1938 Jordan was fired by Webb and he began to form an own band which made her first recordings for Decca in December 1938. The original lineup of the sextet was Jordan (saxes, vocals), Courtney Williams (trumpet), Lem Johnson (tenor sax), Clarence Johnson (piano), Charlie Drayton (bass) and Walter Martin (drums). The Decca recordings were from "The Elks Rendezvous Band" but Jordan changed the name to "Tympany Five" after the brand of Martins drums. The most successful time of the band was between 1942 and 1950. In this period they had 18 #1-hits in the Rhythm and Blues chart of Billboard magazine. Some of the hits like Caldonia, Let the good times roll, Saturday Night Fish Fry or Choo Choo Ch'Boogie are evergreens. Under his duet partners were Bing Crosby,Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.