Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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JORDAN, Stanley

(b '59) Guitarist. Began on classical piano age six, changed to guitar at eleven infl. by Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana, later Wes Montgomery; from musical frustration he developed a method of playing guitar like a keyboard, with special tuning and both hands playing melody lines by tapping the strings. Self-produced first album Touch Sensitive '83 on Tangent; played at concert celebrating relaunch of Blue Note label Feb. '85 (album One Night With Blue Note: Preserved); his own LP Magic Touch on Blue Note '85 (prod. by Al Di Meola) was no. 1 jazz LP USA for 30 weeks; Standards Vol. 1 early '87 was not an advance. Some guitarists always said the instrument should be approached like a keyboard; Jordan has developed a remarkable way to do it, also thinks it might be possible to do it on an acoustic guitar by redesigning it, to avoid being tied to electronics; has degree from Princeton in music and electronics. Production values of the early Blue Note albums were not high; material like Beatle songs, Paul Simon's 'The Sound Of Silence' and 'Silent Night' are hardly an adequate showcase. 'I think that as a technician I'm pretty significant, but I can't claim to be a significant musician--not yet.' Further albums on Blue Note or EMI were Flying Home '88, Cornucopia '90, Stolen Moments '91; he switched to Arista for Bolero '94.