When the final time was that Jordan performed in Seattle
is yet to be determined, but this photo (from the estate of his widow, Martha Jordan) recently surfaced
showing the couple visiting the Century 21 World’s Fair in 1962. Jordan’s band
probably first toured the area pushing their 1930s recordings for the giant
Decca label. Then in the 1940s they came through town quite regularly, playing
major shows in large venues like the Trianon Ballroom (218 Wall Street) and the
Palomar Theater (1300 Third Avenue). But the fun-lovin’ band also enjoyed
after-gig jams at various jazz rooms around town – and even a bit south of
town.
In the 1940s a legendary but short-lived nightspot called
the New Orleans Club – not to be confused with Seattle's more recent (1985-2014) New Orleans Creole Restaurant (114 First Avenue S.) – was founded just down the old dirt road from the Longacres
racetrack west of Renton. As Seattle jazz historian Paul de Barros noted in his
1993 book, Jackson Street Afterhours:
“The club had a barbeque pit and a New Orleans chef; the band was as hot as the
food. …There was a complete floor show and, for a while, big-time traveling
acts…performed there.”
I recently acquired the New
Orleans Club’s original owners’ amazing collection
of vintage promotional photographs of many of the artists who gigged there. Among these images are those of Billie Holiday (who sang there in
March 1949), Christine
Chatman (the boogie-woogie pianist who toured with bluesman Joe Liggins),
sax-man Jimmy Jackson, sax-man King “The Pied Piper of Swingdom” Perry, Texas
blues-shouter Smilin’ Smokey Lynn, Mabel Scott, blues singer Mickey Champion, Johnny
Otis, Mel Walker, & Little Esther, and as shown here, two pix of Jordan and
his band.
