Jazz Review : Stanley Jordan Dazzles Coach House in Triplicate

Guitarist Stanley Jordan created a sensation a few years back when he introduced the two-handed tap technique that creates the sound of two or even three guitars played simultaneously.

Fears generated by the pop overtones of his latest album, “Flying Home,” were allayed Friday at the Coach House, as Jordan dazzled a capacity house with his sleight-of-hand and his rhythmic finesse.

Jordan, who brought in Yossi Fine on bass and Cody Moffett on drums, is still his own best accompanist. Dismissing the sidemen to play Henry Mancini’s “Moon River,” the guitarist hit lush chords with one hand while adding racy embellishments with the other. His solo (sometimes played with only one hand) was peppered with dissonance and dynamic twists.

A plucky, up-tempo “Autumn Leaves” showed that Jordan’s hands, by themselves, can match the empathy shown by such established guitar duos as Ralph Towner and John Abercrombie. The sheer amount of sound he pulls from a single instrument is amazing, especially considering his relaxed, seemingly effortless style.

But Jordan was not satisfied playing just a single guitar. Backed by Fine and Moffett, he plucked rhythm with his left hand on a guitar hung from his shoulders while hammering out lead on a second guitar supported on a stand. This kind of double dexterity has not been seen since Roland Kirk wedged a couple (or more) of saxophones in his mouth and became an entire horn section.

A long introduction to his own “Return Expedition” found Jordan on a third guitar, this one wired into a stack of electronic equipment. From it, he coaxed vibraphone tones, re-created a string section, then struck a melange of pipe organ chords before moving into an aggressive solo above the pace set by Moffett’s ride cymbal. Fine, who played with deep, clean tones, kept the groove from becoming redundant.

Jordan, always known for playing a wide variety of music, closed with the Led Zeppelin warhorse “Stairway to Heaven,” a tune perfectly suited for the guitarist’s two-handed counterpoint. But, as happens on some of the soft rockers from the recent album, he seems to figure less and less in the proceedings as the volume of the song increases.

His encore, “The Music’s Gonna Change,” continued the trend, with Moffett’s surly back-beat and thunder-thumb rumblings from Fine, leaving us wishing for more Stanley Jordan--alone with his three guitars.