Duke Jordan has left us

[Christiern]

Pianist Duke Jordan passed away in Copenhagen this past Tuesday.

[king ubu]

Sad news :-(

Will play some of his music... a natural player (seems he didn't read, at least no early on, when with Bird). I cherish his lone Blue Note album.

[.:.impossible]

I was listening to Flight to Jordan on Tuesday... sad news.

[JohnS]

Sad news.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

RIP Mr. Jordan. I was just spinning "Flight To Jordan" last week and wondering how he was doing.

[Larry Kart]

Difficult, troubled man, so I've been told (and quite capable of making trouble for others, too), but one of the great pianists, I think. Unfailing melodic freshness.

[brownie]

That's sad! Even Miles Davis might have been sad about this!

Duke Jordan's piano solo on Bird's 'Out of Nowhere' was the start of an appreciation for his talent!

[J.A.W.]

One of the great pianists indeed! Sad news.

[John L]

RIP: Sad news. I was just talking to Sheila Jordan not long ago, and she reminded me that Duke Jordan was still alive.

I will remember him tonight by playing Barney Wilen's live recordings on RCA from the 60s that include incredible contributions from Jordan.

[ghost of miles]

Don't have much of Jordan as a leader--just the aforementioned FLIGHT, plus the soundtrack to LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES and that title on Vogue that's split between him and Bud Powell. He was a player, though, who always jumped out at me whenever I was listening to something that included him on piano, one of those musicians who makes you go, "Oh, that's _______!"

Man, the generation that came of age in the 1940s is nearly all gone.

[Chuck Nessa]

Interested parties will find many fine Jordan recordings on SteepleChase.

[clifford_thornton]

Bummer. This is very sad news, indeed. Always really loved his playing - what a left hand!

I'll be spinning later today in his honor...

[Dmitry]

Difficult, troubled man, so I've been told (and quite capable of making trouble for others, too), but one of the great pianists, I think. Unfailing melodic freshness.

I didn't know he was a troubled man. What was wrong with him?

[Dan Gould]

Interested parties will find many fine Jordan recordings on SteepleChase.

Like this one:

RIP.

[Dan Gould]

Difficult, troubled man, so I've been told (and quite capable of making trouble for others, too), but one of the great pianists, I think. Unfailing melodic freshness.

I didn't know he was a troubled man. What was wrong with him?

There've been stories told here ... seemed to be that he was a real ornery son of a gun, not exactly friendly to his fans. Beyond that I can't say though.

[bertrand]

Although Miles was a jerk in his autobiography in what he said about him, I read an interview with Jordan in which he was saying some really vile stuff. Turned me off to say the least.

Bertrand.

[brownie]

An old favorite from the SteepleChase catalogue is this one

Beautiful quartet date with Chuck Wayne, Sam Jones and Roy Haynes!

[sidewinder]

Sad news. Time to spin Tina Brooks' 'True Blue' in recognition. He plays great on that one.

[White Lightning]

Sad news.

[BruceH]

Sad news. A great talent. Flight To Jordan is one of my favorite Blue Note "one shots." RIP

[couw]

before Jim gets into a hissyfit over Durium posting this sad news in the appropriate forum, can we move this thread to the artist forum please?

Edited August 10, 2006 by couw

[catesta]

Interested parties will find many fine Jordan recordings on SteepleChase.

Like this one:

RIP.

A favorite of mine.

R.I.P., Duke Jordan.

[B. Goren.]

RIP Mr. Jordan.

[Larry Kart]

Ornery, often hacked-off (not that there aren't good reasons for a jazz musician to be hacked-off a lot, but Jordan was felt by some, maybe by many, to exceed reasonable limits). I also recall Sheila saying he was a complete dick to her and their daughter Tracey at times, but that might have been drugs, or lack of same, talking (i.e. talking to Duke). On the other hand, nice guy Eddie Bert apparently got along with him well; he used Jordan as a sideman (and vice versa) fairly often over the years and spoke of him as a friend. I've never heard a Jordan solo that was less than excellent, and the best of them are sublime. A favorite of mine is his Signal album from 1955, "Flight To Jordan,"with a trio of Jordan, Percy Heath, and Blakey on one side; second side adds Bert and Cecil Payne. Side one highlights are a great reading of "They Can't Take That Away From Me," Duke's "Forecast," and a haunting solo version of "Summertime." Side two includes the first version, I think, of the title piece, "Scotch Blues," and "Two Loves," dedicated to Sheila and Tracey. RVG was at the controls. This came out on a Denon CD titled "Trio & Quintet in 1991.

[Durium]

I like his tune My Heart Skips a Beat as played by the Duke Jordan Quartet with Art Farmer on trumpet.

Keep swinging

Durium