Music Monday: Kidd Jordan

I have to admit that I hadn’t given Kidd Jordan a very serious listen prior to hearing about his passing about a week age. I recalled that he played on one of the Dopolarian’s albums a few years back that I really liked, and I recall that he appeared on the epic William Parker 10 disk box set. Beyond that, I wasn’t very familiar with his rather limited discography.

This was a massive oversight on my part.

From what I can tell, there aren’t many of his albums on the YouTubes, so I offer this concert recording from 2014 as a sound track for this post.

There are three recordings that caught my attention (and appear to be available on most streaming services).

First, I absolutely loved his Palm of Soul with William Parker and Hamid Drake. Not only do these three have phenomenal rapport, but the recording captures the three performers in space in a beautiful and intimate way. This is befitting an album recorded some few weeks after Kidd Jordan lost his home in Hurricane Katrina in 2006.

If you haven’t heard the William Parker Orchestra tribute to Duke Ellington, I heartily encourage you to track it down and listen to it. It’s amazing. And among the most amazing pieces on this album is Kidd Jordan’s solo introducing “Caravan.” It’s amazing and when the band comes in with the familiar melody, it’s really quite remarkable. I wish I could share it here, but here’s a link to the album Essence of Ellington. 

Finally, any reader of this blog knows my abiding affection for Marshall Allen and Sun Ra. I very much enjoyed this wilder and freer date with Allen, Drake, and two bases — Parker and Alan Silva — in the UK. As one would expect, the interplay between Jordan and Allen is brilliant. It’s called the all-star game and at $11 as a digital album, it’s hard to go wrong.

Finally, I’d be remiss not to mention that passing of Ahmad Jamal. Here’s a video of him from a few years back playing in Paris: