The Juke In The Back” focuses on the “soul that came before rock n’ roll,” the records that inspired Elvis, Buddy Holly, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and countless others.
The “Juke In The Back” presents Part 5 of our mammoth, 6 part series, featuring the most important musical figure of the 1940s, Louis Jordan. He was the most successful African-American artist of the decade, selling millions of records to both Black and White audiences. Jordan charted 57 singles between 1942 and 1951, scoring 18 #1 R&B hits and 54 top 10s. Several of his records even crossed over into the Pop Top 10, which was an almost unheard of feat at the time.
Part 5 of our series focuses on mid-1948 thru the beginning of 1950. During this time, Jordan only scored 2 #1 records and so it has become a much overlooked period in his career, even though he released some very strong singles.
We’ll hear two songs that were featured in motion pictures as well as 2 duets, one with Martha Davis and another one with Ella Fitzgerald. Though the hits weren’t as strong as previous years, Jordan did score a career highlight with “Saturday Night Fish Fry,” which topped the R&B Chart for an impressive 12 weeks. His competition in the R&B Field was getting much stronger, but Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five continued to record and release top-notch material. Pianist Bill Doggett is even featured on a few sides.
This is the second to last part of my loving tribute to the great and influential Louis Jordan.
Join Matt the Cat for Juke in the Back, tomorrow morning at 04:00 AM Eastern, with an encore presentation, Sunday afternoon at 03:00 PM Eastern, on Mushroom FM, the home of the fun guys, making four decades of magic mushroom memories!
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