Stanley Jordan Trio @ Catalina’s 12.16.11
By George W. Harris

It’s rare enough for a musician to have a unique sound on an
instrument. For Stanley Jordan, not only did he develop a unique sound
on guitar, he developed a one of a kind style of playing his instrument
when he started tapping the strings instead of strumming and picking
them like 99.9% of the rest of the world. As he demonstrated with his
adroit trio of Kenwood Dennard/dr and Zirque Michael Bonner/b, he has
used his genius to create music that is adaptable to genres and
generations like no other modern artist, even taking his art into the
future.

He captivated the Catalina crowd with a trio performance of classical
music such as Debussy’s “Reverie,” a solo guitar reading from a
Mozart Piano Concert, and then played guitar and piano simultaneously
on Bartok’s “Intermezzo.” His astonishing technique is not a sideshow,
but a necessity for such deep and penetrating interpretations of such
pieces. He was able to turn the jazz club into The Apollo Theatre, with
a stomping reading of modern pop/R&B by Katy Perry as his own
compositions like “A Place in Space” and “Return Expedition” featured
stratospheric solos, group improvs and even some hilarious vocal
musings between the rapid fire ensemble passages. While soaring deep
into outer space, he always came back to orbit, and brought the house
down with a tender duet with a10 year old piano prodigy and then closed
the set with a swinging take of Benny Goodman’s “Seven Come Eleven.”
Centuries of music, including the 21st in this 1 ½ hour of acoustic
excitement. A Christmas gift for all in attendance.