Interview with Guitar Player Magazine, 1985 Stanley Jordan By Jim Ferguson
Stanley Jordan's two-handed pianistic approach has extended the limits of guitar. Whereas many rockers such as Eddie Van Halen primarily embellish their solos with rapid two-handed maneuvers, Jordan plays entire solos and compositions that feature independent voices. At 27, his album Magic Touch topped the Billboard jazz chart for an astounding 49 weeks. WHAT STANLEY JORDAN does with his revolutionary touch technique defies belief. Using both hands on the fingerboard to tap out fully independent chords, bass lines, andmelodies, the 26-year-old Princeton graduate has expanded the guitar's boundaries into areas once the sole province of keyboardists. Few players in the history of music have brought an instrument to a more radical crossroad. While players as diverse as Jimmy Webster in the '50s and '60s, contemporary classical composer Leo Brouwer, and rocker Eddie van Halen have experimented with and utilized fretboard tapping to varying degrees, Jordan has elevated it to unprecedented sophistication. Catalyzed by brilliant musicianship, his remarkable approach places at his disposal counterpoint, facility, and range previously unknown to the instrument. Many creative artists work in obscurity; however, Jordan has received an uncommon amount of attention in recent months. Relegated to playing on the street of New York less than a year ago, in early `85 he released Magic Touch--produced by Al Di Meola which quickly rocketed to the top of Billboard's jazz charts; soon after, it made a surprising jump to the pop charts. Rarely has such an innovative musician made a more dramatic major label debut. Jordan was born in Chicago on July 31,1959. He started playing the piano about six years later, when his family moved to California. He got a guitar about that time, too, but he didn't really start playing it until he was 11. At first he was heavily into rock, one of his greatest influences being Jimi Hendrix. By age 13, however, Stanley turned to jazz and started listening to musicians such as trumpeters Freddie Hubbard, Donald Byrd, and Miles Davis; saxophonists Charlie Parker and John Coltrane; pianist Herbie Hancock; and guitarist George Benson. Stanley retained his keyboard technique when he switched from piano to guitar, and this provided the basis for the touch system of playing, which he developed in his mid-teens. Also, finding the instrument's standard tuning illogical, he began to tune his instrument in fourths (E, A, D, G, C, F, low to high), which is the configuration he uses today. By age 17, he had refined his touch technique enough to tie for first place in the soloist competition for the Reno International Jazz Festival, a prestigious contest for high school jazz musicians. He then went on to earn a Bachelor of Music degree from Princeton University, where in addition to performing with various local groups, he appeared with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and saxophonist Benny Carter. Although it remains to be seen whether Jordan's touch system will enjoy widespread use, merely by virtue of the unique approach he joins the ranks of the instrument's greatest innovators. If he takes his music no farther which is unlikely--he has assured himself a prominent place in the annals of guitar history. | ||
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