Incredible technique and incredulous gasps were the order of the evening as shy Stanley Jordan held centre stage with his standard issue solid-body guitar (sensibly tuned in fourths to simplify matters) and an amplifier, and, using no tapes, delays or external assistance, proved himself a schizoid guitarist sans pareil.
Stanley’s two standard-issue hands spent most of their time perusing the fretboard, playing bass lines, riffs, chords, melodies and solos simultaneously on such as Sunny, Summertime and his own All The Children, though not Shaw ‘Nuff. He rarely strummed the strings in the usual place and executed familiar jazz runs with astonishing alacrity. He is also a master of baroque-style counterpoint and appears to know a great deal about jazz theory.
Joe Pass does similar solo shows and is sometimes regarded as the Art Tatum of the guitar. Stanley’s technique is a hundred times more dense, though not as flawless: his timing did not always match that of the tapping foot and there were many fluffs.
As I said in my review of Jordan’s record (October JJ), his music holds few surprises content-wise. Like its creator it is polite and well-behaved, though in other respects it is clearly jazz. As things stand, Stanley’s appeal is somewhat like that of the bearded lady. And perhaps the MU would have something to say about the use of one musician where two or three would do.
