Healing Through Sound, Learning Through Music | Stanley Jordan

In this unforgettable episode, we sit down with legendary guitarist Stanley Jordan for a conversation that goes far beyond music.

Known around the world for his groundbreaking two-handed touch technique and his ability to completely reimagine the guitar, Stanley opens up about creativity, consciousness, healing, collaboration, and the deeper purpose of art in today’s world. From working with icons like Quincy Jones, George Martin, Kenny Rogers, and Dave Matthews, to performing live music during surgeries and exploring music therapy, Stanley shares stories and perspectives that are as profound as they are inspiring.

We talk about:
• The emotional power of music and why art matters more than ever
• His experiences with Quincy Jones, George Martin, and Kenny Rogers
• Playing live in operating rooms to help patients and medical teams
• Music, meditation, math, science, and the connection between sound and healing
• His upcoming project Stanley Jordan’s Big Party Super Band at CrossMill Arts
• The philosophy behind his long-awaited new album Feather in the Wind
• Why musicians need to “get back into the real world” and create together again

This episode is heartfelt, thought-provoking, funny, emotional, and deeply human — the kind of conversation that stays with you long after it ends.

And yes… Stanley even talks about the iconic scene from Blind Date with Bruce Willis and Kim Basinger, where he performed live on set as their chemistry unfolded in real time.

Once you’re hooked, there’s no going back.

Learn more about Stanley Jordan 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Today on The Hook, we're talking to a musician who didn't just master his instrument, he reimagined what it could be.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Stanley Jordan is a world-renowned guitarist known for his groundbreaking two-handed touch technique. It allows him to play melody, harmony, and rhythm all at once, sometimes even across multiple instruments. Stanley Jordan, you're on the hook.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Do you find that when people listen to you, that's a normal reaction?

SPEAKER_03 1:37

Yeah, I mean, sometimes I have that reaction too. I mean, sometimes I go for the note that's just so achingly beautiful that it makes you want to cry. And I do feel it's not crying in a bad way, but just opening our hearts. Like music can open our hearts. And that's not always the purpose of all music. Music can have different functions. But I go for very often the music without purpose.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

It's from your heart down to your toes for me.

SPEAKER_03 2:07

I do feel that it's something that's needed today, too, because we have so much external stimuli coming at us all the time. And it encourages us to be in more of an external mode of thinking. We're always looking around, dealing with the external world. And even in music, we tend to be very external. Like when we're practicing, what is it that we're practicing for? We're practicing in order to be able to execute a certain thing or to get a certain result, like passing the audition or getting a standing ovation or whatever. It's always this external thing. But what we musicians need to think about more is what is the experience that we're practicing for? What is it going to be like when I'm on the stage or in the studio or whatever? And when I practice, that's the goal that I set. I set the goal to have that experience. Because if I'm having that deep, profound experience, then I figure the audience can feel that too.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

It will convey. And you know, you were just talking about that the the world is kind of in a turmoil right now. I was thinking one of my favorite quotes from Rumi, and if you don't mind, I have to read this because I want to get it right now. Okay, okay. Blessed are the gypsies, the makers of music, the artists, writers, dreamers of dreams, wanderers and vagabonds, children and misfits, for they teach us to see the world through beautiful eyes. You and I were actually discussing this in the kitchen where we feel like so much now is so two-dimensional and it's it's so immediate, like immediate gratification and not as much heart that's truly in it. We were talking about the fact that maybe it's time for the music and the artists and the wanderers and the dreamers of dreams to step up.

SPEAKER_03 3:56

Yeah, I do think that artists, creative people need to take more of a role, need to be a little bit more bold and a little more courageous. To one thing that you were saying before, you were talking about the turmoil. And I agree that there's a lot of turmoil in the world. That's true. But at the same time, I have this feeling that something new is coming in, something new. I feel the emergence of something. And it's not just, I'd love to imagine, we have to imagine. No, I feel it, I believe it. I think Marianne Williamson said it really well. She said, there's a world that's dying around us, but there's another world that's struggling to be born. And she says we have to be death duelist to the old and at the same time birth duelist to the new. We can't forget that. It's almost like the chaos and the turmoil is a sign that the old energy is clearing out. And so here's the important point. What is this new thing? It's not about sitting back and waiting. It is about us creating it. That is the whole point, is that we need to exercise our creative powers. And that's why you're talking about the artists and the and the creative people. Because not only do we need to play a role, but really there's other people who are more like builders. You know, I'm more of an inside person. I talk about feelings and I create internal states and moves. That's my thing. But there's other people who are more like physical builders and stuff, but we artists can still inspire them as well. So the point is, all of us, regardless of what our orientation or our calling is, we can collectively build the sustainable future as a creative work of art. If we think of ourselves as artists, because all the great things in civilization, whether it's the pyramids or the sphinx or Machu Picchu or whatever, all of that started in somebody's mind. People imagined that and then they did it. And so the wisdom of the artist is that creation comes from within. So we all need to be encouraged to grow that inside part of us. Then we need to really nurture that and honor it and believe in it. Because that's the power that we're going to draw from to collectively build the future as a work of art.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

If you were the leader of this, let's call it initiative in literal terms, where do we start?

SPEAKER_03 6:16

I don't know. I mean, you're challenging me here because you know that seems too, you know, egotistical to even think about.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

I want to put it into I think so many people are in such turmoil right now and scared and really curious what your thoughts are on how to go from leaning into that inside creatively and building on that love and that messaging. You know, I keep thinking of we are the world for some reason. And the magic of what happened when all those people collectively came together and put the took ego out and put their voices all together. It was so magical and it did so much. And that's been a while since we've had something like that.

SPEAKER_03 6:53

Well, it is a great idea that people in the arts can organize something else. It doesn't have to even be one thing. There should be a lot of things like that. One of my favorite things last year at the Grammys, they had the Israeli and Palestinian musicians playing together on a string quartet. That was just like goosebumps. That was, I mean, that's what we need. It was wonderful. The words that were said before, the whole thing was just perfect. So that was one thing. We need a thousand things like that. And everybody has their own area that they have influence over. Maybe it's just their friends or family or whatever. We all can cultivate more of an artistic expression. There's this old philosophy. Well, Kant kind of crystallized it. The idea that you have the good, the true, and the beautiful. I know maybe overgeneralizing it a little bit, but in the arts, our jurisdiction is the beautiful. I realize that sometimes art can be ugly or can be, you know, that can still be art. But in a sense, even if you create something that's deliberately showing the shadow or the dark side or the ugly side, you're still viewing it through the through a lens and putting a frame and seeing the beauty in the ugly. I don't know if that makes sense. But our domain in the arts is the beautiful. So you got all these people talking about, oh, it's all about the true. But now it's hard to even know what's true anymore because you got all the deep fakes and all the competing narratives, and you know, money determines what's going to get shown to us, not necessarily actual real truth. And then you got the good, the people who are focused on the good, but so often they've got these old, antiquated, outdated notions of what is good. You know, we're gonna bring everyone back to morality, our 14th century morality or whatever. And so what I love about the beautiful is that the beautiful understands, like you know, they say, beauty's in the eye of the beholder. That's a common thing, right? So people have a kind of innate understanding that beauty is not a fixed thing. I mean, you might have the fashion world says that, you know, red is in the season. There's things like that, there's collective things like that. But on the whole, we get that beauty is more really a way of seeing things than a thing in itself. And that's how it gets back to that internal thing. We have to recultivate the inside.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Putting the positive out in the universe. Jess and I will say something negative. Jess will correct me and go, no, don't put that out there. Put the positive out there. And I feel like so much news is putting out so much negative.

SPEAKER_03 9:28

And there's the good, getting back to the good.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Yes, getting back to the good and start telling good stories. I mean, I love when the news will tell a really happy good story about somebody saving a dog.

SPEAKER_03 9:38

Yeah, there's that whole thing, you know, if it bleeds, it leaves. But that's one of those self-fulfilling prophecies. I think people do want to hear good stories because people want to be inspired. And I think, especially like young people. For me, I'm old enough to remember when most of the shows that we saw were actually teaching a lesson. There was a moral to the story. You know, Mr.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Rogers, the after school series. Remember that reason for those? What is the after school special? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:04

Yeah. Imagine if they had Mr. Rogers when there was that conflict in Abraham's family. You know, we wouldn't have a lot of these issues today.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Stanley, you've worked across so many different musical worlds. I want to dive into some of those experiences. But first, I want to know how you tend to approach stepping into someone else's creative space.

SPEAKER_03 10:26

I love that. I really love that because I've got my thing. I love being pulled out of my zone. It's not necessarily out of my comfort zone. I mean, sometimes you got to get out of your comfort zone, but for the most part, it's about expanding your comfort zone. And so I like getting comfortable in someone else's living room and saying, how can I contribute? So, like so many people, they do their own thing and they have the thing that works for them. And it's an interesting challenge for me to try to figure out how I can enhance that. So, to give you an example, I was a guest sometimes with the Dave Matthews band. And it was a really amazing challenge for me because he's such an amazing storyteller and lyricist. So I would go in with the idea, there's a story here that's being told. And so, whatever I do, my purpose is to enhance the telling of that story. And so my choice of notes is all about that. So if I'm not listening, like a lot of people who are like serious, they're listening to the notes and the chords, and what scale am I gonna use here, you know? But I'm all about the story. I want to do something that's gonna help that artist, that's gonna support that artist. What's gonna enhance people's experience of going to the Dave Matthews show? Or like with Kenny Rogers. So Kenny Rogers had written this song, Morning Desire. There was this Bruce Bringsteen song, I'm on fire. And there is some similarity there between the two songs. And Kenny didn't want people to think that he copied Bruce Springsteen. So he was looking for some element to add to the song, to take it in a different direction. So he saw me on the Johnny Carson show, and he's like, That's it, that's the element. And so when they brought me in, they told me part of your purpose here is to do something different with the song that's gonna make it not sound like the Bruce Springsteen song. And so it's like, okay, you know, Roger, you know, I'll do my best. So it's fun to figure out, you know, how to do that. And so what the song is about is he doesn't want to go to work, he wants to stay home with his lover and listen to the rain. And so I was the rain. Wow. That was my that's how I thought about it.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

I love that. I would listen when I was a teenager to Coward of the County and just cry. I guess I'm just a crier.

SPEAKER_03 12:35

Well, he's another storyteller, too.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

What was he like as a person?

SPEAKER_03 12:40

Such a sweet guy, such a really nice guy. George Martin was the producer on that. So George Martin, the Beatles producer, he was the producer on that album. And it was interesting watching him work too because he was very all about the genre of the music. And yet he wanted to enhance it, but not bring anything that didn't fit. And so, you know, coming from being a composer who can write for orchestra, he could do big major scores and all that. So, how could he draw from all of that knowledge and expertise to enhance this song? You know, I mean, you hear that in the Beatles and all this grandiose stuff that comes in with the Beatles. A lot of that stuff was George Martin bringing his expertise in. So here he is with Kenny Rogers. And when I came into the studio, he really wanted me to be myself and to sound like me. And so he's sitting across from me and I'm kind of warming up. And he was like, give me more of that Stanley Jordan stuff. Give me more. And he's like literally like energetically pulling the Stanley stuff out of me. And it's like, the more I sounded like me, the more he liked it.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:43

And that's so I was like, well, what is my sound anyway? It's sort of like in that moment, it kind of helped me to understand what it is that I do and how it hits people. You know what I mean? Right, it's like when somebody else's to you. It's when somebody else reflects back to you. You know, this is what your essence is, that's so meaningful to me. You're like, oh, okay, got it, you know. And he said, When you're playing, don't worry about Kenny, don't worry about anything else. Pretend that this is your record. So I played, I didn't hold back, basically. I mean, I always want to fit the song and the lyrics, but I really feel that the solo that I played on that song holds up to any of the stuff on any of my records. And there's a there's a version that's where they cut it off, like right when the solo is really getting good. So you got to find the version that has the whole solo where the ring really starts to fall.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

So that was a big moment for you, from what I understand here, uh when you really realize who you were as an artist.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

I mean, we all have moments that enhance our understanding, you know, and like I have this whole thing, but when I talk to my students, I have this concept of seven levels. And you want to make sure it doesn't matter if it's seven or eight or whatever, but the point is that you want to cover the whole spectrum of existence, basically. So I've got a convenient seven levels that I think works for musicians. So level six is what I'm calling the level of soul, and it has to do with your identity too, like your individual self. It's the spiritual sense, but it's your kind of individual spirit. And so that has to do with your identity. And the point is, is that the music, whatever choices you make, should be in harmony with who you are. And maybe it should even enhance who you are, and maybe it can help you to understand who you are. And that's part of the therapeutic value of music as well. Even if you're not a professional musician, but you play music for your own enjoyment, and you play the music that really is part of your own evolving sense of self. That's going to be your best music. And so when you have somebody, and he's one of the top people in the industry, George Martin. And instead of trying to squash you down, he's like wanting you to bring out more of who you are. That's when I realized no wonder this guy is so good and so successful and made such an impact in music. That little session. And then I imagine all the different sessions with the Beatles and whatever he did in the studio to bring out more and more of what they had to offer. It just gives me goosebumps.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Well, speaking of that and goosebumps, I was fortunate enough to go to it's a venue in Richmond called the Forum, the Richmond Forum, and see Quincy Jones.

SPEAKER_03 16:21

So it's a big venue?

SPEAKER_00 16:22

It is.

SPEAKER_03 16:23

The name sounds like a big venue.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

It's fairly, I mean, it's fairly intimate. They have concerts there, but for the sake of the forum, which happens once a quarter, they bring in somebody. They brought they brought in Obama, they brought in Michelle Obama, they've had really, really big names come in, but you kind of get to sit and have this intimate experience where they're talking about their life in a way that is very different and unique. And Quincy Jones came to Richmond and I was able to go and listen to him. And he was describing kind of what you're saying of hearing somebody and then kind of pulling more out and the goosebumps that he'd get when he would hear a new artist and know that there was that magic there. But you had some interaction with Quincy, I feel like, too.

SPEAKER_03 17:03

Yeah, well, the first time was when I was growing up in the Bay Area. They put together an all-star band of high school musicians from the peninsula. And I auditioned and I got into the All-Star Band, and we did a concert with Quincy Jones in San Jose. And so the theme, one of the songs that we did was Do You Know the Way to San Jose? You know, that was really cool because he was so supportive and he he he liked my play. I'll just be honest. He he didn't like my playing.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

No way.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

And I and I and I was like 16 at the time. So that was amazing to be seen by somebody. You know, it's always wonderful when anybody, you know, I see you, I see you. Like from the Avatar movie, I see you. We we want to be seen. Well, to be seen by someone like Quincy is really special. And and then I ran into him years later, and I said, Yeah, I don't know, you probably don't remember me, but he's I remember you, Stanley. Like, wow, okay. And he actually, when when I did my Magic Touch album, and Bruce Lundball, who definitely needs to be known more, the legendary music exec, and he was president of Revived Blue Note. And I was the first artist that Bruce signed when he reopened Blue Note. And it was his idea to get some quotes from people for my record. And so he was the one who called Quincy, and Quincy mate gave his quote on the record.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

What'd he say? What'd he say?

SPEAKER_03 18:22

He said some things that he liked about my playing, and then he said, Stanley, you and Winton have made my last five years.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Wow, that's amazing. And you were six. That was wealthy. That was a good thing.

SPEAKER_03 18:35

Yeah, yeah, we were doing magic time.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 18:37

And it's wonderful now because I'm the the elder, I'm the music elder, you know. And so now part of my role is to appreciate some of the younger musicians coming up. And so that's what we do. It's a wonderful thing because we have to keep the lineage going. In today's media culture, there's a lot of information out there that's filtered through different channels. You know, everything is electronically filtered. But there's something about face-to-face interaction and that direct interaction, that direct transmission that I think can get lost in this media-driven culture. So we have to make sure to do that. And by the way, because we're talking about people in the sort of jazz and rock and country worlds and all this. Somebody from the modern classical world who was really influential for me, it was Milton Babbitt. And I studied with Milton when I was at Princeton. And anybody who was around, it was a legendary period. Anybody who was around will tell you what a guru Milton was. And not only was he an amazing composer and a brilliant music theorist, but just being in his presence, I mean, they talk about the guru effect. And my understanding of the guru effect is that the guru is someone who basically confers enlightenment just by their presence. And people evolved just by being around the guru. And that was a good description of Milton. Everybody, we were all so smart when we were around Milton because he was just so brilliant that he made all of us smarter. And so in my mind, I can just I can hear his voice and I hear his musicality of his cadence. And again, going back to what I was saying, face-to-face interaction is what we need. So I would say, just to kind of close up this episode, I would say to a lot of the young musicians, get out there in the world, go to jam sessions, make jam sessions, create events where you're actually in the world, in the IRL, real life, making music together. It's important.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

You've crossed so many different platforms. One of my favorites, of course, is Stanley Plays the Dead. You've worked with Miles Davis, Ezekiel Lesby.

SPEAKER_03 20:50

A lot of great people. I'm so blessed. So many wonderful artists played with me on the Triends album. And the album was really about them. I was sort of the hood ornament of the album, but really it's their album as I see it. People like Kenny Garrett, Regina Carter, Nicholas Payton, Charnette Moffat, Kenwood Dinard. I mean, so many wonderful people. Charlie Hunter and I had a nice chemistry together. It was always great to play with other guitars. We did a thing, there was so it was Russell Malone and Bucky Pizzarelli and me. And when I got together with Bucky and he he said, Well, what ideas did you have for music? And I said, Well, one song that I was thinking, if you're up for it, Seven Come Eleven. And I just that moment, the way he just lit, the way his face just lit up when I suggested that song. Oh yeah, I would love to. You know, that's a famous song Charlie Christian used to do. So he's like one of our original heroes of jazz guitar. So it's just such a classic song. And when we did it together, Russell Malone, he's he was a wonderful musician. And he comes in and he does his thing, he's just smooth, and I got my thing, so I do my thing. And then Bucky's like just waiting, waiting, and then when his sister's like, all right, let me show you what Bruce Now Bruce Howard's done. He played the most amazing solo.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Like it was wonderful. How did that album even, how did that collaboration even get started?

SPEAKER_03 22:16

Well, the idea came up to do something with a lot of collaborations. I kind of wanted to get back to my jazz roots, so my straight-ahead jazz roots. So there's one song, for example, that I wrote called Capital J. So Capital J is kind of a play on words because people say, like, I want to play some jazz with a capital J. You know what I mean? And so there's that attitude, but also my last name. So it's kind of a play on words, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:40

Or a premonition of meeting us. Double J.

SPEAKER_03 22:45

Some have said that the album could have been called Capital J, for example. So that was a composition with a strong horn line. So many of the things I was brought up on. A lot of the art Blakey tracks, band leading drummer, but so much of the music has a strong horn line in the front. Lee Morgan, that strong horn line. So we did that. So we had Kenny Garrett and Nicholas Payton. And I remember that when I was flying out to New York to make the album, and I realized I needed one more song. So I'm sitting on the plane and I had some sheet music. And I was thinking I better compose a song that's like a real straight-ahead Capital J type of jazz song. And so I wrote that out and I wrote out all the parts. It was a pretty noisy flight, but even in the midst of all the noise, I was so just inspired by this project that I heard the music inside. The noise wasn't enough to cover it up. So when we actually did the song and I actually heard the horns playing, it sounded exactly like I had heard in my head. It goes back to again what I was talking about coming from the inside, valuing what we have on the inside and believing in that and cultivating that. A lot of my best stuff comes from deep within. So I would say that's an example of it.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Part of that too is being able to crawl inside yourself and sit down, like you said, when you have all the noise in the atmosphere and being able to pull it all in, because I see you sometimes when you're playing. And you have your eyes shut, and I can see you almost go into a whole new world. Being able to do that on a noisy plane or in a noisy house, or what is it that you do specifically when you go into that space? Like when I watch you and you go into that space, I'm gonna crawl inside you and just feel what you're thinking. So, how do you get into that space? Or where is it, you know, that you go?

SPEAKER_03 24:33

I just know that I'm really fortunate to have been exposed to yoga and meditation from a young age. Because that stuff is so universal, and of course it helps music. Actually, Keith Jarrett was an influence for me, the idea of bringing a meditation practice into your preparation for music. Let's say if you're doing a mantra meditation, so what is that? It's repeating a sound over and over again. Well, we musicians already do that, we call it rehearsal, right? And so it really is about taking our rehearsal and bringing into it that sense of reverence and that understanding that what we're doing is something deep. It's there's a power there. The most subtle energies can make a change. There's so many things that illustrate that. So, like, for example, the power of homeopathy, where they take the substance and they dilute it to the point where there's like the original thing isn't even there anymore. But there's something about the vibrational signature of it or something. I don't really understand how that works, but the body recognizes the patterning of that and it helps the body to come back to health and wholeness. I just recently learned that even though light doesn't have mass, it has momentum. That's like blowing my mind. So you could actually like shine a light on an asteroid and change the motion of that asteroid. It's like mind-blowing. And I think it's important for people to realize that because that inner state and that those the thoughts that we have and the subtle energy that we have within us can make a difference, maybe more than we think. And again, the power of the arts, we may not be physically moving a mountain unless it's part of a sculpture or something. I need that mountain over there, you know. Just throwing on the subtle energy.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

You describe breathing almost like a bath. So, how do you experience that when you're using it to reset?

SPEAKER_03 26:22

Yeah, the breath is kind of a bath in a way, because it gets your circulation going, the oxygen and the circulation, I can feel it coursing through my veins down to the capillaries. It's interesting how, like in the old days of recording, we recorded on tape, right? And you could erase the tape. So, how does that work when you erase the tape? Well, the erasing of the tape, what it actually does is it actually records onto the tape, but it records this random thing that resets whatever was on there before. So erasing actually is recording, it's just recording something neutral. And so I got all this tension, all this stress, and all this stuff, and I want to erase that. Well, the way to erase that is to bring in something else. It's just gonna whoosh, just wash that away.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

Nice. Now I get it. Yeah, now you get it.

SPEAKER_03 27:14

Right, do you know? Okay. We take a bath on the outside. This is one aspect of the inside bath.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

It was so funny last night you were talking about math in such a simplistic way to you. I mean, you were like, it's this, it's just this, this, and this. And everybody giggled in the audience because for you it was so simple, but they were like, we don't get it.

SPEAKER_03 27:41

Well, I mean, I think I was talking about how I had some experiences in school where I didn't like the math class, and I realized that the class itself, the structuring of the class, was turning me off from math. And when I related it to something I already like, which is music, then all of a sudden I started to love it. And I think that we have a whole legacy of subjects that aren't necessarily taught in a way for all learners. There's this word, it's kind of a long word, ocular centrism. And I was actually talking to someone about this idea, and he introduced me to this word. And it's the idea that people get too focused on the eye, and the eye tends to predominate. And sometimes you gotta close your eyes and get off this visual thing. And I think that a lot of our problems in the modern world come from this ocular centrism. And I actually think I kind of know when that started. I think it had to do with the invention of the printing press, what they called the Gutenberg Revolution, right? The printing press was a groundbreaking thing. Suddenly people could duplicate information and disseminate it over long and wide areas, right? And also things like science progressed because you could take your ideas and you could fix it, and all these people could read it and share notes and develop the science together. So it was all great stuff. But here's the problem, or the limitational state, is that all that information was visual. The printing press could only handle visual information. And so it created this split. I don't think people were trying to do this, but it unwittingly created this split. And it created this unspoken belief that visual information is somehow better or superior. The smart people are the visual people because it's the visual people that can deal with that information coming off of that printing press. So the more auditory people and the more kinesthetic people, let's say, kind of got left behind. And so, like we're talking about math, for example, you got all the notation, the charts and graphs. It's all visual. Like the charts and graphs would be like visual analog. The formulas would be like visual digital. It's all symbols. But it's all visual either way. So, like if your teacher wanted to demonstrate that this is a mathematical function and it's monotonically increasing, then she's gonna draw a graph that slopes upward. Well, what if she went that everybody in the class would understand that, even including the auditory people would get that. And that's an example of what I think we need to do, bring the sound and the feeling back in. And so a lot of what my work is these days is taking some of this information, including the information in the science worlds, that's heavily, heavily visual, because that's the legacy that came to us. And going back and re-representing it and translating it into auditory terms, it's a whole other part of your brain. Our brains are actually wired for sound more than for sight.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

And you've done that in so many instances.

SPEAKER_03 30:44

Yeah, so there's a there's a video on my channel called Stanley Jordan Plays the Periodic Table. And that's one of the offshoots of this project. And one thing I learned from my studies of music therapy, the optic nerve goes into the visual cortex. That's the only place where it goes into your brain. And then it splits from there and it goes here and there. Whereas the auditory nerve from your ear, before it even hits the brain, it splits and it goes directly into every major center of the brain. And so we are wired for sound. We are like comprehensively. I love that wired for sound. We are wired for sound on a whole other level. So, like when I'm doing some of my music healing work, I'll work in areas where people, it could be like relaxation, but it could also be music for surgical operations. So I'll play live in the operating room. I'm very careful in how I do it because I want to help. I don't want to interfere. The number one thing, Hippocratic go, number one, do no harm, right? I assume that the patient, even when they're completely under, I'm assuming that they're hearing the music. Like in the induction, when they're going to sleep, I'm focusing mostly on them because I want to help them to relax. I don't want to play any recognizable songs. If I can talk to them beforehand, that is really important because I want to know if they have like what I call musical allergies. Like we did a laparoscopic myomectomy, it was for a patient with fibroid tumors. And it's good that we were able to talk because I found out she had a musical allergy to Peter and the Wolf. Because when she was really little, she got really scared. And so, okay, note yourself. Do not blame Peter and the Wolf. But there also might be some song that just triggers a memory. It could be pleasant or it could be unpleasant. Doesn't matter. I don't want the person to go into storyland. I don't want a voice in their head. I don't want them to remember any narrative or anything. We want the person to go to sleep, basically. And so I'm gonna play more abstract, sort of new age-y stuff. Steve Halpern was one of the two people who coined that term, New Age music. And they specifically wanted this idea, instead of the music like going from A to B to C and being like a narrative, they specifically wanted the music to just take you to a place and just hang out in that space. There's like a stability. There's just being here now. We're not going anywhere. We have all the time in the world. So they specifically crafted that music for that purpose. So I'm gonna play more kind of new agey stuff to help the patient to relax and go to sleep. But then once they're asleep, my attention focuses more on the staff, the doctors, the nurses, and stuff, helping to support what they're doing. So, like let's say something unexpected happens and they have to move quickly now. And so I'm gonna pick up the tempo. I'm with you, I got you, you know. But I don't want to I don't want to overdo it to where they start noticing the music. It's a very delicate balance.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

And how did you get the chance, the opportunity, this fantastic opportunity?

SPEAKER_03 33:50

I mean, there's no there's no degree in that, there's no certification. I'm a certified operation, assistant musician. There's no, it's not a thing, really.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

But I feel like it would help you as a musician too, because it's such a emotional and a thickness in the air and trying to determine all these people's, not to mention you have somebody playing there, you want them peaceful, or that is just so you're kind of kind of supporting the team that's working on this patient.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

It's almost like you're supporting them with the right amount of energy that they need. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 34:23

To help them stay relaxed and focused. Like I'm very conscious of the sound environment. And a lot of people in the medical world, especially working in hospitals, they don't really have that background in music or music therapy to really necessarily think about that. It doesn't necessarily occur to them. But if you're in this room where you get all these boops and beeps and everything's all technical and it's all machines, that's gonna get you into a certain head. But if there's music involved, you remember how I said sound activates every area of the brain. And in doing so, it integrates the brain. And so, like Gene Houston says, we gotta be cooking on all burners. So I want those people cooking on all burners, you know, and so I want the music to give them that activation and that integration to where their whole self is able to come to bear, not just the left brain. Okay, now we're going to do this. It's like, no. But then there's a point where the operation is a success. Now they're just sort of closing up and they're finishing things up, and now the patient's going to be waking up soon. So that's a good time to play a recognizable song. Like when we did the laparoscopic myomectomy when the patient was coming to, I played Here Comes the Sun.

SPEAKER_02 35:38

Aww.

SPEAKER_03 35:38

Because I remember how I felt when I was listening to that album with my sister, and that song came on. I remember that feeling. So I I tapped into that feeling, and everyone loved it because it was their generation, too, you know. And so that's another thing is picking the songs that are meaningful to the people who are there. That's why I love this stuff. I don't call myself a music therapist because I'm not licensed and all that, but I do do work in that field, and I love it because it gives me a chance to go beyond the entertainment value of music. You know, music can be a positive energy on so many levels. And so I would say to musicians who are looking for a path, considering music therapy. I remember one time when I was in high school, and this was back in the 70s, so they didn't have the software that they have now, but in the guidance counselor's office, they had this thing where you could sit at the computer, and it was this program that would help you decide on your career path. Oh, that sounds interesting. I'll try it. It takes you down this road, it asks you this question, then it asks you that question. And so I finally answered all the questions, and the thing came out, brrrrrr, and it came out occupational therapist. I was like, what the hell? I didn't even know what that is. I thought that was so interesting and so unexpected. But that program correctly figured out that I like to help people, and I have this calling. We all have a different calling, and I didn't really get that about myself, you know? So that was really wonderful. And so going into the music therapy field allows me to activate that part of my calling. Mark thinking. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:12

I was thinking about the surgery and the music, and I got an image in my mind I want you to know in case it's helpful when you're doing that in the future for the patient as they're asleep. One of the fears is, of course, you know, going to sleep and not waking up. And so to me, I just I got this visual of your music for them as being almost like a handrail for somebody that's blind. And so they still have that kind of handrail to stay in there, even on that deep of an unconscious level. You're there. Yeah, giving them that to come back maybe a little easier.

SPEAKER_03 37:49

Well, I can think of uh a specific thing that happened not super long ago. I was performing in this venue, I think it was uh, I believe it was Ludlow Garage in Cincinnati. And one of the people in the audience passed out during the performance. So it was kind of a scary thing because what's gonna happen? Well, how serious is this? And I kept playing. Now, some people might think, you know, how dare you play? This isn't a time for entertainment. This is a medical emergency. And so I thought that some people might question my choice. I changed what I played, but I didn't stop playing. And I I didn't even change the song, but I changed my vibe of the song. And then I explained to the people and I said, I want to keep the music going. I forgot how I said it, but because I want to help him to have a path to come back. What was happening before he passed out is that we were in this room and there was a performer playing this particular song. So I wanted that situation to remain constant so that he'd have a stable thing to come back to. And that's the kind of thing that we think about when we're cultivating the music therapy. Also, another modality that is under development, and I absolutely love it, and it's related to the surgical thing too, is music for therapeutic massage. And I remember this one time, I tell you how I got onto the idea. I was getting this massage one time, and there was this moment when the music perfectly fit what was going on in the massage. Something was going on, and this energy was releasing in a certain part of my body or something, and it was like finally like releasing. I'm just, oh, finally, I'm feeling that release. And the music is expanding and growing. It's like a crescendo of the music, and the music perfectly fit that moment. And I thought, wow, that was amazing. Like, wouldn't it be cool if you could have a massage and right from the beginning, the music always exactly fit what was going on with the massage. And so we don't want to constrain the massage therapist. So the best way to do that would be to have a musician playing live in the room, following what the music therapist, I mean, what the massage therapist is doing and supporting that. And that's when this modality started to grow. And I've done a bunch of these. There's a clinic at Bothville Integrated Health in Seattle, where I've done it the most there. And sometimes when I played at Demetrios Jazz Alley, what like this one time I came a week early and we did a whole bunch of these, like for the whole week leading up to the gig. And man, by the time we got to the gig, I couldn't believe how well I was playing and how comfortable I was with the guitars. Like these massage sessions were helping me as a guitarist. Because I'm never gonna play anything. Like as a musician, we we sometimes strain ourselves without realizing it. We push ourselves to achieve beyond what's really comfortable at that moment. But if you're playing for someone getting a massage, you can't do that because you know you're gonna make them nervous. And so I'd sit there for an hour at a time, playing without stopping and playing for this massage. And then we go in and we do another one and we do another one. And so I know from that experience, there's a zone that we can go to with music that has a profound effect. I could tell you so many stories. Like actually, the very first, and this is how it kind of connected with the surgical thing, too. The very first session that we did with the music and massage was a surgeon who had very lucrative surgical practice and walked away from it at the peak of his career as a surgeon. Because he said, I don't believe in that because I'm doing a lot of surgeries that I know this patient doesn't need, but I'm doing it because that's the gig. And he's making like a million dollars a year, but he doesn't believe in it. He's like, you know what? I'm moving on. I'm gonna do something else with my life. And I'm not quite sure what I want to do, but I want to move toward more integrative health. And so the first thing he did on that journey was he signed up for a massage. And it just happened to be the very first music and massage session that I did with the massage therapist.

SPEAKER_02 41:51

That was meant to happen.

SPEAKER_03 41:52

I know, right? Some things are just meant to be, right? This was really amazing because after the session, he said, you know, this was life-changing for me because whenever I did surgeries, the music that I put on was the music that my friends and I listened to in in college, in medical school, you know, ACDC. I never really thought about the effect that the music might be having on the patient. And from now on, when I do a surgery, I'm never gonna use that music because that music doesn't fit doing surgery. And I I get it, I understand the power of music. So it was a really wonderful connection and an epiphany there. And there were certain things that he wanted. Like he liked, like a lot of the music that you hear was just a solo flute. He liked a lot of that music. A lot of the Eastern music, like the Asian music was just a flute, and a lot of the Native American music too, just nothing but a flute. So he kept asking me just to play one note at a time and play like the flute. And when you're in that zone, I'm not the artiste, you know, how dare you, you know, tell me what the you know it's like it's a whole different mindset. And I'm really there to help this person. So, oh, you want to hear one note at a time? Okay. And that relates to what I was saying before about I love being in a situation where it requires me to do something that's not necessarily what I would have thought of. I have to reach into my bag and pull out something different, but something that fits this moment.

SPEAKER_00 43:15

Pushes you to grow. I keep picturing when you go into a massage and you have like the extras. So it's like, do you want scents? Do you want stones? Do you want Stanley Jordan?

SPEAKER_01 43:28

Yes. If you think about like even this conversation that we've had just now, we've talked about you doing the periodic table. We didn't even touch the fact that you do astrological, the music. Well, astronomical. You find ways to put music to life.

SPEAKER_03 43:45

Yeah, there's an overall frame of all of this. And I would say it would be going beyond the conventional uses of music and bringing music into more of an integral part of life in general. And part of that came because we were talking about math and how when I started relating the math to music, that allowed me to develop another approach to music theory that made it easier for me to find those connections. Because so math can be the common substrate between music and science. There's a thing, I'm pretty sure that it's available. I don't think it's behind a subscription wall or paywall or anything, but there's a thing on my site where it goes through like the last something like 600 years of history of the Anglo-American world. I mean the Anglo-European world. And it basically explicates this theory, the Strauss and Howe generations theory. Some believe in it, some don't. I think it's really cool. And they have this theory of these cycles of four generational archetypes. And so I put music to each one. And it takes about an hour and a half. The full version takes about an hour and a half to go through all the generations up until today. And so there's like a different when it switches to the next generation, when they take over, then the music shifts. And there's a certain type of music for that archetype. And while that's going on, you see this timeline of all these different timelines lined up. Like you see the lifespans of different composers being born and dying in different wars, beginning and ending. And it lines up to the four quadrants of Ken Wilbur's integral theory because I had this insight that the four generational archetypes of the Strauss and Howe generations theory correlate to the four quadrants of Ken Wilbur's integral theory. And I was like, oh my God, it makes total sense. And then I found someone else who had the same idea and actually kind of worked it out. So I drew on that. And also you see the planets going around. And so for every year, you see where the planets were as of that year. So the whole thing is like this integrated way of going through history. And I want to see more things like that, especially with music at the center of it. I was actually on the road with my tour manager, and we were listening to this. It was an hour and a half drive. So I put that on. And there's this one point where she goes, wait a minute, the music sounded weird right then. It didn't sound right. And I said, Well, that's interesting that you mentioned that, because according to Strauss and Howe, there was one time when the pattern didn't follow. And basically, they say that the Civil War did not produce what they call a hero generation, which is unusual for a war war time. But anyway, she noticed right away there was a certain pattern in the music, and she heard right away that the music didn't fit that pattern. And so this gives an example of what I'm saying is that you're understanding the information. That was a perfect, it's like it worked, right? Because it's another layer of understanding the information. The music helped us support that. So I want to do more things like that, where the music lifts out of its narrow box of just being for entertainment purposes, but can actually be, in the words of Barbara Crow, who was my instructor in music therapy at Arizona State, that music could be used as a kind of an applied philosophy that can actually help us to have a deeper understanding of the world.

SPEAKER_01 47:10

Mm-hmm. Everything you've said, everything that you've done in your past and in your life, you have integrated music in it. And they say music heals, music brings together.

SPEAKER_03 47:22

No, be careful too, because music can also do harm. So we have to be really careful about that too. So for example, Hope Young, who's working in the area of biomedical music therapy, everything she does is supported by science. And it has to be supported by science. Because in her world, there's a lot of liability. I mean, it would be just as if somebody prescribes a drug, for example, and the patient dies. As long as that drug is supported by research, then it's within the realm of medical science. Because when they do stuff that's not supported by research, then the patient dies, then they're in big trouble. So in her world, well, how do you relate that to music? Well, there's some serious science around music as well. So she's doing things like where it's helping people walk, like people who maybe have having a difficult gait because they had a stroke or whatever. And her software is like an AI software where they're listening to music while they're walking, and they're the AI is changing the music in real time to change how that person walks. And all those tracks were created by actual real human musicians, but the AI does a real-time mix. So that's another dimension of it. Yeah, we could go on and on, but this hopefully opens that door. And I encourage people to look deeper.

SPEAKER_01 48:37

Well, let's talk about your recent work that you're about to do. Can we talk about that? Like what why you're here at Crossmill Arts?

SPEAKER_03 48:47

Yeah, so the Crossmill Arts is just such a wonderful place. And John Beckner is just an amazing friend and amazing.

SPEAKER_02 48:54

Oh, there it is.

SPEAKER_03 48:57

And John, you know, Kyle, whole family. Okay, so we all have a calling in life. And so this mill is a part of a calling to create a sanctuary where musicians can develop our art to the fullest and be immersed in a world that's supportive for us. And what that's gonna do, it helps us, which is also gonna translate to our music and it's gonna translate to our audiences as well. So what we're here to do this week is the launch of my new band, Stanley Jordan's Big Party Super Band. And we're gonna play big parties and we're gonna have so much fun. And there's actually the stuff I've been talking about with music therapy and all this, there is a kind of a healing element to it. We're gonna be doing a lot of like oldies. The basic repertory of the music is oldies but goodies. What that does is it not only creates like a the healing effect of the endorphins from the nostalgia and all that, but there's another level where people start to recover resources and skills that they had even when they were younger. And so there is like this kind of implicit idea of that effect. But then we also want to take it to another level as well, because we're not the same. Well, we are the same people, but we're today's version of those people. And so we're not gonna do all those songs exactly how they were originally done. We're gonna bring it up today. We're gonna do creative.

SPEAKER_01 50:25

Like you do with Phil Edge from Stanley Does the Dead. Yeah, we're doing family.

SPEAKER_03 50:30

Something to it that makes sense for the music that enhances the music. And so that speaks to the evolution that people have had. So our first gig is gonna be the 45th reunion of my Princeton class. Nice. I love it. So it's gonna be so much of the music because I know the music that people are gonna love. And so it's gonna be such an amazing celebration.

SPEAKER_01 50:52

Are you gonna get an album out of this?

SPEAKER_03 50:54

This is gonna be maybe, but I'm not even thinking about that.

SPEAKER_01 50:56

This was out to this was a party day. Enjoy, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:00

If the if the people have a have a fun party and they're like, no, but this wasn't just any old party. This was an awesome party. This was one of the best parties I've ever had, and the music played a role. If that's the reaction, then we've we've done our job.

SPEAKER_01 51:14

And do you want to discuss who you're collaborating with to do this? Because you have quite a few people coming.

SPEAKER_03 51:19

So Ken would denard, the legendary drummer. He's played with so many people, including Sting, and he was a huge collaborator of Jocko Pastorius. In fact, that's when I first saw Ken would play, was with Jocko back in the 80s. And we've got Jesse Hyatt on keys and guitar and vocals. We've got two amazing vocalists, Kristen Ha and Gary Cummins, lead vocalists, and Wes Worth on bass, and my friend Fred Ryder, who I played with for many years in bands in college. So Fred and I are gonna get to play together again. And Fred is leading the horn section, so he plays Saxon flute, and he's bringing in trumpet and trombone. So we're gonna have like a full horn section. It's gonna be amazing. And so we're gonna rehearse the whole thing here at the mill, and the vibe of the mill, the energy of the mill is gonna permeate the whole project.

SPEAKER_01 52:11

So this project you're creating here at the mill, the Cost Mill Arts. You can write, you can perform, they have a beautiful stage, they have beautiful grounds, you can fish if you want to. You can you mentioned to me, you're like, I think Tuesday we're all gonna take a hike and just clear our brain.

SPEAKER_03 52:29

24 acres, just two lakes, just forest, everything, there's cottages, so there's plenty of rooms.

SPEAKER_01 52:35

I mean, you have lots of people coming.

SPEAKER_03 52:37

There's a space for tour buses with shore power and everything. And we're only like six hours from Nashville. And so I think that this is gonna be a hub. Yeah because when the word gets out in the music community, everybody's gonna want to come here. There's legendary places like the Liditz, I mean Pennsylvania, something or there. All these big name people like Madonna and stuff will come and they'll do their rehearsals there and build their shows. It's gonna be legendary like that kind of place. So it's got an artificial. So we want to make sure all the musicians know about it.

SPEAKER_00 53:16

We've talked about a lot of incredibly deep things, very important things. But I think we should jump into a speed round.

SPEAKER_03 53:25

I'm not sure I want to grant unfiltered access to my to my subconscious.

SPEAKER_00 53:31

Let me give you an example. First thing. Easy peasy, I promise.

SPEAKER_03 53:35

You've got to pass through my conscious filter.

SPEAKER_00 53:38

The first one, just to give you an idea, is what would be the thing that you typically always order if you see it on the menu.

SPEAKER_03 53:45

Greek salad. Yeah. Unavi danburi. Those are two of my favorites. If we're courting and you want me to know that it's serious, you would make me a key lime pie and and and some peach cobbler.

SPEAKER_01 53:59

See, you didn't share that with me. You're not courting. I'm not cutting out.

SPEAKER_00 54:05

Where do you feel most relaxed?

SPEAKER_03 54:07

In bed. I do these deep relaxations. I have to lie on my back and I just get totally relaxed when I go into a zone.

SPEAKER_01 54:14

Me too. That the ocean. Okay. One word your friends would use to describe you.

SPEAKER_03 54:20

One word? Okay, I can think of five words. Do it. Aye, aye, aye.

SPEAKER_00 54:26

That's better than one word. That is better than one word. Okay. What is something simple in your day that you really enjoy?

SPEAKER_03 54:36

Just breathing. I always take the time to take that little breath bath. That was just a breath wash off.

SPEAKER_00 54:50

Not a full like turn. It was a splash. It was a rinse. When you don't have your toothbrush, but you use the mouthwash.

SPEAKER_01 54:59

Okay. What kind of music do you listen to when you're not working? Or do you prefer silence?

SPEAKER_03 55:06

I usually prefer silence because, in a sense, I'm always working. I mean, I'm always developing the music. So I put something on because I want to hear that as part of my cultivation of music. If it's not work, it's it's silence. And then I can hear the music inside my head.

SPEAKER_00 55:22

There is a lot of intellectual thinking going on with you. Is there a silly goofy side?

SPEAKER_03 55:30

Yeah, definitely a silly, goofy side. You might might have seen a little bit of it come through in this conversation, but I kind of hold back because sometimes I'll say stuff that's just so stupid. I'm just so glad that nobody heard this.

SPEAKER_00 55:49

See, I embrace that side of myself. Yes, you do.

SPEAKER_01 55:52

And it just comes naturally for me. I mean, I just spit out stuff and I even wonder, what did I just say? All right. So is there a place you haven't gone to yet that you'd like to perform?

SPEAKER_03 56:03

Yeah, I would like to perform in orbit. Wow. Because it's not just the challenge of playing the instrument in zero G. Because you can have that, they can send me like that on Earth. And I'm curious about that. But also, the astronauts have a spiritual experience. And so, how would that experience affect my music? I'd love to find out.

SPEAKER_00 56:25

And you just brought me to ground control tomato Tom. That's another one that made me cry.

SPEAKER_03 56:30

That's one of the songs we're gonna do at the reunion. Nice! So we're gonna be playing that here in a few days.

SPEAKER_01 56:36

Wow. Okay. Is there a smell or a sound that immediately brings you back to your childhood?

SPEAKER_03 56:42

I would say like Coca-Cola, which is funny because I don't really drink that anymore because I've got really high standards for health. Now I drink these new, the poppy and the old poppy, these new sodas that kind of taste like the old ones. I remember that my Aunt Grace, we would go visit Aunt Grace in Chicago, my sister Phyllis tonight. And she would give us watermelon and Coca-Cola.

SPEAKER_00 57:05

Do you have any nicknames that you can share?

SPEAKER_03 57:09

So Jumpin' Jack was the nickname that I had in elementary school because we played this, it's like a variation on dodge a ball. We called it zone ball. And I had the reputation that if you threw the ball at me, I could jump over the ball to dodge it. So they called me Jumpin' Jack Jordan. And in fact, when I did one of my first recordings, I did a song called Jumpin' Jack. So that's that's me. I'm Jumpin' Jordan.

SPEAKER_00 57:33

That's cool. I think a lot of people need music therapy that experience dodgeball as a child.

SPEAKER_01 57:40

Okay, one more. You do lots of different interviews. We've seen quite a few wonderful interviews. Is there something you wish people asked you, but they never do?

SPEAKER_03 57:52

There is something that I got asked once. And it was the best question ever. So I was talking about about Hope Young, who does the biomedical music therapy, and she has an amazing podcast. And she asked me, What is music?

SPEAKER_01 58:08

Wow. How do you describe that?

SPEAKER_03 58:10

Such an elementary, you know. My favorite answer to that is music is praying in God's language.

SPEAKER_00 58:19

Well, then I would want to know your answer to what is love?

SPEAKER_03 58:24

Ooh. The first word that popped into my head was glue, and it doesn't do justice to it, I know, but it's the it's the yoke, it's the unifying connection. It's the thing that takes us beyond ourselves and makes us connected.

SPEAKER_00 58:38

You managed to take something very complex and make it very simple and perfect. Yeah, that was really good.

SPEAKER_01 58:44

Is there anything that you would like to tell us about?

SPEAKER_03 58:48

So as of today, so we're having this conversation in kind of late-ish April. And next month in May, the first single of my new album's coming out. So the album's called Feather in the Wind. And the first single is Meditation. It's by Antonio Carlos Jobin. And we had Milton Nassi Manto, the wonderful Brazilian singer, play with us and we re recorded the track in Brazil. It's been sitting, as we say, in the can for far too long. It took a lot. This album went through a whole adventure. And for a while I thought it might have been lost to history, but coming out finally.

SPEAKER_01 59:25

Yay!

SPEAKER_03 59:26

And it was an important album for me because it's my favorite to listen to. Of mine, I mean. I listen to it and when it gets to the end, I have to start at the beginning again. It's like a loop. There's a lot of heart in this album. It's really all about heart. And it's all about the things that we do to maintain a sense of constancy in the face of loss and death and change and all the stuff that the world throws at us. How do we manage to keep our center? The album is about that.

SPEAKER_00 59:54

What beautiful timing, right?

SPEAKER_03 59:56

Well, in a way, it probably speaks to why it took so long to get to this point with releasing the album. Because I feel like the album is needed more than ever right now. And there's a thing in music theory called the Pickerty Third, where when a song is in minor and then it goes to major, it's like the clouds lifted and the sun came out. There's this feeling of upliftment. We use the Pickerty third in a lot of places.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:20

Intentionally.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:21

Very cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:22

Well, be sure and let us know when you release that. We'll we'll put on a website and feather in the wind, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:28

That's the album.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:29

Okay. We look forward to that. Stanley Jordan.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:32

And I'm so honored and so excited about your podcast. To be an early guest on your podcast. I just think it's wonderful. Uh the way that I feel talking with both of you, it just shows me that this podcast is going to continue to grow and that it's going to do wonderful things and that it's going to make a really positive contribution. So thank you for that.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:52

Thank you, Stanley. Thank you for having me. Well, maybe you could play us out. Yeah. Is that cool? I will play. He's really relaxed into the castle. That's exactly what I want. Thanks, Stanley.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:04

This is a song that I played in the movie Blind Date, and it's with Bruce Willis and Kim Basinger. And we did this live in the scene where they go on the blind date, and this is the scene where you first start to really the chemistry really starts to click between those two. And so I'm playing live, and we didn't have to cut the scene live, but I insisted. I said, no, no, no. I want to do the scene live because I want to actually hear the dialogue as I'm playing. Because I think I have kind of a knack for playing to dialogue. And uh Blake Edwards was the director, he wrote the screenplay, and he and he was the director. And so here's the song. It's called Treasures.