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.

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 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. Jordan also formed the band The Verbs, which he fronts, with his wife Meegan Voss. 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. Following Watts' death, he has played with the Stones both live and in studio.

Early life
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 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.

X-Pensive Winos and Chuck Berry
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.

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. 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. 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
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
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. 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), 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.

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
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.

The trio also performed on December 8, 2007, in Los Angeles, California at the L.A. Live Nokia Theatre for the 1st Annual Holiday Charity Revue, which raised funds for various Los Angeles related charities. The DVD/CD release, entitled Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles features Palladino on bass and Jordan on drums.

Jordan would later collaborate with Mayer and Charlie Hunter by writing "In Repair", the 11th track from Mayer's 2006 album Continuum. Jordan also contributed to Mayer's fourth album, Battle Studies; videos of the conceptual/recording sessions can be viewed on YouTube.

Super Soul Band
Jordan also belongs to an all-star funk group, that "is redefining the idea of a supergroup." The band consists of Jordan on the drums, Wayne Cobham, Eddie Allen, Clifton Anderson, and Clark Gayton on the horn section. Willie Weeks on bass, Mix Master Mike, Isaiah Sharkey, and Ray Parker Jr. on guitar.

The Rolling Stones
On August 5, 2021, it was announced that Jordan would replace Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts on the Stones' 13-date US tour. Watts was first sidelined for health problems and died on August 24, 2021, at the age of 80 after a short illness. Keith Richards recounted in his 2010 autobiography that in the 1980s Watts told him that if he ever wanted to work with another drummer, "Steve Jordan’s your man."



Discography
With The Blues Brothers
 * Briefcase Full of Blues, 1978
 * Made in America, 1980
 * Best of the Blues Brothers, 1981
 * Dancin' Wid Da Blues Brothers, 1983
 * Everybody Needs the Blues Brothers, 1988
 * The Definitive Collection, 1992
 * The Very Best of The Blues Brothers, 1995
 * The Blues Brothers Complete, 2000
 * The Essentials, 2003

As sideman
With Casey Abrams With Arcadia With Ashford & Simpson With Patti Austin With Aztec Camera With Bee Gees With George Benson With Beyoncé With Booker T. & the M.G.'s With Ronnie Baker Brooks With Solomon Burke With Andrés Calamaro With J. J. Cale and Eric Clapton With Felix Cavaliere With Kelly Clarkson With Bootsy Collins With Sean Costello With Cracker With Robert Cray With Steve Cropper With Sheryl Crow With Bob Dylan With Donald Fagen With Ricky Fanté With Roberta Flack With Robben Ford With Bernard Fowler With Aretha Franklin With Michael Franks With Jeffrey Gaines With Debbie Gibson With Vince Gill With Bunky Green With Josh Groban With Hall & Oates With Herbie Hancock With Major Harris With Don Henley With Cissy Houston With Garland Jeffreys With Billy Joel With Libby Johnson With Alicia Keys With Steve Khan Eyewitness With B.B. King With K'naan With Labelle With Cyndi Lauper With Bettye LaVette With Lori Lieberman With Taj Mahal With Ziggy Marley With Amanda Marshall With Bruno Mars With John Mayer With John Mayer Trio With Melanie With John Mellencamp With Keb' Mo' With Ian Moss With Ivan Neville With The Neville Brothers With Stevie Nicks With Odyssey With David Paich With Sam Phillips With The Pretenders With Don Pullen With Nicole Renée With Keith Richards With LeAnn Rimes With Mark Ronson With Boz Scaggs With Helen Schneider With Patti Scialfa With John Scofield With John Sebastian With Brian Setzer With Feargal Sharkey With Bruce Springsteen With Candi Staton With Mike Stern With Cat Stevens With Rod Stewart With Andrew Strong With James Taylor With Toto With Bonnie Tyler With Neil Young With Steven Van Zandt
 * Casey Abrams (Concord, 2012)
 * So Red the Rose (Parlophone, 1985)
 * Is It Still Good to Ya (Warner Bros., 1978)
 * Havana Candy (CTI, 1977)
 * Love (Sire, 1987)
 * Still Waters (Polydor Records, 1997)
 * In Your Eyes (Warner Bros. Records, 1983)
 * I Am... Sasha Fierce (Columbia Records, 2008)
 * That's The Way It Should Be (Columbia, 1994)
 * Times Have Changed (Provogue, 2017)
 * Like a Fire (Shout! Factory, 2008)
 * Alta Suciedad (Gasa, 1997)
 * The Road to Escondido (Reprise Records, 2006)
 * Castles in the Air (Epic, 1979)
 * Stronger (RCA Records, 2011)
 * Tha Funk Capital of the World (Mascot, 2011)
 * The Power of the One (Bootzilla, 2020)
 * Sean Costello (Tone-Cool Records, 2004)
 * Gentleman's Blues (Virgin Records, 1998)
 * Take Your Shoes Off (Rykodisc, 1999)
 * Shoulda Been Home (Rykodisc, 2001)
 * In My Soul (Provogue, 2014)
 * Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm (Warner Bros., 2017)
 * That's What I Heard (Nozzle, 2020)
 * Dedicated – A Salute to the 5 Royales (429 Records, 2011)
 * C'mon, C'mon (A&M Records, 2002)
 * Threads (Big Machine Records, 2019)
 * Down in the Groove (Columbia Records, 1988)
 * The Nightfly (Warner Bros. Records, 1982)
 * Rewind (Virgin, 2004)
 * Roberta (Atlantic Records, 1994)
 * Tiger Walk (Blue Thumb, 1997)
 * Inside Out (Rhyme & Reason, 2019)
 * Aretha (Arista Records, 1986)
 * The Camera Never Lies (Warner Bros. Records, 1987)
 * Somewhat Slightly Dazed (Chrysalis Records, 1994)
 * Think with Your Heart (EMI, 1995)
 * Down to My Last Bad Habit (MCA Records, 2016)
 * Visions (Vanguard, 1978)
 * Bridges (Reprise Records, 2018)
 * Harmony (Reprise Records, 2020)
 * Our Kind of Soul (U-Watch Records, 2004)
 * Possibilities (Hear Music, 2005)
 * How Do You Take Your Love (RCA Records, 1978)
 * The End of the Innocence (Geffen, 1989)
 * Cissy Houston (Private Stock Records, 1977)
 * Face to Face (BMG, 1996)
 * He Leadeth Me (A&M Records, 1997)
 * Don't Call Me Buckwheat (BMG, 1991)
 * Wildlife Dictionary (RCA Records, 1997)
 * The King of In Between (Big Lake, 2011)
 * Truth Serum (Luna Park, 2013)
 * River of Dreams (Columbia Records, 1993)
 * Annabella (Wrong Records, 2006)
 * The Diary of Alicia Keys (J Records, 2003)
 * As I Am (J Records, 2007)
 * Keys (RCA Records, 2021)
 * Eyewitness (Antilles, 1981)
 * Modern Times (also released as Blades) (Trio/Passport, 1982)
 * Casa Loco (Antilles, 1984)
 * Deuces Wild (MCA Records, 1997)
 * Country, God or the Girl (A&M Records, 2012)
 * Back to Now (Verve, 2008)
 * At Last (Epic Records, 2003)
 * Things Have Changed (Verve, 2018)
 * Blackbirds (Verve, 2020)
 * LaVette! (Jay-Vee, 2023)
 * Letting Go (Millennium Records, 1978)
 * Evolution (The Most Recent) (Warner Bros., 1978)
 * Dragonfly (Private Music, 2003)
 * Tuesday's Child (Epic Records, 1999)
 * Unorthodox Jukebox (Atlantic Records, 2012)
 * Heavier Things (Columbia, 2003)
 * Continuum (Columbia, 2006)
 * Battle Studies (Columbia, 2009)
 * The Search for Everything (Columbia, 2017)
 * Try! (Columbia, 2005)
 * Phonogenic – Not Just Another Pretty Face (Midsong International, 1978)
 * Cuttin' Heads (Columbia Records, 2001)
 * The Door (Epic Records, 2000)
 * BLUESAmericana (Kind of Blue Music, 2014)
 * Moonlight, Mistletoe & You (Concord Records, 2019)
 * Soul on West 53rd (Liberation, 2009)
 * If My Ancestors Could See Me Now (Polydor Records, 1988)
 * Thanks (Iguana Records, 1995)
 * Brother's Keeper (A&M, 1990)
 * Rock a Little (Parlophone Records, 1985)
 * Hollywood Party Tonight (RCA Victor, 1978)
 * Forgotten Toys (The Players Club, 2022)
 * The Indescribable Wow (Virgin Records, 1988)
 * Get Close (Real, 1986)
 * Montreux Concert (Atlantic, 1977)
 * Nicole Renée (Atlantic Records, 1998)
 * Talk Is Cheap (Virgin, 1988)
 * Main Offender (Virgin, 1992)
 * Crosseyed Heart (Republic, 2015)
 * Spitfire (Curb Records, 2013)
 * One Christmas: Chapter 1 (Iconic Records, 2014)
 * Remnants (RCA Records, 2016)
 * Uptown Special (Columbia Records, 2015)
 * Dig (Virgin Records, 2001)
 * Memphis (429 Records, 2013)
 * A Fool to Care (429 Records, 2015)
 * Let It Be Now (RCA Records, 1978)
 * 23rd Street Lullaby (Columbia, 2004)
 * Play It as It Lays (Columbia, 2007)
 * Who's Who? (Arista, 1979)
 * Electric Outlet (Gramavision, 1984)
 * That's What I Say: John Scofield Plays the Music of Ray Charles (Verve Records, 2005)
 * Tar Beach (Shanachie, 1992)
 * The Knife Feels Like Justice (EMI, 1986)
 * Wish (Virgin Records, 1988)
 * Devils & Dust (Columbia Records, 2005)
 * Wrecking Ball (Columbia Records, 2012)
 * Chance (Warner Bros. Records, 1979)
 * Upside Downside (Atlantic, 1986)
 * Back to Earth (Island Records, 1978)
 * Soulbook (J Records, 2009)
 * Strong (MCA Records, 1993)
 * New Moon Shine (Columbia Records, 1991)
 * Fahrenheit (CBS, 1986)
 * Faster Than the Speed of Night (Columbia Records, 1983)
 * Landing on Water (Geffen, 1986)
 * Freedom – No Compromise (EMI, 1987)

Equipment
Jordan plays Yamaha Drums, Paiste Cymbals and Remo drumheads. He has signature drumsticks from Vic Firth.

Acoustic Drums:Yamaha Maple Custom
 * 14" × 6.5" snare drum or a 13" × 6.5" Steve Jordan Signature snare drum
 * 20" × 16" bass drum
 * 12" × 8" rack tom
 * 14" × 14" floor tom

Paiste:
 * 17" Signature Traditionals Thin Crash (as hi-hat top)
 * 17" Signature Dark Energy Crash (as hi-hat bottom)
 * 20" Masters Dark Crash Ride
 * 22" Traditionals Light Ride

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.