This Saxman’s Master Plan Is to Keep Playing

With a 35-year professional career that includes 25 albums and tenures with the likes of Charles Mingus, J. Johnson, Max Roach, Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock and Art Farmer, Clifford Jordan surely resides in the top rank of jazz saxophonists. However, the horn man himself has a different perspective on the matter.

“At this point I’m just a little on the other side of being an average player, because I was fortunate to get a record out early in my career, and I played with some great people,” he said in his deep and gruff yet mellifluous voice. “But there are other guys with the same kind of talent that don’t get that kind of exposure. So I say that what I’m getting today is because I was exposed earlier.”

The 56-year-old Jordan, who co-leads a quintet with trumpeter Johnny Coles tonight and Saturday at Marla’s Memory Lane, admitted that he didn’t have a lot of confidence when he was first getting notoriety, but praise from both musical peers and listeners helped him see his own worth. “Eventually, I realized that I could play, since these guys kept calling me,” he said.

“Then people started telling me, ‘You’re a master,’ ” he recalled. His response to that accolade is: “If a musician can live about 150 years, he can get to that point, so I’m going to try and stay out here as long as I can.”

Jordan says one advantage of veteran status is knowing what notes to leave out when playing. “I’m a better musician today than 20 years ago because I’ve learned how to ruthlessly edit what I play,” he said. “There’s a lot of trash that I’ve practiced through the years. Sometimes I’ll play some of it in a solo and and I’ll think, ‘Why am I playing that?’ So it’s a constant process of taking away, and adding things that are more profound.”

Jordan’s compelling solos are marked by lyrical quality that begins with his fondness for vocalists and the words they sing. “I have always been impressed by singers,” the New York resident said, “and then I heard that Lester (Young) said that when you play a song, you must know the words. You can change the words with the improvisation, but that gives you a lot to go on, along with a melody. And I’m really melodic, because my body just tends to feel things that way. I add harmony and rhythm, too, but the bulk of my expression is melodic.

“I try to get a note out of my horn and into the bodies of the audience so they can get a feeling,” he continued. “Or try to get their heads moving a little bit, or, since it’s crowded and there are no dance floors, get them chair-dancing and feet-tapping. When I can get a ballad into them where they say, ‘Oooo, yeah,’ that’s what I strive for.”

Jordan--who grew up in Chicago and went to famed Du Sable High School alongside such players as saxman John Gilmore (with whom he made his recording debut in 1957) and bassist Richard Davis--believes that the way music is programmed also has a lot to do with the way it is received.

“Too many originals can bog down an audience,” he said. “You have to set an audience up for these little personal gems, so I like to mix originals and standards. And occasionally you have to drop in something people can talk to. So after you’ve had them pinned to your music for 15-20 minutes, you play something light, so they can chat and wind down. Then I can come in with another heavy piece. But four-five heavy pieces in a row is too much.”

Jordan, whose latest LP is “Royal Ballads” (Criss Cross), said that work in the mainstream milieu, though reasonably steady, varies from month to month. “When it rains it pours,” he said. “A couple of weeks ago I had record sessions, matinees, I was playing at night, and before I had been off about two months--nothing was happening,” he laughed. “But it works out. I’m happy with my lot in life.”