Stanley Jordan at Blues Alley

Stanley Jordan, Blues Alley, Washington, DC

March 26

Recommended Beverage:

Brother Thelonious Belgian-Style Abbey Ale

Jazz guitar legend Stanley Jordan opened the first of two sets of a four-day run at Blues Alley with an eclectic, heartfelt mix. Throwing his entire soul behind every note, Jordan displayed his unique guitar style, the touch technique, which sounds like multiple guitars. Watching his fingers fly across the frets is stunning every time.

Jordan played several songs from his latest disc, State of Nature. On two of them, he played piano and guitar simultaneously because he didn’t have his cellist in tow. Each song on the disc represents man’s relationship to the environment, particularly our responsibility to take care of it. On one song, he created the mood by removing the sixth note of the C major scale. Another song symbolizes man’s unintentional damage to the earth. Yet another, a Mozart concerto as you’ve never heard Mozart, represents each person’s uniqueness.

Jordan’s set included a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence.” And he ended the show with his signature cover, a variation on a variation of “Elanor Rigby.”

See the Stanley Jordan Trio free this summer at Reston Town Center: August 22.