Duke Jordan – So Nice Duke (180g LP)

Label: Master Music MSA-001
Mastered by Tohru Kotetsu, Kazuo Kiuchi and Shizuo Nomiyama from the orignal mastertape.
180g Premium Edition pressed in Japan.

Originally recorded by TBM Records, Japan in August 1982 when the Duke Trio visited Japan and they performed at an ideal jazz spot called “So Nice” in Nagoya, Japan. Around 1982, it was a golden time for jazz music and quality analog records when TBM released many of the world renowned albums such as Blow Up, Misty and Midnight Sugar to name a few.
So Nice Duke was one that TBM had recorded live. Tracks on So Nice Duke are all popular and standard music selected by Duke for his fans. Duke was born April 1, 1922. He was just 60 years old when he came back to play at Nagoya in 1982.

Jazz pianist Duke Jordan is joined here by Jesper Lundgaard on bass and Aage Tanggaard on drums for a session recorded live at Nagoya on June 14, 1982.

Jordan was born in New York and raised in Brooklyn. An imaginative and gifted pianist, Jordan was a regular member of Charlie Parker’s so-called “classic quintet” (1947–48), featuring Miles Davis. He participated in Parker’s Dial sessions in late 1947 that produced “Dewey Square,” “Bongo Bop,” “Bird of Paradise,” and the ballad “Embraceable You.” These performances are featured on Charlie Parker on Dial.

Jordan had a long solo career from the mid-1950s onwards, although for a period in the mid-1960s he drove a taxi in New York to earn more money. After periods accompanying Sonny Stitt and Stan Getz, he performed and recorded in the trio format. His most notable composition, “Jor-du,” became a jazz standard when trumpeter Clifford Brown adopted it into his repertoire.

Recorded at Nagoya on June 14, 1982.