An Evening with Stanley Jordan at Times Square
Type: Music & Concerts
In a career that took flight in 1985 with both immediate commercial and critical acclaim, guitar virtuoso Stanley Jordan has consistently displayed a chameleonic musical persona of openness, imagination, versatility, respect and maverick daring. Be it bold reinventions of classical masterpieces or soulful explorations through pop-rock hits, to blazing straight ahead jazz forays and ultra modern improvisational works – solo or with a group – Jordan can always be counted on to take listeners on breathless journeys into the unexpected.
On his latest album for Mack Avenue Records, Friends, Jordan takes the time-honored path of inviting a hand picked cadre of special guests: guitarists Bucky Pizzarelli, Mike Stern, Russell Malone and Charlie Hunter, violinist Regina Carter, saxophonists Kenny Garrett and Ronnie Laws, trumpeterNicholas Payton, bassists Christian McBride and Charnett Moffett, and drummer Kenwood Dennard. The results proved truly outstanding on numbers ranging from a Bela Bartok piece to a Katy Perry pop smash, a heady original blues and three jazz classics spanning swing, cool and modern. There’s a listener friendly samba, an airy spirit song and an astounding nod to the atonal. Jordan even plays some serious piano on a couple of songs, revisiting his very first instrument with newfound confidence and wonder.