Giving back – through his music, his work, his service – is what drives Peter Jordan.
And every stop along the winding road of his life, from musical wunderkind to business and community leader, has shaped how this Flossmoor resident approaches life.
“When I’m creating music, my soul speaks sounds that cannot be expressed in words,” said Jordan, a saxophonist who has played alongside many legendary artists of jazz and R&B over the past half century. In paying tribute to some of them, he’s helping a new generation of artists start on their journeys.
A native of Cincinnati – “a place that shaped both my roots and my rhythm” – Jordan was drawn to music as a third grader. “I fell in love with the sound of the saxophone and the coolness of the musicians who I saw playing the instrument,” he recalled. “As a kid, I would don dark sunglasses and play my imaginary sax around the house, until fifth grade, when I was finally able to start band class in school.”
Jordan excelled at his passion through his teens, receiving a prestigious music scholarship to attend college. Even so, he was discouraged from pursuing a career in music. “My parents feared it wouldn’t provide a stable path for supporting a family,” he said. “That being said, I did start gigging in high school, predominantly for weddings.”
Due to that parental pressure, Jordan enrolled at the University of Cincinnati as a biology and pre-med/mortuary science major, and eventually graduated from the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science.
But music stayed in his life, which next took Jordan to the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., area. “I continued to gig whenever I could,” said Jordan, who found a mentor in an older pianist called Sir Andre. “He showed me the ropes and encouraged me … I could hold my own playing among seasoned professionals.”
His other influences? “Grover Washington Jr. stands at the center of my musical inspiration,” Jordan said. “Beyond that, I was shaped by a rich mix of jazz and R&B — groups and voices that filled my home and imagination while growing up.”
Those artists included Earth Wind & Fire, Roberta Flack, Marvin Gaye, the Gap Band, “all the Motown greats,” and jazz legends John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughn.
Jordan performed in a wide range of venues, including Washington’s legendary Blues Alley, the oldest continuing jazz supper club in the United States. “Those experiences eventually opened the door to performing with legendary artists, including Ben E. King and Major Harris, among many others,” he said.
In fact, Jordan toured regularly with King, as well as R&B legends Archie Bell, Percy Sledge, and Bill Pinckney & the Original Drifters. That led to him touring worldwide for more than a decade with the multiplatinum R&B funk band Heatwave, known for hits like “Always and Forever,” “Boogie Nights” and “Mind Blowin’ Decisions.”
“Growing up in Ohio, I was deeply influenced by the R&B bands of the 1970s and 1980s. I never imagined that one of my most inspirational groups would eventually invite me into their musical legacy,” Jordan said. “The group’s lead singers Johnny and Keith Wilder were both from Dayton, Ohio. I developed a close friendship with Keith Wilder while in D.C., which opened the door for me to working alongside original members Ernest ‘Bilbo’ Berger, Billy Jones and Tim Haupe.”
In 2000, Jordan was a featured soloist when Heatwave performed on “Motown Live: Superstars of Seventies Live,” a PBS television special hosted by Patti Labelle and the late Isaac Hayes.
In 2013, at the invitation of the Obama administration, Jordan performed for the U.S. Presidential Proclamation honoring Buffalo Soldier Col. Charles Young. A composer as well, Jordan’s original music has been featured on the TV soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and the Warner Bros. animated TV series “Batman Beyond.”
Joining Heatwave influenced Jordan’s life in other ways as well. His future wife, Lori, was the band’s manager at the time.
Peter and Lori went to have seven children, the youngest of whom attends Homewood-Flossmoor High School. The family relocated here from Seattle in 2020.
“It’s been a wonderful experience,” Jordan said. “The community is close-knit, diverse and rich with educational opportunities for our daughter. There’s space here for artists of all genres to thrive.”
Jordan is thriving in business as well. He draws parallels between music and his “day job,” managing partner of Lain-Sullivan Funeral Directors in Park Forest.
“As a funeral director, I have the privilege of building relationships with people from every walk of life. Being a musician offers the same gift. In many ways, the two callings are similar — both are about presence, compassion, listening and connecting with the human story in others,” he said. “I enjoy taking the gift of music to senior living facilities near Flossmoor, and occasionally a family will ask me to play at their loved one’s service. I don’t do that often, but when I do, it’s a special feeling.”
The family has settled into Flossmoor’s history and spirit of community service. Jordan serves on the Southland Arts Council, is president of the Chicago Heights-Park Forest Rotary, has been nominated as a Red Cross Hero for the past two years, and in 2024 received a Park Forest “Emmy” and was recognized by the Village of Flossmoor for his lifetime of achievement in music.
Following three well-received concerts in the Southland area, including shows at Prairie State College and Freedom Hall in Park Forest, Jordan was selected as a community partner by the University of Chicago’s Logan Center for the Performing Arts for the 2025-26 season.
After years of touring with acclaimed musicians, Jordan will be making his Chicago premiere as a headliner in “A Candlelight Jazz Tribute to Luther Vandross,” a Valentine’s Day performance at Logan Center, with a portion of the proceeds going to support local high school musicians.
Jordan – performing on soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones – will be backed by Chicago-based musicians including Alan Burroughs, Bruce Furlow, Andre Henry, D’Kobie Knight, Michael Manson and Felix Pollard.
This will be Jordan’s latest Candlelight Jazz event, which he’s been doing for nearly three years, starting with a tribute to Grover Washington Jr., “a full-circle moment that honored the artist who inspired me so deeply,” he said.
“At this stage, my performances are centered on growing audiences through collaboration with other world-class artists and making people rethink what a jazz concert can be,” Jordan explained. “The response in Chicago has been incredibly encouraging, and we’re excited about expanding into other major markets.”
Jordan credits his wife, Lori, who also is his manager and creative director, for giving him “the freedom to do what I love, which is collaborate with other talented artists to touch people’s souls through music.”
More information on Jordan’s Feb. 14 performance is at https://peterjordansax.ticketspice.com/candlelight-jazz-tribute-to-luther-vandross-feat-peter-jordan-saxophonist.
Jim Dudlicek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
