Jordan brings unique jazz style to Second Street Live!

review by Peter Lewis
[email protected]

The word innovator is bandied around so much that its descriptive effectiveness is tainted. The resonating power is lost.

This is troublesome when one is searching for words to illustrate the greatness of a musician. The infirmities of language do not quite allow proper description, so one must resort to those same tired phrases like “innovator.”

But when it comes to the great jazz fusion guitarist Stanley Jordan, there is simply no other word to use. Jordan is a truly unique innovator on guitar.

Dissatisfied with the constrictions of guitar playing, Jordan developed a tapping method.

In this technique, a guitarist is able to produce a note with only one finger by skillfully hammering it down behind the fret. This technique allows Jordan to play with both hands, essentially freeing him to play melody and chords simultaneously.

While his playing separates him from the masses, it his vision of non-conformity that truly encapsulates his music. From the beginning of his career, Jordan was met with adulation and acclaim throughout the jazz community. Frustrated with the constrictions of the industry, Jordan abandoned this predetermined path to follow his own: studying music therapy.

Over the intervening years Jordan has continued to create music, though it has always been on his own terms. The most recent album, “State of Nature,” was released in 2008. Marking his first mainstream release in almost a decade, the album seeks to depict the interconnected universality of the world. The song structures of “State of Nature” were born out a sense of incredulity and dissatisfaction with the environmental status of our land.

Jordan explained: “The two main ideas that consumed my thoughts were these: Human beings need to get back to nature, which extends to the environment as well as our bodies – the part of nature we carry around with us, and we need to evolve intellectually, spiritually and politically. Neither will work without the other. I believe that when we become more educated, we’ll be better problem solvers.”

“State of Nature” stands as a testament to not only the virtuosity of the artist, but to his elevated consciousness. For Stanley Jordan, it is impossible to have one without the other. Both serve to fuel his passion and cultivate the music within himself.