Jumpin’ Jive

By this point Joe Jackson had cemented his reputation as one of the Angry Young Men of British post-punk, and had made an excursion into ska-inflected New Wave pop. Then Joe Jackson’s Jumpin’ Jive came seemingly out of nowhere. It’s a celebration of 1940s jazz and jump blues, focusing on songs by Cab Calloway and Louis Jordan: “We the Cats (Shall Hep Ya),” “Jack, You’re Dead,” “Five Guys Named Moe” — you could turn up your nose and say they’re mostly novelty tunes, and technically you’d be right, but Jackson and his crew deliver them with such headlong glee that it’s impossible not to get caught up in it.