Duke Jordan, the superb bebop piano player best-known as the pianist for Charlie Parker's classic 1947 quintet with Miles Davis and Max Roach, and as the writer and namesake of the jazz standard "Jor-Du," died on August 8 at his home in Copenhagen. He was 84.
Jordan was one of the last two surviving members, along with Max Roach, of the quintet known variously as the Charlie Parker Quintet, Charlie Parker's All-Stars, and the Charlie Parker Original 5. Although the band was only together for a year (1947-48), it is widely regarded as among the greatest in the history of jazz and American music in general.
Irving Sidney Jordan was born April 1, 1922 in New York City, and initially studied classical music — until he heard the work of Teddy Wilson, his first hero, and devoted himself to jazz. Jordan was also a devotee of Duke Ellington, after whom he named himself, and especially Bud Powell.
Famous though he was for being in Bird's group, Jordan had a much broader and richer career than his one year in the spotlight. His career began in 1945, at the age of 23, when he played in Al Cooper's Savoy Sultans and Coleman Hawkins Orchestra and made his recording debut with the Floyd "Horsecollar" Williams Quartet. He then spent a year in the Roy Eldridge Orchestra (with future associate Cecil Payne), during which he began adapting Powell's innovations to his own melodic, swinging style. Parker first heard him with Eldridge that year, and hired him to join his own band the following summer.
Miles Davis famously disliked Jordan's playing — ostensibly because, as he explains in his autobiography Miles, Jordan would attempt to follow Bird even on the great altoists' most junked-out, lost, and incoherent solos, thereby making a shambles of the rhythm section. While there may be some truth to that, Miles is also notorious for its exaggerated potshots at other musicians; besides that, Parker, for all his disasters in human relations, was a masterful judge of musical talent, and he clearly saw greatness in Duke's playing.
Jordan, for his part, obliged Bird's faith in him with some of the most memorable piano of the era, including his brilliantly modern solo on "Klaunstance;" the immediately distinctive introduction to "Scrapple from the Apple;" and, of course, the sublime four-bar intro to Parker's "Embraceable You," a snippet of music so perfect it almost seems a fairy tale.
When Parker reorganized his band in late 1948, Jordan left for a spell in the Stan Getz Octet, another with Teddy Williams, and then spent a pair of residencies in the Sonny Stitt/Gene Ammons band and again with Stan Getz through the early '50s. Getz was said to shake his head and laugh when he heard Jordan's concise but endlessly melodic solos; he could play a dozen choruses, he once remarked, and not come up with a melody as good as the ones Jordan would play in eight bars.
Article comments
1 - Michael J. West
Thank you, Erin. May I inquire as to why the bold tags got removed? Not particularly concerned about it, just curious.
2 - Jobi
Curious: jamaicaobserver.com
Crossing Jordans
Jazz Notes by Michael 'Jazzofonik' Edwards
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Seems reports speaking of the demise of piano great Duke Jordan were greatly exaggerated. Inital reports suggested that Jordan, 84, had died at his home, but these were later refuted.
3 - Michael J. West
Thanks Jobi. Can anyone provide confirmation of this? The NYT ran an obituary the same day I published this, saying that his death had been confirmed by officials at the US embassy in Denmark. But as of yet I've seen no retraction. I'd like to see an official confirmation before I issue one.
4 - Alan Lyne
Michael-
Hi! I live near London (England!) and heard a fantastic report on Duke Jordan on one of the BBC's arts and entertainment programmes. It was a great tribute which lasted a good fifteen minutes, including many clips, and really summed up what a treasure this man was. Weren't we lucky he had such a long and fruitful life? Incidentally, the prog. said that he was 're-discovered driving a Yellow Cab in New York. It was to learn more about this episode that I googled his name and came up with your contact.
Thanks for a fine article. I have a feeling that the BBC will shortly be putting out another tribute ot two as they give good jazz coverage on the Radio 3 Network. Their website is well worth a visit
Regards-
Al
5 - Michael J. West
Thank you Alan! I do want to hear that BBC tribute. If it's on their site I will find it.
By the way: I've been readng a lot lately, in belated tributes/obituaries, that Duke Jordan's style was "a cross between Art Tatum and Bud Powell." And those are certainly influences, but Duke was MUCH, MUCH lighter-touch than those two thunderers. I'd get rid of Art Tatum, put the emphasis on Teddy Wilson, and make Bud the second.
6 - Jay Littman
Duke was my "Uncle". Im American married to a Dane. He lived in Valby, Denmark with my wife's Aunt for the last 30 years. We visited them several times a year for the last 14 years. He was a bit intimidating at first but we became friends. We enjoyed hearing him play piano, which he didnt do too often in the later years. We also enjoyed helping him by fixing things around the house and running erends. He died the day we came home and we were sad that were'nt able to go to the funeral. We will miss him.
7 - Michael J. West
A lovely and heartfelt tribute, Jay. Thank you.
8 - andrew powsey
I am in the process of transferring my vinyl collection onto cd. I have "flight into jordan" and decided to "google" for Duke as I was interested to find out if he was still with us..sadly not. Thanks so much for a very interesting article