Jordan, Edward “Kidd”

Jordan, Edward “Kidd”, jazz saxophonist; b. Crowley, La., May 5, 1935. After graduating with a B.S. from Southern Univ., Baton Rouge, in 1955, he moved to New Orleans. He traveled frequently to Chicago, especially during summers, playing in blues and R&B bands. (He eventually earned an M.M. at Milliken Univ., Decatur, III., and did further study at Northwestern Univ., Evanston, III.) Jordan began teaching high school music in New Orleans in 1955 and at Southern Univ. in 1965. He has continued to be at the center of jazz education in New Orleans; he is an assistant professor of music and director of Bands and Jazz Studies at Southern Univ., and director of Heritage School, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation jazz education program. In 1970s, with Alvin Fielder, he co-founded the Improvisational Arts Quintet along with bassist London Branch, trumpeter Clyde Kerr, and saxophonist Alvin Thomas. In 1994, he formed a trio with Joel Futterman and Alvin Fielder, which is a current working unit. He has played with Omette Coleman, Cannon-ball Adderley, Sun Ra, Muhal Richard Abrams, Edward Blackwell, Julius Hemphill, and David Murray. He has performed at many festivals including Sierra Leone, the Netherlands and Moers, Germany in 1982, France and Berlin in 1984, Rotterdam in 1988, the Chicago Jazz Festival in 1994, and others. He performed in the band for numerous touring Broadway musicals, and behind visiting artists such as Ray Charles, Lena Home, Tony Bennett, Temptations, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Four Tops, Liza Minnelli, and the O’Jays, sometimes as musical contractor for the band.

Discography

improvisational arts quintet: No Compromise! (1983); The New New Orleans Music (1988). JOEL FUTTERMAN—KIDD JORDAN QUARTET: New Orleans Rising (1997); Nickelsdorf Konfrontation (1996).

—Lewis Porter