Let the Good Times Roll

Hey Mr. Landlord!
Lock up all the doh’s.
When the poh-lice comes around,
Tell ‘em the joint is closed.
And let the good times roll!

Mr. Louis Jordan kicks off postings at Cockadoodledoo with one of his most famous tunes, “Let the Good Times Roll”. Later covered and adopted by B.B. King as one of his signature songs, it remains a staple of many blues bands. As Wikipedia notes:

Jordan is acknowledged as 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, but 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 black bandleader of his day.

Although Jordan began his career in big band swing jazz in the 1930s, he became famous as one of the leading practitioners and popularisers of “jump blues“, a swinging, up-tempo, dance-oriented hybrid of jazz, blues and boogie-woogie. Typically performed by smaller bands (typically 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 electronic 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 1950s and 1960s, and exerted a huge influence on many leading performers in these genres.

Among his many distinctive and recognizable hit recordings, my favorites include “Caldonia (What Makes Your Big Head So Hard?)”, “Saturday Night Fish Fry” and the comical “Aint Nobody Here But Us Chickens”. All of these songs are included on this CD – “The Best of Louis Jordan”