NASHVILLE, TN — Stanley Jordan ranks among the nation’s premier guitar soloists, a true virtuoso. Jordan, who’ll be appearing at City Winery September 16, is famous for his amazing approach, which he calls the “touch technique.” He can turn the fretboard into a dual-voice instrument, playing melody and harmony simultaneously with fluid, piano-inspired precision. He creates a fantastic, highly personal sound that moves effortlessly between jazz, classical reinventions, pop interpretations, and improvisational exploration.
Jordan was born in Chicago, but grew up in San Francisco. His first instrument was the piano, which he began studying as a six-year-old. He shifted to guitar at 11 and was playing in rock and soul bands while still in high school. Jordan performed with Quincy Jones in 1976, tied for first place as a soloist at the Reno International Jazz Festival. He later earned his BA in music from Princeton, where his instructors included Milton Babbitt (composition and theory) and Paul Lansky (computer music). He also performed with Benny Carter and Dizzy Gillespie.
His 1985 LP “Magic Touch” coincided with the relaunching of the Blue Note label and their move into contemporary jazz. The album eventually topped the Billboard jazz charts for 51 weeks and went gold.
Other acclaimed Jordan projects have included “Standards Volume 1” (1986); the dance-pop album “Flying Home” (1988); and “Cornucopia” (1990), which spanned the gamut from straight-ahead jazz recorded live to multi-dimensional originals recorded in the studio. Still later, in 1994, he recorded the “Bolero” album at Arista. It featured covers of Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon,” Jimi Hendrix’s “Drifting,” his original “Plato’s Blues,” and the CD’s centerpiece, a 17-minute arrangement of Ravel’s “Bolero,” which flowed seamlessly between rock, African, Latin, “groove,” and “industrial” sections. During this era, Jordan also made history by creating the seminal “startup” sound for the first generation of Power Macintosh computers.
Jordan has performed in over 60 countries on six continents. He has performed at many festivals, including the Kool Jazz Festival, the Concord Jazz Festival, and the Montreux International Jazz Festival. During the 1980s, he collaborated with a diverse array of artists, including performances with Art Blakey and Richie Cole and recordings with Stanley Clarke and Kenny Rogers. The track with Rogers, “Morning Desire,” became America’s #1 country song in 1986. Later, Jordan became a frequent guest with Les Paul during Paul’s legendary Monday nights at Iridium in New York.
Jordan currently performs frequently as a soloist and with his band, as well as collaborating with other guitarists such as Kevin Eubanks, Sharon Isbin, and Muriel Anderson. He’s also a frequent guest with jam bands such as the Dave Matthews Band, the String Cheese Incident, Phil Lesh, Moe, and Umphrey’s McGee. He has received four Grammy nominations. His most recent album, “Friends,” was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Los Angeles Times jazz critic Leonard Feather wrote, “Genius is a word often tossed around in musical circles, but it has been rightfully applied to Stanley Jordan.”
Jordan’s concert begins at 7:30 p.m. City Winery is located at 609 Lafayette Street in Nashville.
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