THE EVOLUTION OF SOUND: Bill Jordan’s Bar of Music 1937-1969
By Deborah Desilets
Having designed from 1999-2009 over 100,000 square feet of night clubs in Miami and Miami Beach it makes me an architect of sound. A designer who supported the last decade of the 20th century scene for “Rah, Rah”. There is a lot that can be said about the music scene in that period. As Cher was the opening act at Barroom, the first club for which I was the architect; and P. Diddy opened Nocturnal, my second. From Miami Beach over the bridge to Miami, the last decades of the 20th century saw club owners coming down from Chicago, New York, and parts unknown to fill our ears with sound. What is the most amazing was the scene itself has endured from the very beginning? There has always been a sound for the city—even with names like The Rumba in Miami, or “The Miami Sound Machine”. Night clubs I designed at the end of the 20th Century staked a claim for sounds heavy in bass and drums—many clubs won honors for their sound. I recall how much designing those night clubs was a part of me. As an architect my profession followed what I love—music. All sounds, whether on tape or cocktail napkins—if the sound was there, it was important to share it. And especially the beats from all over the world. Some clubs even recorded “their sound” and sold it worldwide.
And I am blown away by sound. Always curious about how a club is designed, and how the music works—and as someone who loves piano, following the keys. So, recently, when I was researching the early sounds of Miami Beach, I was surprised to find Bill Jordan and his “Bar of Music.” Jordan started a club located at 427 22nd Street, Miami Beach where he cultivated his worldly and out-of-this world “pianorama” sounds. Two pianos faced off on a platform for the crowd to cheer along. The first club of its kind to feature classical and iconic music in a club setting. I was fortunate to talk with Roberta Jordan, Bill Jordan’s niece who told me: “My Uncle Bill was so great. Just look at the back of the album—Bar of Music Records presents, A Twin Piano Pops Concert by Bill Jordan and Gina Valente. He recorded his sound as well.” Taking from Roberta that album cover—an album made around 62 years ago—I read Bill Jordan’s liner notes with amazement. So, let me share those notes now, and let us give a drum roll for the artist, Bill Jordan:
“Bill Jordan, a graduate of Cornell University, has lived and visited in more than sixty-one different countries, in the far corners of the world. His travels served a two-fold purpose. First, to try to satisfy an insatiable wanderlust, and second, to allow him to study firsthand, native music and rhythms in many foreign lands little known to the average traveler.
He built the Bar of Music in Miami Beach in 1937 and was the first person to present classical music is a night club, as a starring vehicle of entertainment. Jordan has been the star of a variety program of entertainment in the Bar of Music for more than20 years. The Bill Jordan Show, over the mutual networks, went cost-to-coast, originating in the Miami Beach Bar of Music. It was known as “Mutual’s Dinner Date” starring Bill Jordan. He built the Bar of Music in Hollywood, California, in 1940 and while on the coast was featured in Ken Murray’s Blackouts for 7 months, before joining the U.S. Air Force at the start of WWII. His latest musical composition to be published is called “Dream Fantasy” and is the theme of a Ballet he wrote while in the service, called “Fantasy in Sleep.” Jordan has appeared in concert in France, Holland, China, India, and Japan. His greatest hobby is the study of ancient history and religions.”
Obviously, the early club scene in the 30’s on Miami Beach was on the street, in your face, and edgy. Remarkably similar to the clubs I partook in. These people on the strip—Collins Avenue—had a rare musical scene, confirming to me how much of our culture here is grounded in sound. Miami Beach was, is and always will be, a sound machine. People like Bill Jordan remind me that entertainment gives people a lift. For me to have experienced Club Nu in the 80’s in the same block where in the 60’s Bar of Music played Scheherazade Suite by Rimsky Korsakoff, or A Turkish March by Mozart was enjoyed by an audience for over 20 years is fantastic. The club sounds today are modern sound bites held in a nano-second of memory. It is nice to imagine a place where sounds endure. The classics are just that; classic. Cheers to Bill Jordan and his Bar of Music. To learn more about Bill Jordan’s Bar of Music, drop me a note at [email protected].
