The joint is jumping
Wildwood jives for musician Louis Jordan’s centennial birthday
By Jack Hill
LITTLE ROCK — In the centennial celebration of the life, times and music of Louis Jordan, it seemed appropriate to a couple of his Arkansas fans to do a show. After all, Jordan was born in Brinkley, wrote such songs as “Let the Good Times Roll” and is credited by B.B. King and others with having helped create rock ’n’ roll.
Stephen Koch, who a decade or more ago started staging an annual birthday tribute to Jordan at various clubs around central Arkansas, had busied himself writing just such a show and Cliff Fannin Baker, who founded Arkansas Repertory Theatre, had presented a show based on Jordan’s music, Five Guys Named Moe, in the mid-1990s at the Rep.
Baker, the new director of Wildwood Park for the Arts, thought Koch’s show Jump! The Louis Jordan Story would be a good summer event for the park, which has been known mainly for opera.
Koch is the founder and host of Arkansongs, a syndicated radio program that airs twice on Fridays on public radio station KUAR-FM, 89.1, and has delved into Jordan on several shows. A native of east Arkansas, Koch traces his love of Jordan to his childhood.
“When I was a kid, growing up in the Delta, my dad was a disc jockey and I was bouncing on his knee to the songs of Louis Jordan,” Koch recalls. “When we would drive through Brinkley, I would wonder where was the statue to Jordan, and I was so disappointed when I learned that one did not exist. In the early ’90s, I began researching him, and I became flabbergasted at how important he was.
“The more I learned about him, and his place in music, the more astounded I was.”
Not one to suffer in silence, Koch took matters into his own hands as a grown-up and started organizing tributes at central Arkansas nightspots, with local bands performing Jordan songs. He then enlisted John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette chief political cartoonist, who’s also an artist and sculptor, to create a bronze bust of Jordan that is on display in the Central Delta Depot Museum at Brinkley.
“I’ve been working on the play for about a year,” Koch says about Jump! “And I got together with David Stricklin from the Butler Center and we approached Cliff, and we discussed the idea of something special for the centennial.”
It has been a big year for Jordan fans, with a film that debuted at the Ozark Foothills Film Festival in Batesville and a special recognition in Washington.
On June 23, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution, introduced by central Arkansas Congressman Vic Snyder, honoring Jordan on the centennial of his birth, July 8. Jordan died of a heart attack Feb. 4, 1975.
In addition to King, who recorded an album of Jordan’s songs, Jordan’s influence has been acknowledged by fellow musicians James Brown, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles and Bo Diddley.
The Jump! cast features Lawrence Hamilton as Jordan, plus Raven Washington, Tawanna Campbell, Ganelle Holman, Larry Freeman and Sidney Williams. Koch will portray a radio announcer.
The show’s 13 songs will include some of Jordan’s biggest hits: “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby?” “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie,” “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” “Five Guys Named Moe,” “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,” “Let the Good Times Roll” and, of course, “Saturday Night Fish Fry” (see separate story).
“Jordan was doing calypso, but he’s also known for novelty hits and ballads, so what fans will hear will be a wide range of his music,” Koch says. “He was considered a jazz leader during his life, and it was also called big-band music by some.
“He called his group The Tympani Five, which is why we’re having a five-piece band.”
The band will feature Aaron Vanlaan on saxophone, William Burton on drums, Joe Vick on bass and Larry Jones on trumpet.
Stratsimir Pavlov, a Romanian pianist, is the show’s musical director.
Set design is by Mike Nichols, lights by Matt Webb and sound, Jason Pruzin.
Central Arkansas Library System and its Butler Center for Arkansas Studies are collaborating with Koch, Baker and Wildwood to produce the event, with sponsorship by Chip and Cindy Murphy and KUAR.
Clips from Jordan movies and music by a gospel group from Woodson will also be featured.
“And we’re having a special appearance by Mrs. Martha Jordan of Las Vegas,” Baker adds. “She’s Louis’ widow and is still quite vocal about him and gets around the country quite a bit to spread the word about him.”Theater Jump! The Louis Jordan Story 6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Wildwood Park for the Arts, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock Tickets: $50 for dinner (6 p.m.) and show (7:30 p.m.), $25 for students (501) 821-7275 or the Web site www.wildwoodpark.org
Singing the praises of ‘Fish Fry’
Since one of Louis Jordan’s best-known songs is “Saturday Night Fish Fry,” Wildwood Park for the Arts will re-create the scene with a fish fry of its own before performances of Jump! The Louis Jordan Story this weekend.
The fish fry will start at 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday before the musical at 7:30.
Catfish will be cooked outside and assuming typical July weather, patrons will take their catfish, hush puppies, slaw and collard green dinners inside.
Sweet potato pie will be served after the show.
Jordan wrote a number of songs extolling Southern soul food. One of his songs, “Beans and Cornbread,” was almost an anthem of The Greasy Greens, an Arkansas band that formed in the mid-1970s.
Food will be prepared by Rodney Johnson, who operates R&R Catering and J-Paul’s Restaurant at 3912 Trust St., College Station.
This article was published July 18, 2008 at 2:23 a.m.
Weekend, Pages 64 on 07/18/2008
