ProJazz.net

AllMusic Review by Richie Unterberger:
When Louis Jordan signed to Mercury in 1956, he tried to revive his struggling record sales by re-recording some of his more celebrated songs from his commercial heyday. That’s a strategy usually doomed to commercial and artistic failure, and commercially this album – including such Jordan standbys as “Caldonia,” “Let the Good Times Roll,” “Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie,” “I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town,” and “Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens” – certainly didn’t pay big dividends. But while no one would rate this as highly as the original jump blues classics with which Jordan made his mark, actually both he and his band performed pretty admirably given the circumstances, updating the originals only slightly to reflect the emerging rock & roll trends, with a young Quincy Jones acting as musical director. Session ace Mickey Baker was on guitar as well, and reeled off some really hot licks on occasion (especially on “Caldonia”), though he wasn’t given as long a leash as he could have been. It’s more for the serious Jordan fan, though, than someone who wants just one or a few Jordan records, who would be better off with collections of his earlier material (http://www.allmusic.com/album/somebody-up-there-digs-me-mw0000366618).

Track listing:

A1 Caldonia
A2 Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby
A3 Run Joe
A4 Early In The Morning
A5 Choo Choo Ch Boogie
A6 Knock Me A Kiss
B1 Let The Good Times Roll
B2 Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying
B3 Beware Brother Beware
B4 I’m Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town
B5 Salt Pork West Virginia
B6 Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens

Personnel:
Louis Jordan – vocals, alto saxophone
Wendell Marshall – bass
Charlie Persip – drums
Mickey Baker – guitar
Ernie Hayes – piano
Sam “The Man” Taylor – tenor saxophons
Budd Johnson – tenor saxophone, baritone Saxophone
Jimmy Cleveland – trombone
Ernie Royal – trumpet
Quincy Jones – arranged by

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Recorded – NYC, October 22 & 23, 1956