“I always wanted to do something that showcased everybody because we have so many people in my family who play on a professional level,” says trumpeter Marlon Jordan of his new release, You Don’t Know What Love Is. Though various members of the Jordan clan have performed and recorded together in the past, the album, which features vocalist Stephanie Jordan, represents the first time that all the musical relations have joined forces.

“I thought it would be fun to show everybody just how deep our musical tradition was in the Jordan and Chatters family,” Marlon offers. The Jordan name has long enjoyed a high profile in the jazz world and most people know the relationship between patriarch, saxophonist/ educator Kidd Jordan and his jazz-wise children, Marlon, flautist Kent and, more recently, Stephanie. Violinist Rachel, who leads her Music Alive Ensemble on the album, is recognized in classical circles. She is also its executive producer and acts as co-producer with Marlon. Matriarch, pianist Edvidge (nee Chatters) also plays classically (though not professionally or on the disc) as do Marlon and Kent. Perhaps lesser known is that the extended Jordan family on Edvidge’s side is rich with musicians including her brother trombonist Maynard Chatters, his son, trumpeter Mark Chatters, brother-in-law educator/clarinetist Alvin Batiste, who married Edith Chatters, and nephew, educator/ percussionist Jonathan Bloom. All participate on the album along with pianist Darrell Lavigne, who provides string arrangements, bassist David Pulphus and drummer Troy Davis.

The disc, released on Kent’s Functional Art Media label and certain to be dubbed the Jordan family album, focuses on jazz standards such as the title cut and “All Blues.” The selections were chosen primarily to put Stephanie, who shares cover credits with Marlon, in the spotlight.

“This is like her coming out party,” Marlon offers, explaining that, having gotten a comparatively late start in music, it’s the first time his sister enjoys a featured position on a recording. “Stephanie was a big surprise—we didn’t know she was a singer.” The trumpeter remembers when in 1991 during a gig at Washington, D.C.’s Tacoma Station Tavern, she unexpectedly asked to perform. “She started singing and she knew all the words, she was in key and everything,” Marlon continues. “I said, ‘Okay she’s a singer.’”

“I always imagined myself up on stage with the musicians,” Stephanie confesses. “But jazz is so intimidating when you grow up observing it being played on a high level and I grew up listening to my dad perform and Kent perform.”

That night in D.C., sister Rachel goaded Stephanie into stepping up on the bandstand. Stephanie recollects her sibling saying, “I’m sick of you singing in my ear. Why don’t you get on stage and do it.” Stephanie sang “I Remember April” and the club owner hired her on the spot and she began a regular gig at the venue.

For many years, people inquired about when the Jordans would collectively record an album. Marlon had been concentrating his efforts towards the family’s new Seventh Ward studio—The Shed, where the disc was recorded—as well as forming a record label, Prototype Records, with his cousin Mark. Ready to reemerge on the music scene and record again, the timing seemed right for the venture that would merge the many musical facets of the family.

The string ensemble brings dramatic tension to the opening bars of “My Favorite Things,” the only tune on which Kidd Jordan appears. An avant-garde saxophonist through and through, Kidd needed convincing to take part in the project. “It was like pulling teeth,” Marlon says with a laugh, explaining that his father offered excuses like he needed his own band, his own cats with whom he could interact. Taking his trumpet solo “out,” Marlon set the stage for Kidd’s creative blowing making the transition from melodic to “free” flow naturally.

It was by the request of Edvidge that the ballad, “Portrait of the One I Love,” appears on the disc. Here, the elegant strings echo Stephanie’s sophisticated style while Marlon’s muted trumpet and Chatters’ trombone tonally reflect a sense of vulnerability that she brings to the tune. A Nat “King” Cole fan since childhood, Stephanie selected his hit “Breathless.” “That’s something I pulled out of memory,” says the jazz vocalist who kicks the swinging tune that is enriched by Alvin Batiste’s always-provocative clarinet. Brother Kent and cousin Mark Chatters come in for solo on flute and trumpet, respectively for the bluesy “Now Baby, Never.”

Stephanie credits Rachel as the catalyst for making this family album a reality and calls its creation a natural progression.

“It’s time for the world to sort of peep in on what we do when they’re not around,” says Stephanie. “You all are getting an eye view of what happens in our household. We get together as a family a lot and we talk about music a lot and we listen to recordings together. This was something that was bound to happen.”

“For us it’s historic,” says Rachel. “Everybody is so happy that we finally have a document of our entire family.”

The Jordan family will appear at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts on Saturday, April 30. The show also includes sets by the Music Alive Ensemble and Kidd Jordan and Alvin Fielder’s Improvisational Arts Quintet. Showtime is 8 p.m. At the Jazz Fest, Marlon Jordan teams with Maurice Brown on April 29 and the IAQ performs on April 30.