Clifford Laconia Jordan (September 2, 1931, Chicago - March 27, 1993, Manhattan) was a jazz saxophone player. Jordan had his own sound on tenor saxophone almost from the start. He gigged around Chicago with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, and some R&B groups before moving to New York in 1957. Jordan immediately made a strong impression, leading three albums for Blue Note (including a meeting with fellow tenor John Gilmore) and touring with Horace Silver (1957-1958), J.J. ...show more

Clifford Laconia Jordan (September 2, 1931, Chicago - March 27, 1993, Manhattan) was a jazz saxophone player. Jordan had his own sound on tenor saxophone almost from the start. He gigged around Chicago with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, and some R&B groups before moving to New York in 1957. Jordan immediately made a strong impression, leading three albums for Blue Note (including a meeting with fellow tenor John Gilmore) and touring with Horace Silver (1957-1958), J.J.

Johnson (1959-1960), Kenny Dorham (1961-1962), and Max Roach (1962-1964). Jordan also recorded with these musicians. After performing in Europe with Eric Dolphy and in the 1964 Charles Mingus Sextet, Jordan worked mostly as a leader, but tended to be overlooked since he was not overly influential or a pacesetter in the avant-garde. A reliable player, Jordan toured Europe several times, was in a quartet headed by Cedar Walton in 1974-1975, and during his last years, led a big band.

Clifford Jordan recorded as a leader for Blue Note, Riverside, Jazzland, Atlantic (a little-known album of Leadbelly tunes), Vortex, Strata-East, Muse, Frontier Records, SteepleChase Records, Criss Cross Jazz, Bee Hive, DIW, Milestone, and Mapleshade The arrival of Clifford Jordan's big band was not only a milestone for the New York City jazz scene at the opening of the 1990s; it also marked the dawning of a new era in the career of the tenor saxophone giant. "There was a bigger goal than to just have a gig," Jordan explains. "I've been playing some of this music for the last 30 years or longer--the pleasure for me is hearing my music every Monday, and it always sounds different." For all too many Americans, the notion of Clifford Jordan composing for and leading a big band is a new one. For while he is one of the most widely recorded artists in jazz, appearing on some 90 albums since his 1957 Blue Note debut, the Chicago-bred veteran is best known as a leader of his own small groups (over the years featuring such players as Barry Harris, Junior Cook, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton, Tommy Flanagan, Sam Jones, Billy Higgins, and Jaki Byard) or as a featured soloist with a long list of luminaries including Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Eric Dolphy, Art Farmer, Lee Morgan, Mal Waldron, Dizzy Gillespie, and Carmen McRae. ...show less