Louis Jordan African-American

A notable feature of the early 1900s culture was the dynamic vocals of swing jazz; more specifically, the shift from spoken recitations to sung verses. One of the many important artists who employed this strategy is a legendary saxophonist named Louis Jordan. It is understood that his various methods of vocalizing words and phrases was not only a component of his musical style, but it was also a way for him to be a participant in the overall African-American culture as he presented a more extensive range of song-delivering methods to the public. Originally, the method is traced back to an age-old tradition of African-American music. The use of switching from speaking to singing started off in black minstrel shows. The practice “was very common at those kinds of shows;” along with an

He had different variations in which he used song and speech transitioning, in order to eloquently tell short narratives while occasionally breaking into song. Nonetheless, for the sake of narrowing the scope, I will look at the year of 1948 in respect to Jordan’s musical characteristics. The year is imperative as it is when Jordan was considered to be in his prime; out of the 12 songs that were released in 1948, number-one singles like Run Joe ultimately solidified Jordan’s popularity. Along with other songs, such as Pettin' and Pokin’ and Don’t Burn the Candle at Both Ends, Jordan gradually became more well-known for using the trademark practices that defined his repertoire. Although Louis Jordan was considered to be one of the most influential artists of his time, it must be understood that while he is indeed an innovator of the musical style which he portrayed, he was actually not an innovator of the traditional practices that he used in his music. Nonetheless, Jordan’s distinctive style of communicating verses at several mannerisms allowed him to be remembered as an important artist in his music