Kidd Jordan

Kidd Jordan (2013)

Edward "Kidd" Jordan (born May 5, 1935 in Crowley (Louisiana) ) is an American jazz and R&B musician ( clarinets , saxophones ) who also works as a university teacher. Jordan's instruments include tenor , baritone , soprano , alto , C melody and sopranino saxophone as well as double bass and bass clarinet .

Life

Jordan's first instrument was a C-Melody saxophone until he switched to the alto saxophone, which then - influenced by Charlie Parker and Sonny Stitt - became his main instrument. He studied music education at Southern University in Baton Rouge , Louisiana , played in dance and rhythm & blues bands, and moved to New Orleans in 1955 after graduating . He later also lived in New York and Chicago, where he received his Masters from Millikin University and continued his studies at Northwestern University . Here he came into contact with musicians from the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), in particular with Fred Anderson , Joel Futterman and Alvin Fielder , with whom he would work for many years.

From 1974 to 2006 he taught at Southern University in Baton Rouge ; He also played in theater bands and worked with a variety of artists from various musical fields from R&B to free jazz , such as Big Maybelle , Ray Charles , Aretha Franklin , The Temptations and Stevie Wonder as well as Cannonball Adderley , Ed Blackwell , Ornette Coleman , Dennis González , Peter Kowald , Louis Moholo , Ellis Marsalis , Sunny Murray , Archie Shepp , Alan Silva , Sun Ra and Cecil Taylor . In 1976 he organized the first concert of the World Saxophone Quartet .

Billy Bang, Fred Anderson, William Parker and Kidd Jordan at the 2008 Vision Festival

In 1980 he participated in the Clarinet Summit with Julius Hemphill , Hamiet Bluiett , Oliver Lake and David Murray and later played in The Improvisational Arts Quintet ( No Compromise! ). He performed regularly at the New York Vision Festival . As a guest musician, he also took part in recordings by Larry Williams ( Bad Boy ), Professor Longhair ( Mardi Gras in Baton Rouge ), Johnny Adams ( Good Morning Heartache ) and the rock band REM ( Out of Time ). From the mid-1990s, Jordan increasingly worked as a director and member of ensembles of creative jazz and new improvisation music . After his retirement he worked with Kali Fasteau , in the improvisation trio with William Parker and Hamid Drake and in the trio with Joel Futterman and Alvin Fielder. In 2009 he appeared as the guest of honor of the World Saxophone Quartet at the Banlieues Blues Festival .

At Southern University he worked for many years in the field of jazz courses; his students included u. a. also Terence Blanchard , Branford and Wynton Marsalis , Nicholas Payton and Charles Joseph, founding members of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band . He wrote “Kidd Jordan's Second Line” for the formation and also played sopranino saxophone in 1982 for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band in Groningen . Jordan also taught in public schools and held courses in Mali, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. In 1990 he was the founder of the Heritage School of Music at Southern University. From 1995 he was artistic director of the Louis Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp for ten years .

Jordan is also a horse breeder. In an interview he said: “Breeding horses is like improvising ... you never know what the outcome will be”.

He has seven children with his wife Edvige Jordan, a classical pianist, including jazz flutist Kent Jordan , jazz trumpeter Marlon Jordan and singers Stephanie and Rachel Jordan.

Awards

In 1985, the French Ministry of Culture honored Jordan for his life's work as a teacher and musician with the title of Knight ( Chevalier ) of the Legion of Honor ( Ordre des Arts et des Lettres ). In 2006 he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Music Education by the New Orleans music magazine Offbeat . In 2008 he received the Vision Festival honorary award for life's work.

Kidd Jordan at the Velvet Lounge in Chicago

Discographic notes

Albums under your own name

Kidd Jordan Quartet: New Orleans Festival Suite ( Silkheart )
Kidd Jordan & the Elektrik Band: Kidd 'Stuff (Danjor)
Live at the Tampere Jazz Happening (Charles Lester, 2000)
On Fire (2012)

Joel Futterman / Kidd Jordan / Alvin Fielder Trio:

Revelation (Kali)
New Orleans Rising ( Konnex Records );
Southern Extreme (Drimala Records)

Alan Silva / Kidd Jordan / William Parker Trio:

Emancipation Suite # 1 ( Boxholder , 2002)

Kidd Jordan / Hamid Drake / William Parker Trio:

Palm of Soul ( AUM Fidelity , 2005)

Kidd Jordan / Alvin Fielder / Peter Kowald Trio:

Trio and Duo in New Orleans ( NoBusiness Records , 2014)

Kidd Jordan / Alvin Fielder / Joel Futterman / Steve Swell Quartet:

Masters of Improvisation (Valid Records, 2018)
A Tribute to Alvin Fielder: Live at Vision Festival XXIV (2020)

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ “Nowadays,” Jordan explains in an interview, “everybody just wants to play the same stuff that everybody else is playing. Same solos, same licks, and I can see that, because everybody wants to be accepted, but I don't care about that. The minute someone wants to pat me on the back about something is the minute I'm ready to leave. You've got to know yourself and what you're capable of doing and how you want to do it. I guess I've always been hardheaded, because around New Orleans people have been telling me I'm the last free man for the last twenty years. It's not a popular road. You stood a lot of abuse to play this music. But you got to stick to what you want to do. " Quoted from AllAbout Jazz.
↑ In the original: “horseracing is like improvising. (...) You don't ever know what they are going to do. When you bring them out to track, they may be prepared and all and you say they are going to race like they did last time and they go ahead and do something completing different depending on how they feel, so that's serious improvisation! "Zit. after Charles Lester Music .
^ Music Review - Kidd Jordan A Sax Man of Distinction and That Vision Thing. The New York Times, June 13, 2008, retrieved on May 2, 2014 (English): “On Wednesday at the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural Center, the festival devoted a full evening of programming to Mr. Jordan, bestowing what it calls a lifetime recognition honor. "

personal data
SURNAME	Jordan, Kidd
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Jordan, Edward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American jazz and R&B musician (clarinets, saxophones)
DATE OF BIRTH	May 5, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH	Crowley (Louisiana)

[1] “Nowadays,” Jordan explains in an interview, “everybody just wants to play the same stuff that everybody else is playing. Same solos, same licks, and I can see that, because everybody wants to be accepted, but I don't care about that. The minute someone wants to pat me on the back about something is the minute I'm ready to leave. You've got to know yourself and what you're capable of doing and how you want to do it. I guess I've always been hardheaded, because around New Orleans people have been telling me I'm the last free man for the last twenty years. It's not a popular road. You stood a lot of abuse to play this music. But you got to stick to what you want to do. " Quoted from AllAbout Jazz.

[2] In the original: “horseracing is like improvising. (...) You don't ever know what they are going to do. When you bring them out to track, they may be prepared and all and you say they are going to race like they did last time and they go ahead and do something completing different depending on how they feel, so that's serious improvisation! "Zit. after Charles Lester Music .

[3] Music Review - Kidd Jordan A Sax Man of Distinction and That Vision Thing. The New York Times, June 13, 2008, retrieved on May 2, 2014 (English): “On Wednesday at the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural Center, the festival devoted a full evening of programming to Mr. Jordan, bestowing what it calls a lifetime recognition honor. "