A new style was born in New York thanks to saxophonist, vocalist and bandleader Louis Jordan, who became one of the best-selling artists of his time. Jordan (who had inherited a band in 1938) shrank down the size of swing's orchestras, emphasized the dance rhythm (the "shuffle"), sharpened the sax and trumpet counterpoint, and sang the hardship of black life in a detached (almost ironic) tone. His Tympany Five, that ranged from five to nine members, penned At The Swing Cats Ball (1939), Fore Day Blues (1939) and Somebody Done Hoodooed the Hoodoo Man (1940) before becoming hit makers with the anthemic Outskirts Of Town (1941), Five Guys Named Joe (1942), Is You Is (1944), the vibrant Caldonia (1945), Stone Cold Dead In The Market (1945), a duet with jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, the satirical Choo Choo Ch'Boogie (1946), the multi-million seller that changed the history of black music, Beans and Cornbread (1947). These songs defined "jump Blues", the uptempo, jazz-tinged style of blues that ruled the race charts after the war. Few people noticed it, but Carl Hogan played a powerful guitar riff on Jordan's Ain't That Just Like a Woman (1945) that, ten years later, would make Chuck Berry's fortune.

His last hits included: Beware Brother Beware (1946), Let the Good Times Roll (1946), Stone Cold Dead in the Market (1946), which was actually a cover of Frederick "Wilmoth Houdini" Hendricks' calypso He Had It Coming (1939), Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens (1946), Saturday Night Fish Fry (1948), Cole Slaw (1949), an adaptation of Jesse Stone's Sorghum Switch, School Days (1950), Blue Light Boogie (1950), Teardrops from my Eyes (1951).