Steve Jordan (drummer)
Steve Jordan (born January 14, 1957) is an American musical director, producer, songwriter, and musician. Currently, he is the drummer for The Rolling Stones. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was a member of the bands for the television shows Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman.[1]
Steve Jordan
January 14, 1957
New York City, U.S.
- Musician
- producer
- songwriter
- Drums
- percussion
1978–present
In the early 1980s, Jordan was a member of the band Eyewitness, along with bandleader Steve Khan on guitar, Anthony Jackson on bass, and Manolo Badrena on percussion. Since the mid-1980s, Jordan has also been a member of the X-Pensive Winos, the side project of The Rolling Stones[2] guitarist Keith Richards. Jordan and Richards have been production and songwriting partners on many of Richards's solo works. In 2005, he became a member of the John Mayer Trio.[3] Jordan also formed the band The Verbs, which he fronts, with his wife Meegan Voss.[4] On August 5, 2021, it was reported that Charlie Watts had elected to sit out the resumption of the US No Filter Tour due to a heart procedure surgery and that Jordan would temporarily replace him on drums.[5] Following Watts' death, he has played with the Stones both live and in studio.[6]
Early life[edit]
Jordan attended New York City's High School of Music and Art, graduating in 1974.
Jordan was a teenager when he became an honorary member of Stevie Wonder's[7] band WonderLove. He also was a substitute drummer in the band Stuff in 1976 and played with Joe Cocker on his American tour. Later, he played drums for the Saturday Night Live band in the 1970s. When John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd toured as The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s, Jordan was their drummer, and recorded on their resulting albums, credited as Steve "Getdwa" Jordan. He did not, however, appear in the film of the same name. Jordan also played in the New York 24th Street Band with Will Lee, Clifford Carter, and Hiram Bullock, which later became Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band, which played on Late Night with David Letterman from 1982 to 1986.
Career[edit]
X-Pensive Winos and Chuck Berry[edit]
Jordan, along with fellow Shaffer alumnus Anton Fig, appeared on the Rolling Stones' 1986 release Dirty Work, playing percussion, not drums, contrary to rumors. Keith Richards then hired Jordan to play on Aretha Franklin's cover of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" for a film of the same name.[8]
According to Richards, Jordan kept asking Richards on the plane ride home from the recording session with Franklin in Detroit, to be included in the upcoming documentary by Taylor Hackford Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, a tribute to Chuck Berry.[9] Richards had been hoping to include Charlie Watts in the project but when that proved unfeasible, Jordan was hired and he appeared in many scenes with Berry and Richards.[10] The success of that project led to Jordan's membership in Keith Richards and the X-pensive Winos, a band that toured and recorded three albums, Talk Is Cheap (1988), Main Offender (1992), and Crosseyed Heart (2015). Jordan co-produced all three albums and is credited with songwriting, along with Richards. One of those collaborations made it onto the Billboard Hot 100 via the Rolling Stones Steel Wheels album version in 1989: "Almost Hear You Sigh" peaked at number 50 (U.S.) and 31 (U.K.) in December of that year.
The Verbs[edit]
Jordan formed a band with his wife, Meegan Voss, who fronted the all-girl punk bands the PopTarts and the Antoinettes, and they have toured and recorded under the band name the Verbs. They toured Japan in 2007 in support of their first release, And Now... The Verbs. They followed their debut album with Trip, the next release by Jordan and Voss. As in their previous release, this album features Tamio Okuda on lead guitars, Pino Palladino on bass and additional classic guitar work by Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar.
Producing and performance career[edit]
Jordan has recorded with such artists as Don Henley, John Mellencamp, Andrés Calamaro, Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, Sonny Rollins, B.B. King, Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow, Neil Young, Donald Fagen, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Kelly Clarkson, and many more.[11] He is featured on James Taylor's 1998 DVD, Live at the Beacon Theatre.
Jordan is a Grammy Award-winning and nominated producer with Robert Cray's album Take Your Shoes Off and Buddy Guy's Bring 'Em In, respectively. He has played on Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You" and Bruce Springsteen's Devils and Dust, and he produced the Grammy Award-winning John Mayer album Continuum (2006),[12] John Scofield's That's What I Say, Possibilities by Herbie Hancock, and 23rd St. Lullaby and Play It As It Lays with Patti Scialfa.
Jordan is interviewed on screen, was a musical director, led the house band and appears in performance footage in the 2005 documentary film Make It Funky!, which presents a history of New Orleans music and its influence on rhythm and blues, rock and roll, funk and jazz.[13][14]
In 2006, Jordan joined Eric Clapton's touring band for Clapton's "European Tour 2006", which included seven sold-out shows at the Royal Albert Hall. He continued in Clapton's band as they toured North America in 2007.
In 2008, Jordan produced and played percussion on one track for Los Lonely Boys' third album, Forgiven, at East Side Stages in Austin, Texas.
In 2009, Jordan received another Grammy Award nomination - the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, for his work on the soundtrack scoring film for the movie Cadillac Records.
In 2013, Jordan produced the Boz Scaggs album Memphis.
John Mayer Trio[edit]
Jordan is a member of the John Mayer Trio, a blues rock power trio that consists of Jordan, on drums and backing vocals, bassist Pino Palladino and guitarist-singer John Mayer. The group was formed in 2005 by Mayer as a change from his pop-acoustic career. The trio released the record Try! on November 22, 2005. The 11-track live album includes cover songs, such as Jimi Hendrix's "Wait Until Tomorrow", and "I Got a Woman" by Ray Charles, two songs from Mayer's release Heavier Things, as well as new songs written by Mayer, in addition to three songs written by Jordan, Mayer, and Palladino. They are: "Good Love Is On the Way", "Vultures" and "Try". Jordan and Mayer also produced the album together on the Columbia Records label.
Jordan plays Yamaha Drums, Paiste Cymbals and Remo drumheads. He has signature drumsticks from Vic Firth.
Acoustic Drums:Yamaha Maple Custom
Paiste:
Drumheads:
Jordan endorses Remo drumheads and uses Coated Vintage A's and Coated Ambassadors on the toms and snares and either a Coated Powerstroke 3 or a Coated Ambassador on the bass drum.
Drumsticks:
"Steve's Signature stick is light and long for great touch and sound around the drums and cymbals." In hickory. L = 16 ½"; Dia. = .525" Jordan discussed their use in a video interview for Vic Firth.[18]