From Barrelhouse To Broadway: The Musical Odyssey Of Joe Jordan
Liner Notes   Cat. No. 80649     Release Date: 2006-01-01

The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, Rick Benjamin, music director

Joe Jordan (1882-1971) is the musician who most directly links authentic African-American ragtime with the Golden Age of the American musical theater. An artist of great versatility-he was a gifted pianist, composer, songwriter, arranger, conductor, organizer, promoter, and educator-Jordan was also remarkable for his extraordinary successes in an era of appalling racial discrimination.

Threads of his long and fascinating career intertwined and intersected with historical figures as diverse as Fanny Brice, Scott Joplin, Orson Welles, James P. Johnson, Florenz Ziegfeld, "Fats" Waller, W.C. Handy, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Williams & Walker, Ethel Merman, Cole & Johnson, Ginger Rogers, Ernest Hogan, Will Marion Cook, Tom Turpin, and a host of others.

Although he had little formal musical training, Joe Jordan composed, orchestrated, and conducted dozens of important musical productions in Chicago and New York, and wrote more than six hundred songs, several of them nationwide hits. He was also a businessman of such keen ability that by the late 1910s he had become one of the wealthiest blacks in the nation. Yet, with the passage of time, awareness of Joe Jordan's music and career has faded. But a study of his rich creative legacy reveals much of importance to current and future generations. It is time for Joe Jordan's amazing story-and music-to be heard once again.

This well-chosen anthology of twenty songs, the first-ever comprehensive survey of Jordan's remarkable output, features several of his most popular hits, including "Lovie Joe," the song that made Fanny Brice a star. The stylish and vital performances are the fruit of exhaustive research by Rick Benjamin and bring this music vividly to life again for today's listeners and scholars of early American popular music and culture.

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Paragon Ragtime Orchestra

From Barrelhouse To Broadway: The Musical Odyssey Of Joe Jordan

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Track Listing

Double Fudge
Joe Jordan
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Nappy Lee
Joe Jordan
Buy
Lovie Joe
Joe Jordan
Buy
The Darkey Todalo: A Raggedy Rag
Joe Jordan
Buy
Take Your Time
Joe Jordan
Buy
J.J.J. Rag
Joe Jordan
Buy
I Am Waiting For You, Honey Dear
Joe Jordan
Buy
The Whippoorwill Dance
Joe Jordan
Buy
Dat's Ma Honey Sho's Yo' Born
Joe Jordan
Buy
That Teasin' Rag
Joe Jordan
Buy
Brother-In-Law Dan
Joe Jordan
Buy
Pekin Rag - Intermezzo
Joe Jordan
Buy
He's Coming Back!: Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Moose Song
Joe Jordan
Buy
Bouclaire Waltzes
Joe Jordan
Buy
The Morocco Blues
Joe Jordan
Buy
Sweetie Dear Fox Trot
Joe Jordan
Buy
Sweetie Dear: An Afro-American Serenade
Joe Jordan
Buy
Happiness
Joe Jordan
Buy
The Century March
Joe Jordan
Buy
Tango Two Step
Joe Jordan
Buy
1962 Joe Jordan Interview Exerpt (Part I)
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Buy
1962 Joe Jordan Interview Exerpt (Part II)
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Buy