In these sessions Jordan intensified his sound to compete with rock and roll. In 1956, Mercury signed Jordan and released two albums and a handful of singles. His first album for Mercury, "Somebody Up There Digs Me" (1956), showcased updated rock-and-roll versions of previous hits such as "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens", "Caldonia", "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie", "Salt Pork, West Virginia", and "Beware!" Mercury intended this to be a comeback for Jordan, but it was not commercially successful, and the label let him go in 1958. He recorded sporadically in the 1960s for Warwick (1960), Black Lion (1962), Tangerine (1962–1965), and Pzazz (1968) and in the early 1970s for Black & Blue (1973), Blues Spectrum (1973), and JSP (1974). In the early 1960s he toured in England with Chris Barber. Speaking in 2012, Barber recalled seeing Jordan at the Apollo Theater in New York.  playing with him was just frightening. It's a bit like an amateur guitar player from a back street who has just bought a Spanish guitar, working with Segovia. He didn't make you feel small, but he was just so perfect in what he did. ... I still remember watching him singing, but he would accompany himself on the alto, and you were convinced he was playing the alto while he was singing. ... the breath hadn't gone from his last word before he was playing his alto and it seemed to be simultaneous. ... He got a very raw deal from history ... In the Chick Webb band there were two regular singers – Ella and Louis Jordan. And yet really history has consigned him to just being a comedy vocal thing with a bit of rock and roll, and the first alto ... but he was such a consummately good singer that it's sad that he wasn't known more for it. The release of the 1945 musical short film "Caldonia" boosted Jordan's career due to roadshow screenings in support of his live performance. In addition to singing in many films and appearing in mainstream films such as "Meet Miss Bobby Sox" (1944) and "Follow the Boys" (1944). The success of "Caldonia" (1945) led to other race film roles for Jordan with Astor Pictures: "Beware!" (1946), "Reet, Petite, and Gone" (1947), and "Look-Out Sister" (1947).