DOCD·5097 In September 1930, Jordan had accompanied the pianist/vocalist Peetie Wheatstraw on a Charlie Jordan is one of the many major figures in the blues of whom we know couple of titles, and it's probably he and Wheatstraw behind Bessie Mae Smith on "Sugar surprisingly little. He was born in Mabelvale, Arkansas, around 1890, and is reported to Man Blues". (Eddie Miller has been suggested as the pianist, which is possible; I think have led a hobo's life after service in the US Army during World War 1. By 1925, he was Henry Brown can be ruled out.) In November 1930, Charlie Jordan made the first of many living in St. Louis, which was to be his home for the rest of his life. He was already a recordings with Wheatstraw accompanying him on piano. Their relationship was a close guitarist by this time, and it's a good bet that his wanderings had taken him to Memphis one, and they worked together outside the recording studio: "all these people saying and the Mississippi Delta, for the guitar styles of the city and the repertoire of the Delta they're Peetie Wheatstraw's Buddy," said Big Joe Williams, "but his real buddy was are both evident at his first recording session. Charlie Jordan." Peetie's piano was rather subdued at first on Jordan's records, and the In 1928, Jordan had been shot in the spine, an occupational hazard of his extramusical duo sound is initially an odd one, for Jordan sustains his individual approach to rhythm, career as a bootlegger, and walked on crutches thereafter; his photo, probably taken early and Wheatstraw's playing often sounds semi-improvised in response to the guitar part - in his recording career, shows a tough-looking, prematurely bald man, with a quizzical rather like what Lonnie Johnson had to do behind Texas Alexander. Their duetting - expression, and a guitar decorated with studs. He played it in a clean, confident three- became more regularized on later recordings, but was always interesting, with Jordan finger style that owed a good deal to ragtime, but more to his own extraordinary sense of seeming to bring out the inventive in Wheatstraw. rhythm. The steady pulse that underlies his playing and singing is often a long way Just as inventive were Jordan's lyrics; like so many of the St. Louis singers (compare removed from the accenting of the guitar part; what Bernard Klatzko calls "inexact timing Walter Davis, Lonnie Johnson, or indeed Peetie Wheatstraw) he was an original (that is exact)". chronicler of city life, hard times and infidelity; his lyrics invariably repay attention. Jordan's first session revealed a wide range of song styles, and some intriguing possible "Tight Haired Mama Blues" has some witty comments on the fashion for straight hair: connections. "Dollar Bill Blues" bears a surprising resemblance to Leadbelly's "Little "You know you got good hair, you bought it from the Jew." "Tough Times Blues" is a Children's Blues", as well as to the "Lost Lover Blues" recorded by Blind Boy Fuller and particularly fine combination of the traditional and the original: "You can take the Rock Sam Collins, while his stunning version of "Just A Spoonful" surely owes something to Island, baby, you can ride to the end of the line, But you won't find nothing, baby, but a Charley Patton, though whether from personal encounter or through records is not tough, tough time. I said tough time here, baby, and it's a tough time everywhere; Well I known. Exposure to recordings of "T. B. Blues" probably accounts for the melody of would go home, but it seem like a tough time there." "Days Of The Weeks Blues" shows "Raidin' Squad Blues", but the lyrics are very much Jordan's own. Even when he Charlie Jordan's capacity for working within an extended structure without overloading performs songs from tradition, like "Stack 0' Dollars", Jordan embellishes them with it; the song's chronicle of the effects of the Depression achieves a remarkable cumulative lines of his own; his verbal originality is always in evidence, as on the extended metaphor force. By March 1931, Jordan was an established recording artist; he was to continue to be of "Gasoline Blues" and the double meanings of "Hunkie Tunkie Blues" and "Keep It sought after by the record companies despite the catastrophic downturn in sales induced Clean", a heavily self-censored song that seems to have been Jordan's most popular by "a tough time everywhere". Chris Smith number on record, and of which he made several versions. DOCD-S097 I. Stack O'Dollars Blues C-5834-Vo 1557 (A) 2:37 2. Dollar Bill Blues C-5835-Vo 1557 (A) 2:55 3. Keep It Clean C-5836- VO 1511 (A) 2:44 4. Big four Blues C-5837- Vo 1511 (A) 2:43 5. Just A Spoonful C-5838- Vo 1543 (A) 2:36 6. Two Street Blues C-5839- Vo 1543 (A) 2:59 7. Raidin' Squad Blues C-5840- VO 1528 (A) 2:45 8. Hunkie Tunkie Blues C-5841-Vo 1528 (A) 2:57 9. Running Mad Blues C-6163-Vo 1551 (B) 2:59 10. Gasoline Blues C-6164- VO 1551 (B) 3: 16 II. Sugar Man Blues - Part 1 C-6167-A- Vo 1559 (C) 2:56 12. Sugar Man Blues - Part 2 C-6168-A-Vo 1559 (C) 2:50 13. Lost Ship Blues C-6482-A-Vo 1657 (0) 3:05 14. Hungry Blues C-6483-A-Vo 1657 (0) 3:02 15. My "Lovin' Good" Blues C-6484-A-Vo 1568 (0) 2:48 16. Tough Times Blues C-6485-A-Vo 1568 (0) 2:56 17. Cheating Blues C-6886-Vo 1627 (E) 3:20 18. Starvation Blues C-6887-Vo 1627 (E) 3:18 19. Keep It Clean - No.2 VO-141-Vo 1611 (F) 2:58 20. You Run And Tell Your Daddy VO-143-Vo 1611 (F) 3:02 21. Tight Haired Mama Blues VO-144-Vo 1645 (F) 3:26 22. Days Of The Weeks Blues VO-145-Vo 1645 (F) 3:20 NOTE: Two thles (Silver Dollar Blues/Keep It Clean - No. 3) remain undiscovered! PERSONNEL: A: CharleyJordan,vcl/gtf. Chicago, c. mid-June 1930 B: Charley Jordan, vcl/gtr. Chicago, 19 September 1930 c: 51. Louis Bessie (Bessie Mae Smith), vel; acc. prab. Pectic Wheat Straw or poss. Eddie Miller, pna; Charley Jordan, gtr. Chicago, 19 September 1930 0: Charley Jordan, vcl/gtr; Pectic Wheatstraw, pno. Chicago, 4 November 1930 E: Charley Jordan, vcl/gtr; Pectic Wheatstraw, pno. Chicago, 6 January 1931 ----- "::lw,pno. Chicago, c. 17 March 193\ Bibliotheque nationale du QUebec 3 2002 5024 4855 6 I'- (') en Bibliotheque nationale du Quebec ::I: 0 I 475, boulevard De Maisonneuve Est Il') » I Montreal (Quebec) H2L 5(4 :D C r () m 0 -< Compiled and produced c.. c by Johnny Parth Eipeldauerstr. 23/43/5 0 ,... A-1220 Vienna, Austria :D -('I) Remastering: C Q) ,... Studio Klement » I Booklet Notes: Z 0 ('I) Chris Smith I ,...Q) < 0 ,....- r ...J ..•. 0 ..• -<0 > (,J I 0 Z ..I. <0 <C (,J C ..• a: 0 - .., © 1992 by Document Records C· >- MADE IN AUSTRIA 0 ...WJ (') C I a: C1I <C 0 ~I ,I,JJiLl , (0-....I.