I Believe In Music

Recorded in a single Paris session on November 6, 1973, for the French label Barclay Disques, I BELIEVE IN MUSIC finds jazz vocalist Louis Jordan just barely a year prior to his death at the age of 67. In poor but not frail health, Jordan sounds somewhat subdued but hardly sickly. What's interesting about this date is that Jordan sings comparatively little, preferring to focus his energy on his under-appreciated alto saxophone skills. A blues honker in the Jimmy Forrest/King Curtis tradition, Jordan blows the hell out of his axe, trading lines with tenor Irv Cox while a hot piano-guitar-bass-drums rhythm section pounds behind them. Jordan revisits a few of his own classics, like "Saturday Night Fish Fry" and "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby", but mostly he prefers to explore other standards like Duke Ellington's "Take the A Train". The closing "Something For Louis" is a tender farewell to the recently deceased Mr. Armstrong, an old friend and cohort of Jordan's.|

Louis Jordan's final recording (he died 15 months later), I Believe in Music has been reissued on CD, along with six previously unreleased selections. Although Jordan had not been a hitmaker in around 20 years and had been somewhat neglected during the decade before the set, he was still in his musical prime both vocally and instrumentally. The altoist is teamed with tenorman Irv Cox and a rhythm section led by pianist Duke Burrell. There are a few remakes of past hits (including "Caldonia," "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby," "Saturday Night Fish Fry" and "I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town"), along with newer jump material. Jordan is in good form and high spirits throughout this date. Recommended. ~ Scott Yanow