CHARLEY JORDAN — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 2 • 1931-1934 | DOCD-5098 (1992) RM | FLAC (tracks), lossless

As good as the Charley Jordan material here is, the real find of this disc is Hi Henry rown's recording of "Titanic Blues" and its guitar duet between Brown and Jordan. As a piece of belated topical blues, it is an extraordinary song, but the exciting interplay between two guitars really makes the record and, coupled with Brown's rough-hewn voice, makes it a track to own -- the additional Brown/Jordan tracks "Preacher Blues" and "Nut Factory Blues" constitute a good bonus. This volume of Charley Jordan's material covers the period from his brief stay at Victor Records (four sides cut in September of 1931) to his first session with a full band on Decca Records in the summer of 1934. The four Victor sides (which were cut in Chicago) have a peculiar, authentic "live" ambience that, coupled with their good fidelity, makes them especially vibrant; Peetie Wheatstraw's piano accompaniment has a certain distance and echo that evokes a true club atmosphere. Jordan's subsequent Vocalion sides give much greater prominence to the guitar and Wheatstraw's piano isn't nearly as vivid. As a solo player, Jordan was more laidback, but he still manages to impress as a virtuoso. The four Decca sides are the best recordings here on a technical level -- "It Ain't Clean" is amazingly crisp -- but two of them, "Lost Airship Blues" (what a title, and what a phallic image) and "Rolling Moon Blues," are particularly notable for the presence of a full band, complete with sax and violin. Their sound is completely different (although Jordan still makes himself felt on guitar) from Jordan's earlier output, but both find him able to work well in this more sophisticated idiom. The overall audio quality is good, apart from the barely listenable "Brown Skin Angel" -- a few sides, like "Hell Bound Boy Blues" and the wonderful "Rolling Moon Blues," are a little noisy, but that's par for the course. Bruce Eder
 
Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. Between June 1930 and March 1931, Charley Jordan had recorded for Vocalion, but in September 1931 he cut four titles for Victor, accompanied, as had become the norm, by his friend Peetie Wheatstraw on piano. These were fine performances, but the Depression was biting hard; sometime in 1933, probably around March, Victor noted the sales figures for their 23000 series releases. Jordan was in exceptional form on guitar, as may be heard on all his titles at this two day session, but particularly perhaps on Honey Sucker Blues and Hell Bound Boy Blues, which also features one of Peetie Wheatstraw‘s finest accompaniments. If he was outstanding accompanying himself, however, Jordan was truly sensational in guitar duet with “Hi” Henry Brown, whose nickname was presumably adopted to distinguish him from the celebrated St. Louis piano player whose name he shared. Jordan is particularly inspired on Titanic Blues; to his usual rhythmic freedom, even more remarkable than when he was accompanying himself, he adds a near three octave playing range, and extremely forceful picking. The Depression kept Charlie Jordan away from the studios for two years; he cut two songs for Vocalion in March 1934, but thereafter he alternated between ARC and Decca for the remainder of his recording career. Later in 1934, he was recording for Decca, accompanied on two titles by an unusual line-up of clarinet, violin and traps, plus his own guitar, a pianist, and (on one title) saxophone. The clarinettist may be Arnett Nelson, though I doubt it, and Bill Lowry has been suggested as the violinist. Lost Airship Blues is a startling title, which masks the updating of an old line, while Rolling Moon Blues is even more surprising in its folk-style use of association and contrast to unify seemingly random verses, quite unlike Jordan’s usual carefully worked, thematic lyrics. More typical were the two songs where the wind and fiddle players dropped out: a fourth and last version of Keep It Clean, on which Jordan refers to “Kokomo”, who has been taken to be Kokomo Arnold, and the fine Depression piece Tight Time Blues, where Peetie Wheatstraw is surely the pianist. Tight Time Blues was still highly topical, but the New Deal was beginning to have an effect on the economy, and on black peoples’ purchasing power; Charlie Jordan‘s recording career was to continue for another three years, as may be heard on DOCD-5099, and he continued to develop his music and to explore new areas of the blues. DOCD-5098

Tracklist
–Charley Jordan Greyhound Blues 3:23
–Charley Jordan Workingman's Blues 3:22
–Charley Jordan Santa Claus Blues 2:53
–Charley Jordan Bad Breaks Blues 2:57
–Charley Jordan Doin' Wrong Blues 3:02
–Charley Jordan Honey Sucker Blues 3:16
–Charley Jordan Sugar Farm Blues 3:16
–"Hi" Henry Brown Titanic Blues 3:08
–"Hi" Henry Brown Preacher Blues 3:24
–Charley Jordan Cherry Wine Woman 2:51
–Charley Jordan Hell Hound Boy Blues 2:47
–"Hi" Henry Brown Nut Factory Blues 2:54
–"Hi" Henry Brown Hospital Blues 2:54
–"Hi" Henry Brown Brown Skin Angel 2:35
–"Hi" Henry Brown Skin Man Blues 2:50
–Charley Jordan Don't Pat It So Long 3:20
–Charley Jordan Bottle Passing Blues 3:05
–Charley Jordon Lost Airship Blues 3:09
–Charley Jordon Rolling Moon Blues 3:20
–Charley Jordon It Ain't Clean (That Thing Ain't Clean) 2:56
–Charley Jordon Tight Time Blues 3:07