{"id":5044,"date":"2012-02-29T01:08:15","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T08:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=5044"},"modified":"2012-02-29T01:09:08","modified_gmt":"2012-02-29T08:09:08","slug":"stanley-jordan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2012\/02\/stanley-jordan\/","title":{"rendered":"STANLEY JORDAN"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"STANLEY JORDAN<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Still reinventing the sound of jazz, with the aid of some talented friends\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Jeff Tamarkin<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, I\u2019m just playing guitar,\u201d says Stanley Jordan. \u201cThen somebody points out the technique and I remember, \u2018Yeah, it\u2019s weird.\u2019\u201d Most musicians would be loath to describe their own performance method as \u201cweird.\u201d But Jordan, who first astonished the jazz world more than a quarter-century ago, is well aware that his trademark approach is unconventional. His two-handed touch style, tapping the strings as if playing piano, allows Jordan to play melody, chordal harmonies and a bassline at once\u2014or even to play two different guitars, or guitar and piano, simultaneously.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I released my first album on Blue Note, Magic Touch<\/em>, in 1985, I made a conscious decision to focus on the technique from a marketing standpoint,\u201d the Chicago native recalls. \u201cThere\u2019s a fragility and an honesty to it that\u2019s engaging. I don\u2019t think anyone can dispute that it brings new possibilities, and that\u2019s why I got into it. But by now I\u2019m so beyond thinking about the novelty aspect.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he should be: Jordan is indisputably one of the most impressive guitarists in jazz, a point reaffirmed on his latest album, Friends<\/em>. It\u2019s the follow-up to 2008\u2019s State of Nature<\/em>, which marked his return to recording (and to the piano, which he learned as a child) after a lengthy hiatus during which he studied music therapy. For Friends<\/em>, Jordan tapped world-class musicians including fellow guitarists Charlie Hunter, Mike Stern, Russell Malone and Bucky Pizzarelli; saxophonists Kenny Garrett and Ronnie Laws; trumpeter Nicholas Payton; violinist Regina Carter; bassists Charnett Moffett and Christian McBride; and drummer Kenwood Dennard.<\/p>\n

This talented crew took on a set featuring original songs and interpretations of material associated with everyone from B\u00e9la Bart\u00f3k and Claude Debussy to John Coltrane to Katy Perry. \u201cWhen I think about the album, I think about the sessions,\u201d says Jordan. He spoke to us from his home in Sedona, Ariz.<\/p>\n

How did Friends<\/em> come about?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a way the album created itself\u2014all I had to do was pick the people and give them leeway to decide what we were going to do creatively. I wish I could take more credit than that. When I made my dream-team list, those on it were almost exactly who I got. Every song is special and every artist was chosen for a special reason. Most of them I know and had played with, while others I knew from their music.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why make a collaborative record?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I did State of Nature<\/em> it was kind of a return, so I wanted to do something where I was more the focus. State of Nature<\/em> was a concept album about the natural world, and I wanted total control over what that would be. I feel the album accomplished that, so now it was, \u201cI\u2019m back, what do I want to do?\u201d I\u2019d wanted to do a collaboration project for a long time and decided the time was right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How did you choose the covers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A lot of it came from the selection of people on the album. From the beginning I wanted to do [Coltrane\u2019s] \u201cGiant Steps\u201d with Mike Stern. The reason I picked that song was because Mike and I jammed on it in a hotel somewhere on the road and I thought, \u201cThis guy is amazing!\u201d It\u2019s a difficult song and he glides through it with ease. For Bucky Pizzarelli, I suggested [Charlie Christian and Benny Goodman\u2019s] \u201cSeven Come Eleven\u201d and he loved that idea. He chose [Neal Hefti\u2019s] \u201cLi\u2019l Darlin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What\u2019s your philosophy about recording an album?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aristotle said that a work of art should have unity. If you\u2019re going to make an album, it\u2019s a unified work of art. I want something people can listen to from beginning to end. Also, I was brought up on all the great rock concept albums, so I like the idea that an album can be about something and make a statement. I go in with a concept. While things might change, I find if I keep that concept in mind I can make all those little decisions along the way.<\/p>\n

How did you learn to play guitar and piano at the same time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pianists already split their brains between hands. If I want to play two rhythms at once, and I think about the two rhythms separately that might be more difficult. Basically, there are three possibilities: left hand, right hand or both. So there\u2019s some sequence of those three possibilities. Once I\u2019m playing the two rhythms, I can think about it differently and then<\/em> notice that it\u2019s two different rhythms. It comes down to doing it in slow motion\u2014you can do almost anything if you slow it down enough. Right now I\u2019m working on a three-part fugue from Bach\u2019s The Musical Offering<\/em>. The only way I can play it is if I sing a part and play the other two. So I\u2019ll sing the low parts, play the middle part on guitar and the high part on piano. That way I\u2019ll get the best tonal blend and be able to do all three parts while still doing it as a solo piece. When I play guitar and piano simultaneously, it\u2019s like a super instrument: The guitar and piano become one instrument with a broad range of tonal possibilities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How have you applied your digital music education to your records?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the main aspect of my music that has been underrepresented. I\u2019ve never felt compelled to prove what I know. I\u2019m a harmony junkie\u2014my basic vocabulary has over a thousand scales that can be played in all 12 keys. Maybe at some point I\u2019ll do something where I feature that, but I find that most of the time it ends up clouding the music. There has to be a musical reason. The best example of it is \u201cAsteroids\u201d on the Cornucopia<\/em> album [1990]\u2014before State of Nature<\/em> it was the only song I\u2019d ever recorded that had no guitar. When I go to a dance club I\u2019m amazed at all these wonderful electronic instruments, and so often they\u2019re used in such a pedestrian way. It\u2019s monotonous, like I\u2019m being brainwashed. You\u2019ve got the compelling rhythm, but harmonically there\u2019s so much more you can do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How did you learn your signature\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

touch technique?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had a definite goal in mind. I wasn\u2019t playing piano at the time, because my family had gone through tough times economically and we had to sell it. That\u2019s when I took up the guitar. I played conventional picking and fingerstyles for six years, but I had all of this piano-istic stuff in my head. I love counterpoint, the variety of textures and the complex voicings pianos can do. I wanted a way to bring some of the piano texture to the expressiveness of the guitar. I finally figured out that if I did hammer-ons and pull-offs\u00a0it wasn\u2019t so difficult. I love that beautiful, delicate, sparkling, crystal-clear sound.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What are some of the challenges?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not very forgiving. It\u2019s like violin, in that you\u2019re very sensitive to little things like the height of the strings and the temperature. If it\u2019s not adjusted right, my fingers hurt. It feels like I\u2019m banging my fingers on metal. I can be having a bad day, and it occurs to me that my strings are just a couple thousandths\u00a0of an inch too high.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Was it hard to master?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve spent so much time convincing myself that it\u2019s easy, but I\u2019ve learned through the years that it\u2019s really not. If it were easier, more people would be doing it. But it\u2019s\u00a0opened up a world of possibilities to me,\u00a0and I\u2019d like others to experience that. I\u2019m planning on putting together an educational website with interactive online courses.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Does it ever overshadow the music?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s all in the ear of the beholder. It was something to get people\u2019s attention,\u00a0but I also wanted to have a little more stylistic variety than your average recording\u00a0artist. I\u2019ve been told, \u201cIt can\u2019t be done, you\u00a0can only play one style of music, the\u00a0industry isn\u2019t ready for a multistylist.\u201d So I decided to focus on a technique that gave me more leeway to explore different styles. I can understand why people focus on the technique\u2014but for me, it\u2019s\u00a0all about the music.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STANLEY JORDAN Still reinventing the sound of jazz, with the aid of some talented friends\u00a0 By Jeff Tamarkin \u201cTo me, I\u2019m just playing guitar,\u201d says Stanley Jordan. \u201cThen somebody points out the technique and I remember, \u2018Yeah, it\u2019s weird.\u2019\u201d Most musicians would be loath to describe their own performance method as \u201cweird.\u201d But Jordan, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[2864,970,3149],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5044"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5044"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5047,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5044\/revisions\/5047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}