Resurrecting jazz’s by-gone entertainers, from Fats Waller and Cab Calloway to Slim Gaillard, Louis Jordan, Cats & The Fiddle and Tiny Grimes & His Rockin' Highlanders
My personal experience with Louis Jordan is singing his tag ending on the now uncomfortable Baby It's Cold Outside at a Christmas party in 2014 when it was still approved for business parties no less pre-#metoo and I haven't done it since sticking to Silent Night & Have a Jolly Christmas!
His added "Where would you be going, when the wind is blowing and it's cold outside? Cause baby it's cold cold cold outside... !" Getting everyone to sing the two last colds (comon sing along...everybody...") and an extended Outside... all laughing and cheering and celebrating the season. While the gal, a former network broadcast televised contestant on The Voice sat down and brooded scowling at me. But then I knew the power of jive don't stop keep going... to the back row as you say 50+ people excluding the supposed pro in the palm of my hands having the time of their lives HEP 🐈 😻 🐈⬛️ indeed!
That Louis Jordan double was for years the only readily available record of any of this stuff. Slim (with Slam) had a cut here or there on a Columbia anthology (a guitar one and one of Apollo stars), but rarely was there a domestic release, so it was 78s and catch as catch can, as was any print matter. It was microfilm, microfiche, yellowed magazines at thrift stores, and occasional (and larely dismissive) mentions in the occasional book. Your volume was greeted by some of us as a just short of a miracle. Made me feel less stupid foe learning Slim and Rosetta solos while the Berklee-ites I knew told me it was not the hip stuff.
I'll be buying your book! Great cover.
My personal experience with Louis Jordan is singing his tag ending on the now uncomfortable Baby It's Cold Outside at a Christmas party in 2014 when it was still approved for business parties no less pre-#metoo and I haven't done it since sticking to Silent Night & Have a Jolly Christmas!
His added "Where would you be going, when the wind is blowing and it's cold outside? Cause baby it's cold cold cold outside... !" Getting everyone to sing the two last colds (comon sing along...everybody...") and an extended Outside... all laughing and cheering and celebrating the season. While the gal, a former network broadcast televised contestant on The Voice sat down and brooded scowling at me. But then I knew the power of jive don't stop keep going... to the back row as you say 50+ people excluding the supposed pro in the palm of my hands having the time of their lives HEP 🐈 😻 🐈⬛️ indeed!
I love this post, Bill . . .
Serious music, and seriously fun!
That Louis Jordan double was for years the only readily available record of any of this stuff. Slim (with Slam) had a cut here or there on a Columbia anthology (a guitar one and one of Apollo stars), but rarely was there a domestic release, so it was 78s and catch as catch can, as was any print matter. It was microfilm, microfiche, yellowed magazines at thrift stores, and occasional (and larely dismissive) mentions in the occasional book. Your volume was greeted by some of us as a just short of a miracle. Made me feel less stupid foe learning Slim and Rosetta solos while the Berklee-ites I knew told me it was not the hip stuff.