Jazz Articles about Taft Jordan

Taft Jordan: Mood Indigo

by Derek Taylor
February 1, 2000

Metaphorically equating the Ellington Orchestra with the Amazon River is an easy prospect. The hundreds of players who passed through its ranks are as numerous as the tributaries that pour into the mighty South American waterway. Ellington’s skill at shaping and sculpting his sidemen into his monumental sound and vision is legendary and with good reason. None of the musicians who spent time under Duke’s tutelage left without retaining a lasting imprint of his influence. Taft Jordan, Ellington’s trumpeter from ...