Taffeta jordan

Taft Jordan, Aquarium, New York, circa November 1946.
Photograph by William P. Gottlieb .

James Taft Jordan (born February 15, 1915 in Florence (South Carolina) , † December 1, 1981 in New York City ) was an American swing jazz trumpeter .

Jordan, who was strongly influenced by Louis Armstrong in his early days , first played with the Washboard Rhythm Kings and from 1933 to 1942 in the big band of Chick Webb , where he was solo trumpeter alongside Bobby Stark and also during the time as Ella Fitzgerald she directed. In 1942 he led his own band. From 1943 to 1947 he worked in the Duke Ellington Orchestra . From 1949 to 1953 he was in the house band at the Savannah Club in Greenwich Village , led by bassist Lucille Dixon . In 1958/59 he toured with Benny Goodman . He then worked as a freelancer in New York City. As a sideman, he's 1959/60 on Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis heard. He played in Broadway shows and took part in Duke Ellington's Town Hall Concert in 1963 . In the 1970s he played with the New York Jazz Repertory Company . With a "Cotton Club Gala" under the direction of Aaron Bell in 1978 he undertook what is probably his only European tour.

He recorded in 1935 for Banner ( "If The Moon Turns Green" under the band name Taft Jordan and The Mob ) and as the leader of his own band in 1960/61 under his own name (including a tribute album to Ellington Mood Indigo at Prestige 1961) . In the course of his career he has also worked on the recordings of Benny Carter , Al Hibbler / Harry Carney , Johnny Hodges , Al Sears , Rex Stewart and Sarah Vaughan .

Discographic notes

• The Moods of Taft Jordan (Mercury, 1958) with Everett Barksdale and Joe Benjamin
• Plays Duke Ellington (Prestige / Moodville, 1961)
• Al Sears / Taft Jordan - Swingville (Prestige, 1961)

Web links

• Scott Yanow biography