Louis Jordan › Similar Artists

Lucky Millinder - 61% match to Louis Jordan

Wynonie Harris - 57% match to Louis Jordan

24 August 1915, Omaha, Nebraska, USA, d. 14 June 1969, Los Angeles, California, USA. This stylish, flamboyant blues shouter enjoyed several R&B hit singles in the immediate post-war period. As a youth Harris played drums in and around his home town before moving to Los Angeles in the early 40s. There he played, danced, sang and worked in several non-musical capacities in Read more

Cab Calloway - 54% match to Louis Jordan

Cabell Calloway, 25 December 1907, Rochester, New York, USA, d. 18 November 1994, Cokesbury Village, Hockessin, Delaware, USA. Involved in showbusiness from an early age, vocalist Calloway was an occasional drummer and MC, working mostly in Baltimore, where he was raised, and Chicago, where he relocated in the late 20s. He worked with his sister Blanche, and then, in 1929, h Read more

Ella Mae Morse - 45% match to Louis Jordan

12 September 1924, Mansfield, Texas, USA, d. 16 October 1999, Bullhead City, Arizona, USA. A singer with an appealing jazz/blues style, Morse first sang with a band organized by her pianist mother and her father who was a drummer. At the age of 12 she was heard at a Houston jam session by Jimmy Dorsey, who hired her as replacement for June Richmond. Her stay with Dorsey was Read more

Louis Prima - 40% match to Louis Jordan

7 December 1911, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, d. 24 August 1978, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. A trumpeter, band leader, singer and composer, Prima was the son of Italian immigrant parents. He was educated at Jesuit High School, and studied the violin for several years under Hemmersback, before switching to the trumpet. At the age of 17, inspired by jazz greats such as Louis Read more

Slim Gaillard - 40% match to Louis Jordan

Bulee Gaillard, 4 January 1916, Detroit, Michigan, USA, d. 26 February 1991, London, England. Other sources including Gaillard himself have claimed he was born on 1 January 1916 in Santa Clara, Cuba. Gaillard led an adventurous childhood. On one occasion, while travelling on board a ship on which his father was steward, he was left behind in Crete when the ship sailed. His a Read more

Big Joe Turner - 39% match to Louis Jordan

Joseph Vernon Turner, 18 May 1911, Kansas City, Missouri, USA, d. 24 November 1985, Los Angeles, California, USA. ‘Big’ Joe Turner (aka Big Vernon) began singing in local clubs in his early teens upon the death of his father, and at the age of 15 teamed up with pianist Pete Johnson. Their professional relationship lasted on-and-off for over 40 years. During the lat Read more

Amos Milburn - 36% match to Louis Jordan

1 April 1927, Houston, Texas, USA, d. 3 January 1980, Houston, Texas, USA. After service in the US Navy in World War II, Milburn formed his own blues and R&B band in Houston in which he played piano and sang, and in 1946 he was offered a contract by the Aladdin label. Between November 1948 and February 1954 he and his band, the Aladdin Chicken Shackers, had an extraordin Read more

Bunny Berigan - 36% match to Louis Jordan

Rowland Bernart Berigan, 2 November 1908, Hilbert, Calumet, Wisconsin, USA, d. 2 June 1942, New York City, New York, USA. One of the outstanding trumpeters of the swing era, Berigan was heavily influenced by Louis Armstrong and at his best played with much of his idol’s attack and zest. In the early 30s he worked with numerous bands, including those of Paul Whiteman, Fr Read more

Lionel Hampton - 36% match to Louis Jordan

20 April 1908 (some claim 1909 and 1914), Louisville, Kentucky, USA, d. 31 August 2002, New York, USA. After living briefly in Louisville and Birmingham, Alabama, Hampton was taken to Chicago where he lived with his grandparents. They sent him to Holy Rosary Academy at Collins, Wisconsin, where he was taught the rudiments of military band drumming by a Dominican nun. Followi Read more

Chick Webb - 35% match to Louis Jordan

William Henry Webb, 10 February 1909, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, d. 19 June 1939, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Although crippled soon after his birth, Webb’s determination to be a drummer overcame his physical infirmities. After playing in local bands, he travelled to New York while still a teenager and soon formed his own band there. By 1927 he had played at the Savoy Ball Read more

Fletcher Henderson - 35% match to Louis Jordan

Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, 18 December 1897, Cuthbert, Georgia, USA, d. 28 December 1952, New York City, New York, USA. One of the most important figures in the development of big band music, in the early 30s Henderson set the standards by which early big band jazz was measured. He did this through a combination of selecting leading jazz players for his band and, together Read more

Lonnie Johnson - 33% match to Louis Jordan

Alonzo Johnson, 8 February 1889, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, d. 16 June 1970, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A hugely influential and original blues musicians, in the early 1900s Johnson played guitar and violin in saloons in his home town, performing mainly around the red-light district of Storyville. Shortly before the outbreak of war he visited Europe, returning to New Orlean Read more

Erskine Hawkins - 30% match to Louis Jordan

Harry James - 30% match to Louis Jordan

15 March 1916, Albany, Georgia, USA, d. 5 July 1983, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Harry James’ father played trumpet in the band of a touring circus, and at first Harry played the drums, but then he, too, took up the trumpet and at the age of nine was also playing in the circus band. He showed such enormous promise that his father had soon taught him everything he knew. Harr Read more