Stanley Jordan, still reinventing the sound of jazz

“TO ME, I’m just playing guitar,” says Stanley Jordan. “Then somebody points out the technique, and I remember, ‘Yeah, it’s weird’.”

Most musicians would be loath to describe their own performance method as “weird”. But Jordan, who first astonished the jazz world more than a quarter-century ago, is well aware that his trademark approach is unconventional.

His two-handed touch style, tapping the strings as if playing piano, allows Jordan to play melody, chordal harmonies and a bassline at once – or even to play two different guitars, or guitar and piano, simultaneously.

“When I released my first album on Blue Note, Magic Touch, in 1985, I made a conscious decision to focus on the technique from a marketing standpoint,” the Chicago, US native recalls.

“There’s a fragility and an honesty to it that’s engaging. I don’t think anyone can dispute that it brings new possibilities, and that’s why I got into it. But by now I’m so beyond thinking about the novelty aspect.”

As he should be, Jordan is indisputably one of the most impressive guitarists in jazz, a point reaffirmed on his latest album, Friends. It’s the follow-up to 2008’s State of Nature, which marked his return to recording (and to the piano, which he learned as a child) after a lengthy hiatus during which he studied music therapy.

For Friends, Jordan tapped worldclass musicians, including fellow guitarists Charlie Hunter, Mike Stern, Russell Malone and Bucky Pizzarelli; saxophonists Kenny Garrett and Ronnie Laws; trumpeter Nicholas Payton; violinist Regina Carter; bassists Charnett Moffett and Christian McBride; and drummer Kenwood Dennard.

This talented crew took on a set featuring original songs and interpretations of material associated with everyone from Béla Bartók and Claude Debussy to John Coltrane and Katy

Perry.

“When I think about the album, I think about the sessions,” says Jordan.

He spoke to us from his home in Sedona, Arizona.

How did Friends come about? In a way, the album created itself

– all I had to do was pick the people and give them leeway to decide what we were going to do creatively. I wish I could take more credit than that. When I made my dream-team list, those on it were almost exactly who I got. Every song is special, and every artist was chosen for a special reason. Most of them I knew and had played with, others I knew from their music. Why a collaborative record? When I did State of Nature, it was kind of a return, so I wanted to do something where I was more the focus. State of Nature was a concept album about the natural world, and I wanted total control over what that would be. I feel the album accomplished that, so now it’s “I’m back; what do I want to do?” I’d wanted to do a collaboration project for a long time.

How did you choose covers?

A lot of it came from the selection of people on the album. From the beginning, I wanted to do (Coltrane’s) Giant Steps with Mike Stern. The reason was because Mike and I jammed on it in a hotel somewhere on the road, and I thought, “This guy is amazing!” It’s a difficult song, he glides through it.

What’s your philosophy about recording an album?

Aristotle said that a work of art should have unity. If you’re going to make an album, it’s a unified work of art. I want something people can listen to from beginning to end. Also, I was brought up on all the great rock concept albums, so I like the idea that an album can make a statement.