wanna Do)

Disc 2:

1. Pinetop's Boogie Woogie
2. Two Little Squirrels (Nuts to You)
3. T-Bone Blues
4. Pan-Pan
5. Saint Vitus Dance
6. Saxa-Woogie
7. Brotherly Love (Wrong Ideas)
8. Boogie Woogie Came to Town
9. How 'Bout That?
10. Mama, Mama Blues (Rusty Dusty Blues)
11. Knock Me a Kiss
12. Green Grass Grows All Around
13. Small Town Boy
14. I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town
15. What's the Use of Getting Sober (When You're Gonna Get Drunk Again)?
16. Chicks I Pick Are Slender, Tender and Tall
17. I'm Gonna Leave You on the Outskirts of Town
18. That'll Just About Knock Me Out
19. Five Guys Named Moe
20. It's a Low Down Dirty Shame
21. Ration Blues
22. Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?
23. Deacon Jones
24. I Like 'Em Fat Like That
25. Mop! Mop!
26. G.I. Jive
27. You Can't Get That No More

Disc 3:

1. My Baby Said Yes (Yip, Yip de Hootie)
2. Your Socks Don't Match
3. Buzz Me
4. Caldonia Boogie
5. Somebody Done Changed the Lock on My Door
6. How Long Must I Wait for You?
7. Salt Pork, West Virginia
8. Don't Worry 'Bout That Mule
9. Stone Cold Dead in the Market (He Had It Coming) - Louis Jordan
10. Petootie Pie
11. Recoversion Blues
12. It's So Easy
13. Beware, Brother, Beware
14. Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying
15. Choo Choo Ch'Boogie
16. Ain't That Just Like a Woman
17. That Chick's Too Young to Fry
18. No Sale
19. If It's Love You Want Baby, That's Me
20. Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens
21. Let the Good Times Roll
22. All for the Love of Lil
23. Texas and Pacific
24. Jack, You're Dead!
25. Reet Petite and Gone
26. Sure Had a Wonderful Time
27. I Know What You're Putting Down

Disc 4:

1. Friendship
2. Open the Door, Richard
3. Boogie Woogie Blue Plate
4. Barnyard Boogie
5. Every Man to His Own Profession
6. Early in the Morning
7. Run Joe
8. Look Out
9. Have You Got the Gumption?
10. We Can't Agree
11. Chicky-Mo, Craney-Crow
12. Roamin' Blues
13. Inflation Blues
14. You're Much Too Fat (And That's That)
15. Pettin' and Pokin'
16. You're on the Right Track, Baby
17. Don't Burn the Candle at Both Ends
18. Why'd You Do It Baby?
19. Daddy-O
20. Safe, Sane and Single
21. I Know What I've Got, Don't Know What I'm Getting
22. You Broke Your Promise
23. Push-Ka Pee-Shee Pie (The Saga of Saga Boy)
24. Cole Slaw
25. Beans and Corn Bread

Disc 5:

1. Onion
2. Baby's Gonna Go, Bye-Bye
3. Heed My Warning
4. Psycho-Loco
5. Baby, It's Cold Outside
6. Don't Cry, Cry, Baby
7. School Days (When We Were Kids)
8. Hungry Man
9. Saturday Night Fish Fry
10. I Want a Roof Over My Head
11. Show Me How (You Milk the Cow)
12. Blue Light Boogie
13. Ain't Nobody's Business But My Own
14. I'll Never Be Free
15. Tamburitza Boogie
16. (You Dyed Your Hair) Chartreuse
17. Lemonade
18. It's a Great, Great Pleasure
19. You Will Always Have a Friend
20. Trouble Then Satisfaction
21. Life Is So Peculiar
22. You Rascal You
23. Teardrops from My Eyes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #77498 in Music
• Released on: 2001-07-10
• Number of discs: 5
• Formats: Box set, Original recording remastered

Amazon.com
Think five discs and 131 songs is too much Louis Jordan? Not a chance. Not for a man who so consistently and so definitively achieved the elusive and delicate combination of musicianship and accessibility. Not for a man who paved new and vital musical roads without ever losing his sense of style or his appetite for fun. Covering Jordan's historic (not to mention commercially successful) Decca tenure (1938 to 1950), this amazing collection finds the alto sax player, songwriter, and singer building blues and swing into a hot mix that came to be known as R&B, producing hit after hit with topnotch bands behind him, streamlining the big-band concept without diminishing the music's force. Much has been made of his role in the development of R&B--and as a result, rock & roll--and his importance as a musical pioneer can't be underestimated. But all ideas about "historical importance" fade away as these vibrant, insistent, irresistible tracks roll by. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews

What a deal! Great jump blues & swing from the master!
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.

WHAT A BARGAIN! Just about everything from this swing king!
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.

Incredible music at a discount price!
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!