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Volume 20, Number 22
Southington resident reflects on Louis Armstrong impersonator career
Friday, June 2, 2023
APPRECIATION DINNER
By Jesse Buchanan Record-Journal staff
SOUTHINGTON — After a 10-month stint in prison on drug charges in 1995, Milton L. Jordan said he was praying for “new tools” to turn his life around. Performing Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” at a Red Lobster karaoke session in California, Jordan realized he’d found one.
Jordan, a Southington resident, turned impersonating one of his musical heroes into a career that has him touring in Europe yearly with Stars in Concert.
Your Big Break
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For a few years, Jordan and his wife Cara Rogers hosted karaoke nights in southern California with Jordan per-
Milton L. Jordan, a Louis Armstrong impersonator from Southington, smiles in character while visiting family in Cheshire, Friday, May 26, 2023. Jordan turned impersonating one of his musical heroes into a career that has him touring in Europe yearly with Stars in Concert. Dave Zajac, Record-Journal
forming as Louis Armstrong in contests. Jordan’s day job was construction, and the early mornings at time made staying up for late gigs difficult. Rogers thought Jordan was such a match for the jazz singer and trumpet player that she urged him to
audition for Your Big Break, a talent show created by television host Dick Clark. Jordan sang just a few words at the audition in 1999 before being sent home. He thought he’d gotten cut until See Jordan, A6
Southington college up for sale at $9.5M By Jesse Buchanan Record-Journal staff
for-profit college closed in 2018.
SOUTHINGTON — Both national and local real estate firms are marketing the former Lincoln College property, a campus that’s for sale for $9.5 million.
Mendel Paris, a New Haven developer, is one of the owners who bought the 32-acre Mount Vernon Road property in 2022 for $3.5 million. He’s marketing the property locally
The property has been mostly dormant since the
See College, A7
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“People who were leaving were coming back. People were coming out of the kitchen to see who was singing,” Jordan, 70, said. “I noticed the attention the song got. I said, ‘Thank you God, I’m going to take this and run with it.’”
With the end of the school year in sight and the pandemic in the rearview, Plainville Community Schools’ volunteer appreciation event returned this spring. Held at Plainville High, the evening included dinner, a raffle, a “make your own floral bouquet” station, and special recognitions for outgoing Superintendent Steven LePage and longtime Board of Education member Foster White. Contributed photo