Guitar legend Stanley Jordan comes to Ned

Stanley Jordan is your favorite guitar player's favorite guitar player.

The legendary jazz guitarist is coming to The Caribou Room April 18 ahead of the release of his new record Feather in the Wind. For the latest issue of Caribou Current, Brittney Wagner caught up with Stanley ahead of the show to talk about his signature playing style, and how he used songwriting to cope with devastating loss.

Brittney joins the show today to tell us what to expect from his upcoming album and show. 

Also

• An editorial preview for the April edition of Caribou Current
• One can't-miss concert coming to Boulder this month
• Hand-picked events for you to pack your calendar with in the next few weeks

Clips from today's episode

Audio from a Bigfoot call contest

Jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan shares his guitar secrets - The Wall Street Journal

Stanley Jordan - "Stairway to Heaven" (cover)

B.B. King - "The Thrill is Gone"

Stanley Jordan - "Autumn Leaves"

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:34

The wait is over. I know everyone's been dying for another issue of Caribou Current, the best source for arts and culture journalism from the foothills to the peaks. So we thought we'd give it another whirl. Our April issue is out today. I'm in the studio with our editor, Jesse Gray, to give you a little sneak peek of what's inside. After that, we'll hop into a conversation I had with the Mountaineers Brittany Wagner about her interview with guitar legend Stanley Jordan ahead of his upcoming show at the Caribou Room. Jesse, how are we feeling about the April issue?

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Feeling great about the new issue. I think as we put more of these things out, we're just kind of getting into a groove and finding the stuff that we think is going to really compel readers. And that starts by what compels us. And I think there's lots in here that we're pretty compelled by and I'm excited to talk about.

SPEAKER_03 1:30

Yeah, for sure. Something I thought was really cool about this issue is it's kind of like a little bit of a guide, not just what to do in April, but also like what we have coming up this summer. It's something that could maybe sit on your coffee table for a little bit longer than a month. So I wanted to uh get into what's inside the book this month. What do we have from cover to the final page?

SPEAKER_01 1:57

That's right. You know, this is an issue that you can kind of hang on to a little bit longer than just a month. Uh, we've got our Red Rocks concert preview, which includes 11 hand-picked concerts by Caribou current staff. And these range from April to October. So this is an aerial look at the Red Rocks season, uh, giving you the lowdown on everything from Ethel Kane to Weird Owl. So whatever you're looking for this spring, summer, even early fall, when it comes to the greatest live music venue in the world, um, you'll find a really great roadmap in the pages of Caribou Current. And then we've also got two artist profiles, uh, one on guitar legend Stanley Jordan, and then another on an emerging emopunk band called Karosing Heights from Asheville, North Carolina. Those make a really good pair, um, you know, quite different, but both worth checking out. We've also got an update on the Nobo Art District uh here in North Boulder. Reporter Tony Tresca set out to find out what the new designation as a Colorado creative district means for Nobo as they prepare for a major expansion with the BMOCA campus that's coming and of course with the arrival of Sundance. Um then we've got a Boulder Arts Week preview where we ask local partners from arts organizations like Roots Music Project, Streetwise, and the Dairy Arts Center to tell us kind of what they're stoked about in terms of Boulder Arts Week, which runs from April 3rd through the 12th. Um and then plus we've got all the regular stuff you can expect each month from our Friday Night Weird, our underground film preview at the Dairy Arts Center to our top 10 bestsellers at Paradise Found Records, and of course all the concerts and events that you can hope for in the coming weeks.

SPEAKER_03 3:44

Yeah, this really feels like a bread and butter issue. It's just it's music and art and uh everything that you can look forward to in both of those arenas reminds you that what makes Boulder and the Front Range so special when it comes to this stuff when we can just fill a book with uh music and art. Super, super cool. Um very excited. With everything coming up in April, I wanted to ask you what uh the one can't miss concert uh from the foothills to the peaks is this month.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

I'm gonna say uh my can't miss concert is uh Karosing Heights and Saturdays at your place uh are playing at the Fox Theater here in a boulder on April 15th. Uh the headliner is the band Saturdays at Your Place from Kalamazoo, Michigan. They are a uh a pretty hot item right now in the world of emo music. And then uh the opener is Karosing Heights from Asheville, North Carolina. That's who you can read about in in this month's issue. And I was really drawn to writing about that band um because I love their blend of emo with pop punk hardcore. It's a little more harder edge than the headliner uh for fans of bands like Tidal Fight. That's gonna be a show that if you care about that kind of music, you definitely don't want to miss it.

SPEAKER_03 5:06

Man, I think I'm gonna have to go. Absolutely gonna be a show that if you're into that brand of music, this is gonna be one for you.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Let's go. April 15th. We'll see you guys there.

SPEAKER_03 5:15

Yeah, we'll see you there. Uh, my end, I have a couple of events that I think are gonna be can't miss. The first one is Bigfoot Days in Estes on Saturday, April 25th, if only for the Bigfoot Call competition. You seriously will not believe the sounds that these people can make, and it's it's pretty convincing. Almost convincing enough to make you wonder if these are the people who are perpetuating the myth of Bigfoot. And I also wanted to give a little shout out to the Boulder International Film Festival, too, running April 9th through 12th. With Sundance coming next year, it's the last time it's gonna have the stage to itself. Tickets are cheap, the films are phenomenal, and chances are it's gonna look a little bit different from here on out. So definitely check it out before Sundance rolls into town. With that, we are going to jump into my talk with Britt about Stanley Jordan. If you're not familiar, which I wasn't, there's a good chance he's your favorite guitar player's favorite guitar player. The guy's an absolute legend, and he'll be a net. So here's a little primer of what to expect from his April 18th show. Welcome to the podcast, Britt. How's it going?

SPEAKER_02 6:54

Going really good. How are you?

SPEAKER_03 6:56

I'm good. I'm good. I'm really excited to talk to you about this story that you wrote for Caribou Current this month on Stanley Jordan. Really, really interesting to get inside his head. I I love hearing about how an artist makes music. And for a guitar legend like Stanley Jordan to be playing the caribou room in Netherland, it's just cool to have the perspective uh ahead of his show coming up.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

Yeah, absolutely. He was really interesting to talk to.

SPEAKER_03 7:27

Yeah, for sure. So I'm curious. I, you know, I going into reading this, I actually had not heard of Stanley Jordan myself. So I was wondering if you could kind of describe his music to someone who hasn't listened to it before.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Well, so you know, he plays jazz guitar, um, but with the tech touch technique that he uses, um, you know, to me it kind of sounds like raindrops.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

I can play with just my left hand or with just my right hand.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

It's like very much a staccato style. It's just like these little tapping notes.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Or both together.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

Um, and you know, he's playing the bass line, harmony, melody all at once. So it's very complex. Um, but also at the same time, you know, I feel like you don't have to be someone who likes jazz to like his playing.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

Yeah, that's that's cool. I I feel like jazz can be like inaccessible to some people, or they like think it is because it's has this air of complexity to it. So it's it's cool to to hear, you know, you don't have to be a jazz aficionado or a nut about like the math of music to to really get into it.

SPEAKER_02 8:53

Yeah. Well, he also does some really cool interpretations of songs too, you know. Like he does like Eleanor Rigby, he does his own version of that with like his style. Um, so like there's songs that people would recognize, you know, he just plays them in like this jazz style with his his touch technique. But like very accessible, I feel like to all.

SPEAKER_03 9:38

Sweet. What what is that touch technique? I hadn't heard of that before.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Um, so he uses both of his hands on the neck of the guitar instead of just one, and he like alternates notes between fingers. So like he's like basically when he's playing, he's he's tapping back and forth with his fingers, different individual notes.

SPEAKER_03 10:01

It's so crazy. I like was looking at photos of him playing with two guitars at the same time. Yeah, so such a such a cool look. In the piece, Stanley mentions some of the transitions in his latest record, Feather in the Wind, from this sort of like melancholy sound to more uplifting melodies. And uh he said that it kind of mirrors the emotions that drove the creation of this new record. I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about the inspiration behind this last collection.

SPEAKER_02 10:35

Yeah, um, so I think that this record was really um like was was deeply emotional for Stanley because he lost he he lost a lot of people while he was recording it, one of them being his dad. And so, you know, I think that you know, a lot of that emotion went into the record, but instead of just focusing on the kind of like the sadness of experiencing that, he was talking about how we face loss and what we do to keep going. You know, so like with the Picardy Third, which he was talking about, where you go from, you know, like a more melancholy sound to like a more uplifting sound, he was kind of comparing that to how he he dealt with death of his friends and his dad, and how he instead of staying in the sadness, he moved forward to a brighter place.

SPEAKER_03 11:23

Yeah, yeah. Um, I thought that was really interesting hearing the again for someone who like I know very little about the mechanics of music, listening to him talk about this like classical technique Picardy Third, and how he uses that to capture the emotion behind the record was just so, so cool to understand the actual mechanics behind making music that makes you feel a certain type of way.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Yeah. Yeah, I thought that was really cool.

SPEAKER_03 11:55

So you're a musician yourself, and I wanted to know from your perspective what it's like talking to and getting to pick the brain of like a true master of the trade and uh and of the you know, guitar. Talk about his own process in in making music.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Yeah, um, I mean, honestly, it was pretty magical. I really enjoyed um getting to ask him questions like what he does to prepare for a show, who his guitar heroes were. He also just has such like an interesting way of explaining music, you know, and hear it, like you're saying, like listening to someone who's just truly such a master. Um, especially like, you know, I'm a song, I'm more of a songwriter than a guitar player. Like I play guitar, but like, you know, my guitar skills are very average. Like he writes lyrics with his notes, you know, like his musical notes. So, you know, to like talk to someone who is just writing music from like such the purest form, like that. Um, yeah, it was just really cool. I've I felt really honored to talk to him.

SPEAKER_03 13:02

Who were some of his guitar heroes that he brought up in that conversation?

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Um, I was actually kind of surprised by this, but he told me that basically when that Jimi Hendrix was like one of his first. Um, and that when Jimi Hendrix died, that's when he decided that he had to play guitar. So I thought that was really interesting. Um BB King, he said, was his was his like number one first guitar hero. Um, who was actually supposed to record on the album, but he passed away before that happened. So Stanley decided to play the song still and play his part, but just as like kind of like a tribute. And so I'm really looking forward to hearing that. I think that's gonna be really, really awesome.

SPEAKER_03 13:59

Yeah, that's so cool. I loved BB King growing up. My dad was a big blueshead, so um wouldn't would love to see that myself. So, how exciting is it to have someone like Stanley coming to play a pretty small room in a pretty small town in Netherland?

SPEAKER_02 14:17

I mean, it's just it's sort of it's really trippy, honestly. It's really cool that he's gonna be there. Um, it is a really small, intimate room. Um, and just you know, music is such a big part of this town and has been for such a long time. And Stanley, he's actually he's played in Netherland like in the past in um like Nedfest. So to have like a legend like that, you know, he said himself how much he loves the caribou room and the vibe of the people, that's a really cool feeling. I'm really excited to see him in such a small space because I didn't I didn't get to see him last time he was here.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

Yeah. Does he have a connection to Netherland, or was it is it just like he's played here before and he loves playing here?

SPEAKER_02 14:57

I think that's yeah, he um yeah, that's what he said. He said that he had just he's been playing here for years and that he just loves Netherland, loves playing for the people of Ned.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

Hard not to. I can I can totally understand it from the perspective of an artist. What are you most excited about for this upcoming show?

SPEAKER_02 15:16

I'm really excited to see him do the two guitar um technique. Yeah. Um, I think that's gonna be really interesting to watch. Because I mean, I've just I've seen videos of him playing just the touch technique with the two hands on the one neck, but to see it that see him do that on two different guitars, I think that's gonna be really cool. I'm really excited to like see what that sounds like, you know. I honestly don't really know what to expect from that. So I'm excited about that. And I'm also looking forward to hearing some of the songs from the um out the new album, Feather in the Wind.

SPEAKER_03 15:49

Does he get up there and he plays songs that he's he's written, um, or is it a little bit more like jammy freestyle, uh like you would expect from a jazz show?

SPEAKER_02 16:01

I think it honestly depends on his mood, it sounds like. Um, he said he he never goes out there knowing exactly what he's going to do, but he says, you know, sometimes he'll, you know, go out there and play, you know, maybe just a certain song, but he also says that he does like improvisational jamming and stuff like that. So um, yeah, I think every show is probably really unique.

SPEAKER_03 16:22

Yeah, it definitely makes for kind of a can't miss concert.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_03 16:29

So that show is coming up on Saturday, April 18th at the Caribou Room in Netherland. He'll be playing alongside uh the Mark Diamond duo uh featuring Vance Wiggins. You can get tickets. Where can you where can you get tickets? Just at the Caribou Room?

SPEAKER_02 16:49

Um, you can get tickets online um from the caribouroom.com, or you can get tickets at the door if it's not sold out.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

Sweet. Yeah. Um, very, very much a show to look forward to. I think everybody that uh loves live music can can get behind this one. It's gonna be something a little bit different, something a little bit out there, and you get to watch a legend play guitar.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

Yeah, absolutely. Looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

Super cool, awesome. Well, thanks for coming on. Really, really appreciate it. Uh, check out the piece. It's in this month's issue of Caribou Current that will be out today, April 2nd. Uh, pick it up, find a copy, read it. It's a great piece. He did a great job with it. So thanks for thanks for coming on, Britt.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Yeah, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_03 17:56

One last thank you to Britt for nailing down this interview, coming on the show, and writing a really great piece on Stanley's upcoming record and his show at the Caribou Room. If you like today's episode, send it to your music nerd friends, your uncle who won't shut up about real musicians from the 70s, or anyone who likes live music. It's a huge help to get the word out about the podcast. You can also send us pitches for the next edition of Caribou Current. Reach out to Jezzy at JEZY at the Mountain Ear.com. We'll be back next week with more peak to peak news, so sit tight. This is the Mountaineer Podcast. I'm Tyler Hickman. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.