Entering through the front doors of Dana, I went upstairs to the balcony and found myself a seat.Looking down at the stage, I was disappointed at first to see that there were no drums or piano setup on stage, just a bunch of chords and a microphone stand. Then Stanley Jordan walked out alone with his guitar. His right hand was positioned near the neck of the guitar and his left hand hung down by his side. Then came a quick splash of notes. His left hand arose, his right fell by his side, and then came another quick splash. My jaw dropped. He then proceeded to play the most complicated guitar that I have ever heard, his head flapping around as if an exorcism were being performed on him by his own music.
Jordan, a Princeton graduate, is the pioneer of a technique known as tapping. Basically the concept is instead of pressing the string down with one hand and plucking with the other, you mash the string down against the fret hard enough to get a tone out of it. This allows for the creation of notes with each hand independently, playing the guitar like a piano.
It is hard to say exactly what style of music Stanley Jordan plays. Often his runs up and down the scales have a very jazzy flare to them. At certain times he would play a walking baseline, a jazz standard, while playing a melody high on the fretboard. At other times Jordan’s complex layering of notes and rhythms was reminiscent of classical movements. Using the tapping technique, he was able to play enough parts at once to mimic an orchestra by himself.
Some of the high points of the show included a traditional Peruvian song that I thought sounded like the James Bond theme. Also a brief scat jam where Jordan played a line of notes while singing them simultaneously was pretty cool. Finally Jordan’s rendition of “Stairway to Heaven” as an encore was in good taste for a college crowd while at the same time very musically impressive.
As I was walking out I realized that I had no idea how long the show had lasted. I ran into my friend Curley who looked as bewildered as I felt. Jordan was standing in the foyer talking with people and signing ticket stubs. I was surprised to see that he looked so young and yet was such a master of his instrument. Curley and I both got Jordan’s autograph and then went and got bombed.