Steve Jordan is easily one of the most respected drummers in rock, blues and soul. He’s a musician’s musician whose groove has powered some of the biggest names in music. He was born in New York City in 1957. He started playing professionally as a teenager, performing with Stevie Wonder before landing a spot in the legendary Saturday Night Live house band. He later became the drummer for The Blues Brothers and Paul Shaffer’s band on Late Night with David Letterman, establishing himself as one of the most in0demand session musicians in the business.
Over the years, Steve Jordan has recorded, toured and produced artists including Keith Richards, John Mayer, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Neil Young, Alicia Keys, Bob Dylan and Sonny Rollins. His long-time partnership with Keith Richards led to work on Keith’s solo albums to eventually joining the Rolling Stones in 2021 after Charlie Watts stepped away due to illness. Steve Jordan was personally chosen by Charlie Watts to fill in on drums.
Following Charlie’s passing, Jordan became the Stones’ touring drummer bringing his deep pocket, impeccable timing and respect to Charlie’s legacy to one of rock’s greatest bands. Steve Jordan has recorded on the last two Stones albums, including the most recent one which came out a couple weeks ago called Foreign Tongues. I had the pleasure of chatting with Steve Jordan, this is our mind-blowing conversation, I hope you dig it.
You’re nineteen years old, you’re on Saturday Night Live. How does a kid at that age take that in?
Steve Jordan: When you’re a New Yorker, you have all the greatest musicians in the world in New York. Everybody in the world wanted that job, I got the job but it didn’t mean that it was guaranteed. All I had to be was play badly one show and I would have been gone. You know that there are millions of people watching but you don’t know how many. You’re just trying to execute. Your job is to execute or else no one is going to be watching you cause you’re going to be home. It’s so intense, you’re just trying to execute and not screw up.
Then, you were in Letterman’s band, The World’s Most Dangerous Band. I think it’s safe to say that the greatest thing I’ve ever seen on late night tv was back in ’82 when I was a kid when James Brown came on. Usually an artist will do one song but he turned it into a James Brown concert and it felt so loose and improvised which blew my mind. Can you take me back through that day?
SJ: It was July of ’82, to be exact. He took over the show basically. He heard about the band, usually an artist will bring their own drummer. But he heard about the band and only brought his horns. He posed the question to Paul [Shaffer] asking ‘What do you guys want to play with me?’ he replied, “Steve, our drummer, suggested ‘Sex Machine.” James gets there and we play “Sex Machine” and it’s incredible. We go in and we’re burning, so much so that we took him to another place. By the time we get to that ending which is an incredible James Brown ending, he’s blown away. He can’t believe what just happened, we can’t believe what just happened. This is when James Brown was still James Brown. After that, about a year later, he was never really the same James Brown again. So we are going into commercial and he hears us play “I’ve Got The Feeling.” He can’t believe we’re playing “I’ve Got the Feeling.” Right before the final segment, it’s clear that he has taken over the entire show and all the other guests have been bumped. So he turns to Dave [Letterman] and says “Dave, before we close, can we close with ‘I’ve Got The Feeling?” I scream “Woah!” because I just can’t believe it! We go into the last segment and he does “I’ve Got The Feeling.”
Later, I visit him in his dressing room and he tells me “Brother, your energy is high! This is greatest show I’ve done in front of cameras since The T.A.M.I. Show.” That is the biggest compliment you can deemed with for the rest of your life. The Godfather of Soul, Soul Brother #1 telling you that what you just did with him was the greatest thing since the world saw him first which was on The T.A.M.I. Show.
Let me ask you about Aretha Franklin and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” What do you remember about that session?
SJ: I remember everything about that session. It was beyond mind-blowing! I first met her when I was 14 years old when I was in my very first band called Mystic Funk. We were out of the Bronx and one of the horn players, his mother worked in Aretha’s organization. This guy was friends with Aretha’s kids, so one thing led to another and they were able to arrange a sleepover at Aretha’s house with her kids. We didn’t expect to see Aretha, but she walked right in because she wanted to see who her kids were hanging out with. This was that period of time when she had that Stevie Wonder song, “Till You Come Back to Me.” She re-emerged and had a #1 record, she also had a makeover with a short afro. She was gorgeous but she was tiny! That was the first experience I ever seen, seeing somebody on television for your whole life and then meeting them in person. And the next day, she made us all breakfast and I can proudly say Aretha Franklin made me my first bowl of grits.
Cut to the session, Keith [Richards] gets word about this gig and I told Keith, “You have to make sure she plays the piano, if she plays piano, then we’re going to have something very unique.” Between her, Ray Charles and Billy Preston, those are three of my favourite pianists. In fact, I would say three of the best ever and then Stevie Wonder comes in that fourth position. She had a whole piano intro in a couple of different keys depending on how she was singing. So that whole intro piano thing is hers, she came up with that. I learned a lot from people like her and Sonny Rollins about preparation, she was beyond prepared. She was the bandleader, no doubt. It wasn’t Keith Richards, it wasn’t me, it wasn’t Ron Woods, it wasn’t Randy Jackson. It was Aretha Franklin.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.