Musicians still can’t recreate what guitar genius Stanley Jordan was doing in this mind-bending performance 40 years ago. Stanley took on the Beatles classic “Eleanor Rigby” and took it to outer space, inner space, and everywhere in between in a spellbinding display of creativity. Stanley played his guitar like a piano, tapping with two hands, recreating the rhythm, melody, vocals, and harmony of the song, all on a single guitar. It still sounds way ahead of its time to this day.
No one has made the Fab Four’s music sound like this, before or since. What really makes Stanley’s performance here stand out is not the blistering technique on display, but how clear and inspired the musical ideas are. The technique is undeniably crazy, but it’s not about the flashiness, as everything he is doing is serving a melodic and musical purpose. The Music Man has to say we’ve watched this video many times, and it still blows our minds every time!
Fan channel Jazz on MV uploaded Stanley’s take on “Eleanor Rigby” to YouTube, where it hit 1.3 million views. Viewers could see that this was a performance for the ages and added comments such as “The only guitarist who played like this. You will never hear anyone play his stuff because nobody else can play his songs” and “This is INSANELY phenomenal. He was way ahead of his time.”
Stanley has a number of wild performances on YouTube. One memorable live cut from the Chicago master came when he played jazz standard “Autumn Leaves” with his trio in 1991. In this performance, Stanley plays not one but two guitars. He plays the chord parts with his left hand on one guitar while tapping the melody with his right hand on another guitar. It’s also notable as he’s using what I can only assume to be a MIDI pickup to make his lead guitar part sound like a piano.
Stanley Jordan is a 67-year-old jazz guitarist who was born on July 31, 1959, in Chicago, Illinois. The Music Man readers might not be surprised to hear that Stanley’s first instrument was the piano, which he started playing at age six. He switched to guitar at age 11 and cut his teeth playing in soul and rock acts. Stanley is noted for his command of two-handed tapping, which he uses to create guitar arrangements that would not be possible using traditional guitar technique. Stanley has found notable chart success in his career as a jazz artist. His sophomore album, Magic Touch, hit number one on the Billboard Jazz chart in 1985 and stayed there for a record-breaking 51 weeks.