Two things at once

They say it's hard to do two things at once. Tell that to Stanley Jordan.

I saw this virtuoso guitarist a few days ago, and it was amazing. Some people don't like jazz because they think there is little if anything to it. They're not paying attention; they're not engaging all of their senses. When you're sitting down at a club or a theater, you're not being this little brown jug that the artist is pouring in.

You are watching and listening to art being created. Yes, watching. Watch Jordan play the guitar.



Haven't seen anything like that, have you? It's called touch playing, or tapping. Most guitarists strum and pick. Jordan can do that, too, but watching him tap seems to give him more freedom of movement. space and creativity.

Watch his fingers run up and down the fretboard. They move like a dancer moving gracefully, powerfully, across a stage. A pianist does the same thing. Even a saxophonist. When you experience jazz, you are watching the music and the motions of the artists become one. Does it seem like you're just sitting there? Only if you want to think you are. Only if you choose to be disengaged.

Not only am I listening to Jordan's virtuosity, I'm watching his fingers create soundscapes, watching him dance to his own creation. I'm taking all of it in.

More creativity: this was a solo show, just him and his guitar. And a piano. During the second set, he walked over to the piano and started playing, guitar still strapped to him. Then, something I hadn't seen before happened. With his left hand still playing piano, he started playing guitar with his right. Seamlessly. As if one hand was answering and collaborating with the other. It was one of the more stunning things I've seen or heard at any concert.

Being a jazz musician, he can improvise, too. He made up a song on stage, a good, lyrical tune. I respected that and enjoyed it greatly. While he played, I thought: this is how life is sometimes. You have to improvise and make something happen at the moment of greatest peril. I am grateful for that musical lesson he taught me.

Jordan is also quite spiritually aware, another thing I respect. He has a CD coming out April 22 called "State of Nature," and the music, from reading the program, seems to be informed by his awareness of himself and the environment.

"The two main ideas ideas that consumed my thoughts were these: Human beings need to get back to nature, which extends to the environment as well as our bodies--the part of nature we carry around in us, and we need to evolve intellectually, spiritually and politically. Neither will work without the other. I believe that when we become more educated, we'll be better problem solvers."

Amen.

And this...

"If you think about space and how empty it is, here we are on a planet that is so nurturing to us. We need to get back to that. Look at the cracks in the sidewalk. The power of life is so strong that a little seedling can crack the concrete and come through."

Heady stuff? Yes, but I'm telling you something--it's graspable. If you want to grasp it.

Yes, you can get all of this from a jazz concert. Maybe you should go to one and find out what you can discover, what you can change.