Clifford Jordan

Clifford Jordan (1980)

Clifford Irving Stanley Jordan (born September 2, 1931 in Chicago , Illinois , † March 27, 1993 in Manhattan , New York ) was an American jazz saxophonist and flutist.

Live and act

Jordan played the piano as a child before switching to the tenor saxophone. He started with classmates of DuSable High School , Johnny Griffin , John Gilmore and John Jenkins occur. He made his first professional appearances with Max Roach , Sonny Stitt and various rhythm and blues bands.

In 1957 he went with Roach to New York City , where he succeeded Sonny Rollins in Max Roach's quintet and recorded three albums on Blue Note , the first, Blowing In from Chicago in 1957 with John Gilmore, Horace Silver , Curly Russell and Art Blakey . He then worked with Horace Silver, JJ Johnson , Kenny Dorham and again with Max Roach from 1962 to 1964, as with his Impulse! -Album It's Time 1962. In 1964 he took part in Charles Mingus ' legendary European tour. In the following years he worked mainly as a band leader and went on several European tours. In 1965 he created an album with Julian Priester , which was dedicated to the blues singer Leadbelly . From 1974 to 1975 he was a member of the Cedar Walton Quartet . He also worked with the Mingus Dynasty .

In his final years Jordan led his own big band ; With almost forgotten musicians like Dizzy Reece , Kiane Zawadi , Jerome Richardson , Charles Davis and Vernel Fournier , his album Down Through the Years was created in the early 1990s . His last work is the album The Mellow Side of Clifford Jordan, published posthumously in 1997, with jazz standards such as Soul Eyes and an Ellington / Strayhorn program, on which long-time companions such as Julian Priester, Larry Willis and Mike LeDonne participated.

Discographic notes

Blowing In From Chicago , 1957, Blue Note
Cliff Craft , 1957, Blue Note
Cliff Jordan , 1957, Blue Note
Spellbound , 1960, Riverside
Bearcat , 1961, Jazzland
Charles Mingus, Cornell 1964 (blue note); The Great Concert, Paris 1964 , 1964, America / MusiDisc
These Are My Roots: Clifford Jordan Plays Leadbelly , 1965, Atlantic
Glass Bead Games , 1974, Strata-East
The Highest Mountain , 1975, Muse
Two Tenor Winner! , 1984, Criss Cross

literature

Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz. 1800 bands and artists from the beginning until today. 2nd, expanded and updated edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-476-01892-X .
Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide of Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon . Reinbek, Rowohlt, 1988

Remarks

↑ According to Richard Cook and Brian Morton, the liaison with Blue Note only lasted for a short time because his backward-looking interest in swing did not fit into the label's hardbop concept at the time; see. Cook / Morton p. 815.

personal data
SURNAME	Jordan, Clifford
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Jordan, Clifford Irving Stanley (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American jazz saxophonist and flautist
DATE OF BIRTH	September 2, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH	Chicago , Illinois , United States
DATE OF DEATH	March 27, 1993
Place of death	Manhattan , New York City , New York , United States

[1] According to Richard Cook and Brian Morton, the liaison with Blue Note only lasted for a short time because his backward-looking interest in swing did not fit into the label's hardbop concept at the time; see. Cook / Morton p. 815.