Key to Jordan's fast-track acclaim was his mastery of a special "tapping" technique on the guitar's fret board instead of conventional strumming and picking. While a handful of other virtuoso players were using similar techniques, Stanley's fluid and melodic use of tapping captured the imagination of listeners via his inherent warmth and sensitivity. He happened upon the technique without any formal study and had been applying it to his already exemplary traditional playing ten years prior to the album. Though Jordan showcased the technique in a variety of musical styles from swing to rock, it was smooth jazz radio support for his singular versions of "The Lady in My Life" (first recorded by Michael Jackson) and the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" that sent Magic Touch to the top of Billboard's jazz chart for a stunning 51 weeks. The album became a gold-seller (over 500,000 sold) - outstanding for any jazz or instrumental CD.
Subsequent albums found Jordan caught in a frustrating web of wanting to usher his audience into deeper levels of his artistry while record companies craved more of the stuff that had whisked him to the chart top. Because he debuted on the Blue Note label, he was marketed as a jazz progressive when what he was trying to stress was music beyond stylistic boundaries.
Those projects included a solo guitar project titled Standards Volume 1 (1986) where Stanley made the bold statement that songs by the likes of Stevie Wonder and Joni Mitchell deserved recognition as standards as much as chestnuts like "Georgia On My Mind." He followed that with the band album Flying Home (1988) and an especially edgy album titled Cornucopia (1990), half of which was straight ahead jazz recorded live and the other half of which was multi-dimensional originals recorded in the studio. Still later in 1994 after a move to Arista Records (then-helmed by pop music maverick Clive Davis), he recorded the bracingly eclectic Bolero album, featuring covers of Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon," Jimi Hendrix's "Drifting," his original "Plato's Blues" and the CD's centerpiece, a 17-minute arrangement of Ravel's "Bolero" broken up into rock, African, Latin, "groove" and industrial versions.
After a self-imposed exile from the rat race in the `90s that included a retreat to the mountains of the southwest, Stanley Jordan has re-emerged with a new life's direction. "Most people - if and when they find their calling - come to see themselves in some sort of service capacity," he states. "Right now I feel a strong desire to bring my music to the people not just for entertainment, but also for inspiration and healing."
A primary element of this new direction involves championing Music Therapy, which he is studying in a Masters program at Arizona State University. "Accelerated music schools give lots of good information but not a lot of advice on how to learn and retain that information," he states. "I try to supply this missing element of how to approach it to where you don't strain yourself. Physically, musicians run the risks of problems such as repetitive motion strain that this can help. More importantly, Music Therapy can help creative people with psychological problems such as perfectionism. Normally people approach difficult music, start out not playing it very well then try to increase their ability to play it. My approach is the opposite. I say approach easy music first, do it well then gradually increase the difficulty of the music. That way you have success right from the start. It's a way of slowing down and staying in a comfort zone, enabling you to learn the music faster in the long run while building up your confidence."
The positive affects of this training are not just skills Stanley teaches but skills he has adopted for his own creativity. "With composing, you start writing something and it's great because you get all these ideas. But the minute you stop and analyze it, you have the constraint of writing something that fits what you've already done. Now there's this whole 'judgment' thing going on. What I suggest is to stay in the creative flow for as long as possible, getting as many ideas out as you can. Then come back later with a different head to do the editing and critical side. The 'mental training' for this is not in books. It's closer to meditation or neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) where one is taught to control their mental state to achieve a goal. This can be applied not just to music but to other aspects of your life."
Another area of intensive interest for Jordan is the development of Sonification (turning something into sound) and the concept of using music as a form of representation. "A great percentage of the data that people analyze is time sensitive data," Stanley explains, "and audio is a far superior vehicle for understanding the passage of time. Take the amortization schedule of a 30-year mortgage, for example. If I hit one note per second in the left speaker for interest and another note per second for principle in the right speaker, it would take about six minutes to 'play' that mortgage. A person could hear how long they would be paying interest before they started paying principle. Looking at it on a graph is one thing, but listening to it makes you feel it. Sonification offers deeper understanding of information because more of the brain is involved in understanding that information."
Jordan sees the potential for Sonification applications on a revolutionary level. "Sonification can be of profound benefit to humanity," he continues, "especially when making decisions that affect other people which requires an emotional understanding of what you're doing. For example, you can use Sonification for a person's vital signs. To a degree that's already in place with machines that beep for heart rates, but it's in a primitive stage without much coordination. You get all these pieces of equipment making different sounds. Through Sonification, we can create a universal language that makes it easier for physicians to listen to several monitors' sounds and know what's going on with their patient's body. This is done using principles similar to those of arrangers and sound mix engineers. In arranging music for a number of instruments, you write so that the parts stay out of each other's way, enabling you to hear each part separately."
Where does this leave new recordings in the matrix of Stanley's career? In 2004 he was prominently featured with the Italian group Novocento on their CD, Dreams of Peace. And independently, he has recorded two CDs: Ragas (a collaboration with musicians from India featuring Jay Kishor on sitar) and Relaxing Music in Difficult Situations I, an audio extension of his Music Therapy interests. Beyond those, Stanley is preparing some new CDs that will focus on something he has only shared sporadically: original compositions. However, as with all things related to Stanley Jordan, he will release them when he feels the music and the timing is right.
"There's a belief that when you're a musician, you're supposed to want to be rich and famous," he muses. "I've never been like that. I do want to be paid well for what I do and want people to know about what I do - as big of an audience as I can - but that's a tangent. I see the commercial and artistic as two separate things. Sometimes they can work together. Sometimes they work against each other. I'd rather be musically satisfied and not famous than be famous and not satisfied with my music."
"When I have something new I'm playing that I really like, then I'm most motivated to share it with the world."
Autumn Leaves
Stanley Jordan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The autumn leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sun-burned hands I used to hold
Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all my darling
C'est une chanson, qui nous ressemble
Toi tu m'aimais et je t'aimais
Nous vivions tous deux ensemble
Toi qui m'aimais moi qui t'aimais
Mais la vie separe ceux qui s'aiment
Tout doucement sans faire de bruit
Et la mer efface sur le sable les pas des amants desunis
The lyrics to Stanley Jordan's song Autumn Leaves paint a picture of lost love and the passing of time. The falling leaves drifting by the window are a metaphor for the transience of life and the inevitability of change. The autumn leaves in all their red and gold beauty represent the beauty that was once there with the lost love. The memories of the summer kisses and sun-burned hands that the singer used to hold become bittersweet as they realize that they will never experience those moments again.
The loneliness that follows the departure of the loved one is palpable in the lyrics. The days grow long and the winter's song is on the horizon. The singer longs for their darling the most when the autumn leaves start to fall as a reminder of the memories they shared. The lyrics switch to French halfway through, with the first stanza being translated to "This is a song that resembles us / You loved me and I loved you / We lived together, both of us / You loved me, I loved you / But life separates those who love / Gently, without making a sound / And the sea erases on the sand the steps of the lovers who part."
The French lyrics add an international flavor to the song and provide a touch of elegance and refinement. The words, when translated, speak to the universal experience of lost love and how it can impact our lives. The song's melancholic tone and poetic imagery make it a timeless classic.
Line by Line Meaning
The falling leaves drift by the window
Dead leaves gently move past the window in the breeze
The autumn leaves of red and gold
The leaves of autumn have turned colors of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
I remember your lips, the romance we shared during the summer
The sun-burned hands I used to hold
I reminisce of holding your tanned hands
Since you went away the days grow long
Ever since you left, the days seem to drag on
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
Soon enough, the cold winter season will come and bring its melancholy tune
But I miss you most of all my darling
However, I miss you the most, my beloved
When autumn leaves start to fall
When autumn begins and the leaves fall to the ground
C'est une chanson, qui nous ressemble
This is a song that resembles us
Toi tu m'aimais et je t'aimais
You loved me and I loved you
Nous vivions tous deux ensemble
We used to live together as one
Toi qui m'aimais moi qui t'aimais
You who loved me, and me who loved you
Mais la vie separe ceux qui s'aiment
But life separates those who love each other
Tout doucement sans faire de bruit
Ever so slowly, without making a sound
Et la mer efface sur le sable les pas des amants desunis
And the ocean washes away the footprints of lovers who have parted
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, O/B/O CAPASSO, Springstoff GmbH, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Jacques Prevert, Joseph Kosma, Johnny Mercer
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
James David
My thought about the dislikes are that if you have the knowledge of music to find Stanley Jordan how do you dislike this??
The Nutty Squirrel
Maybe they’re disliking the shoulder pads?
Nathan Jasper
So here's the thing. Being honest. If I was to just hear this without seeing it, I would probably think, wow he's pretty good but some of his note articulations are a little clumsy, and he kind of overplays a little. But seeing it and knowing he's also playing the rhythm guitar it's unbelievable. So it sort of depends on how much the spectacle of seeing superhuman feats of musicianship matter to you.
Jon Kines
Sheer idiocy there can be no other explanation, most especially if the incomparable Charnett Moffett is accompanying on bass! 💯❤🥂
pretorious700
A lot of people can't understand what he's doing and how difficult it is.
RODRIGO ODÓN SALCEDO CISNEROS
@MegaVIDEOPOWER MegaVIDEOPOWER I haven't seen nobody doing better this style than him, and I know a couple of extraordinaire guitarists
Blackgeoff1
First time I heard this (which was also the first time I heard of Stanley Jordan), he dislodged all my favourite guitarists; and all my other favourite versions of this tune took a caning as well. I was high on this track for weeks, and every time I hear it now it does the same. The trio is awesome, the bass player is a demon.
Nathan Jasper
If it was anyone else on guitar the bass player would be the star and everything the comment section was talking about.
JoeJoelouie
I've been listening to Stanley for years. I'm a guitarist, but his rendition of Over The Rainbow makes me cry every time I hear it. 😪🙏
mano a mano
Nobody's talking about that drummer. He is exactly on point. Perfect jazz grooving.