Jaymz8604 - Posted - 04/04/2012:  10:10:11

His playing has consistently impressed me ever since I first heard him...easily in the same league as all the other top banjo players.....anyone else care to chime in?

beegee - Posted - 04/04/2012:  10:27:36

Vic is one of my favorites. I think he is just a low-key guy who keeps his head down and keeps a-plowin'. Jordan's Hornpipe is one my favorite tunes along with Pickaway.

greenhorn - Posted - 04/04/2012:  10:29:20

I frequently listen to "Banjo Nashville." Amazing picking - Great arrangements, hard driving, spectacular tone, and great song list. Vic Jordan makes is happen. But other than performing the Big Mon, Lester Flatt, Jimmy Martin, Jim & Jesse, and an amazing solo career....He doesn't have to much going on!

John Mark Batchelor - Posted - 04/04/2012:  10:53:55

EXTREMELY UNDERRATED

pearcemusic - Posted - 04/04/2012:  10:58:32

yeah ... we rarely talk about him, but he had a HUGE impact on my playing when I was a kid. Like Bob ... "Pickaway" is one of my favorite tunes. I still have the old Vinyl of that record in my collection.

Yard Onion - Posted - 04/04/2012:  15:10:50

He is one of my favorites too! I'm glad others enjoy his playing too!
Jon

fivedrive5 - Posted - 04/04/2012:  15:18:30

I'd say he is probably very under rated . I listened to him a lot in the 70's and 80's.Very tasteful! BeeGee ,I have a MP3 on my homepage of Jordan's Hornpipe. My own rip-off rendition.  thanks,Jim

darylearl - Posted - 04/04/2012:  15:57:31

Vic is a monster banjo picker.  I bought "Banjo Nashville" on vinyl when it first came out  and I didn't really like the drums and electric guitar but I wore that LP out listening to it because the banjo picking was so good.  I loved his intros on Pony Express and El Combanchero (real slow so you could hear what he was doing.)  I met Vic at a festival many years ago when he was playing with Jim and Jesse.  Vic was friendly and very easy to talk to.  He's one of my favorites.                               Daryl

steve davis - Posted - 04/04/2012:  16:12:28

I have a Bill Monroe episode of The Wilburn Brothers with Vic and Kenny Baker.Super!

minstrelmike - Posted - 04/04/2012:  16:15:28

Vic is probably as under-rated as Alan Munde.

1935tb-11 - Posted - 04/04/2012:  16:51:31

i really don't think he is a under rated as he is unknown to the general public. in the banjo players world most of us know how awesome he is. he has some of the best moves on the neck in the biz.

i have an album i borrowed here at the house that is called standing tall in georgia cotton by randall collins and vic is playing several tunes on it.... carazy good stuff. he was one of those way ahead of his time for sure.





terry m

pick1936 - Posted - 04/04/2012:  21:39:11

Vic Jordan's  break  with  Bill  Monroe,  on  Gold  Rush  has  never  been  improved  on  yet.  He  is  so  underrated  It's  a  shame.

Nechville.  In  Higginsville.

Lee  kelso

dmiller - Posted - 04/04/2012:  22:22:27

quote:

---

Originally posted by pick1936

Vic Jordan's  break  with  Bill  Monroe,  on  Gold  Rush  has  never  been  improved  on  yet.  He  is  so  underrated  It's  a  shame.

 Nechville.  In  Higginsville.

Lee  kelso

---

There's one Earl/ one Sonny/ one JD/ and one Vic,  when it comes to banjo. 

lethegoodtimesroll - Posted - 04/04/2012:  22:50:36

Vic is not underrated,anyone who is serious about Bluegrass Banjo knows who he is.Mike Auldridge on the Dobro really popularized his tune Pickaway. I wish someone would do an indepth interview of him in Banjo newsletter before he's gone.

bob chappell - Posted - 04/05/2012:  03:11:58

Vic's 'Pickaway' album got me on the track to learning melodic banjo back in the late 70's. I got to meet Vic at a bluegrass festival in Georgia around 1984 when he was playing with Jim & Jessie. I was asking him about one of the songs on his Pickaway album and how he played it. Vic then got his banjo out and proceeded to show me both fast and slow as he worked through the tune. A very gracious and giving gentleman as you would ever want to meet.  

DannyB4 - Posted - 04/05/2012:  12:56:12

VIc Jordan , back in the day, was one of the most sought after pickers in the business....he recorded several solo projects and with Lester, Bill, J&J and others...it's just a generational thing why he isn't on most folks mind when it comes to banjo players,IMHO,....Vic along with Bobby Thompson had a knack of blending the Scruggs and chromatic styes into effective breaks in songs which helped others to learn to do the same...

steve davis - Posted - 04/05/2012:  13:42:52

I never underrated Vic or Alan.

pick1936 - Posted - 04/05/2012:  15:44:37

I  would  like  to buy  a  L.P.   of   Vic's  Pickaway, If  someone  has  one  to  sell.  THANKS.

Nechville.  In  Higinsville.

Lee  Kelso

The Pope - Posted - 04/05/2012:  16:31:51

I'm working on Kentucky Mandolin now with my band. I love how he fretted the fifth to get the notes in the second part. Anybody know what tuning he was using?

The Old Timer - Posted - 04/05/2012:  17:36:40

I believe KY Mandolin, the banjo is tuned in G minor, the second (B) string tuned down one fret to Bb. I've played it that way since I heard the record when it was new. The up the neck stuff works fine in that tuning.

The Pope - Posted - 04/05/2012:  19:21:07

Well, maybe I'm not too lame after all. I experimented with G tuning, Gm tuning & "mountain minor" (where the second is tuned a halt-step higher). G minor seemed the best to me but I have an old tab that says in G and it doesn't strike the second string at all. I think you'd have to be pretty good (which Vic obviously was) to never hit the second while playing something that fast but the G minor tuning seemed to work the best. Now all I have to do is learn it better... 

1935tb-11 - Posted - 04/05/2012:  23:17:04

i just play kentucky mandolin out of Gm  in the 1st , 2nd and 3rd position without tuning the 2nd string.  i figured out 2 different

breaks past the 5th fret using the 5th string also.  it works for me,   but its a fun song to  play.

terry m

Disco Kid - Posted - 04/06/2012:  04:21:34

Anyone that underates Vic Jordan has never seen or listened to him.

Ebanjo - Posted - 04/06/2012:  05:25:40

Vic is a fine banjo picker and a great guy to go along with it. I think one of the reasons he hasn't been heard from for a while is that he has been working in Branson for a number years. At least that was the last I heard about him.
Eric Ellis

Gyrfalcon - Posted - 04/06/2012:  09:36:05

Yeah, his stuff is awesome. I actually like 'Nashville Banjo' even better than the 'Pickaway' album. I know he did some work with Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper. I wish somebody'd put a compilation or best-of cd together. Not being available on cd has got to be one of the main reasons he's not more widely known.

pick1936 - Posted - 04/06/2012:  11:46:59

The  first  time I  saw  Buck  White and His band. His  wife  was  playing  bass,  (Ranger Doug) --  Doug  Green,  He  was a  long  haired  hippy  kid,  But  played  some  GREAT  guitar,  and  sang  great  lead  on  all  songs.   Buck  on  Mandolin.   Vic  Jordan  on  a  gold   Vega  banjo,   Just  great  picking.   I  bought  The  Gospel  albumn   called   (In  God's  Eyes)   great  pickin, and  singing.    I  think? that  was  1967?    Vic  was  great  way  back  then.

Nechville.  In  Higginsville,

Lee  kelso

Jaymz8604 - Posted - 04/06/2012:  14:04:16

quote:

---

Originally posted by pick1936

The  first  time I  saw  Buck  White and His band. His  wife  was  playing  bass,  (Ranger Doug) --  Doug  Green,  He  was a  long  haired  hippy  kid,  But  played  some  GREAT  guitar,  and  sang  great  lead  on  all  songs.   Buck  on  Mandolin.   Vic  Jordan  on  a  gold   Vega  banjo,   Just  great  picking.   I  bought  The  Gospel  albumn   called   (In  God's  Eyes)   great  pickin, and  singing.    I  think? that  was  1967?    Vic  was  great  way  back  then.

 

 

Nechville.  In  Higginsville,

Lee  kelso

---

Did you get my message about the "Pickaway" LP, Lee?

Flying Eagle - Posted - 04/06/2012:  14:57:35

quote:

---

Originally posted by minstrelmike

Vic is probably as under-rated as Alan Munde.

---

 That's ridiculous, because no one who knows ANYTHING about playing a banjo would under-rate a genius like Alan Munde.  Vic Jordan was a good picker, but he couldn't hold Alan Munde's jockstrap.  Sorry, but that's just the reality of it.  Find anything that Vic ever did that compares to Meloon's Tune, Sabrosa, and just about anything else that Munde wrote or adapted.

There's no way Vic comes close to comparing in technical ability or creativity to Alan Munde.  And no, Vic isn't underrated.  A few listens to "Pickaway" confirms this.  Vic's melodics are rudimentary compared to Munde, and his straight Scruggs playing is solid but just average.

Vic Jordan was a solid picker who made a well-deserved name for himself in some pretty high-profile positions.  Comparable talent and creativity-wise to players like Alan Munde?  No way.

JW

Edited by - Flying Eagle on 04/06/2012 14:59:45

yumagah - Posted - 04/06/2012:  15:35:06

quote:

---

Originally posted by Flying Eagle

quote:

---

Originally posted by minstrelmike

Vic is probably as under-rated as Alan Munde.

---

 That's ridiculous, because no one who knows ANYTHING about playing a banjo would under-rate a genius like Alan Munde.  Vic Jordan was a good picker, but he couldn't hold Alan Munde's jockstrap. 

 

JW

---

    I've only met Alan Munde once, but I suspect he would have something amusing to say about the very idea of ANYBODY holding his jockstrap!

steve davis - Posted - 04/06/2012:  16:34:52

The first time I heard Crossing the Cumberlands was out in the boat and I had to stop lobstering and sit down and say,"Wow".
I've been a big Vic Jordan fan ever since.
Everybody plays their own way and I would never rate one player against another.

The Pope - Posted - 04/06/2012:  17:10:00

I was under the impression that Bill Monroe wrote Crossing The Cumberlands for Lamar Grier. Was I wrongo? Or maybe Lamar didn't record it. Straighten me out, someone...

steve davis - Posted - 04/06/2012:  20:10:00

Written by Bill and Lamar.

The Pope - Posted - 04/07/2012:  10:38:29

Yeah but I'll bet that Bill got the copyright! 

steve davis - Posted - 04/07/2012:  10:54:06

Here's Lamar playing it live in a NYC apartment.



Played with the feel of the writer,imo.

youtube.com/watch?v=Y8uKzBHsEUQ 

Edited by - steve davis on 04/07/2012 10:55:58

The Pope - Posted - 04/07/2012:  12:42:16

This was not Lamar playing. It is someone on the Hangout named R985wasp, taken from a tape of Bill & Lamar. Vic recorded it. Lamar Grier, the Twiggy of Bluegrass!