Happiness

You’ve probably never heard of Joe Jordan (1882-1971), but New World Records has packaged 20 of his songs into this anthology that should get you up to speed before any more times goes by. Though this is a minor portion of his catalog (the liner notes reveal that Jordan composed and conducted dozens of musicals in Chicago and New York and wrote more than six hundred songs), it’s a beautiful recording made by The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra under the baton of Rick Benjamin. “Happiness” is a ballade Jordan wrote with Fred Fisher in 1918, and here it is sung by the soprano and high school English teacher Bernadette Ulrich Boerckel, whose style only adds to the nostalgic grace and charm the simple tune delivers.

—MS