Jazz Review : Four Players, One Remarkable Instrument

The Guitar Summit concert at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium Thursday night featured a diverse quartet of celebrated artists: Stanley Jordan, Jorma Kaukonen, Manuel Barrueco and Kenny Burrell.

But the real star of the evening was the guitar itself, an instrument whose range of performance seems to have few limitations. The styles present in the program--from Burrell’s smooth-flowing jazz and Kaukonen’s folk-based fingerpicking to Barrueco’s precise classical touch and Jordan’s innovative string-tapping technique--represented only a small measure of this remarkable instrument’s expressive potential.

The production was simple and uncluttered, further underscoring the focus upon the various manifestations of guitar music. The stage was arranged with a riser in the center, a chair, a microphone and (for the electric instruments) a guitar amplifier. Each player came out, in turn, to do a 25 or so minute set, the program concluding with quartet performances of a Bach prelude and a brisk romp through Duke Ellington’s “C Jam Blues.”

Burrell opened with blues-tinged acoustic guitar. When he switched to the rich, harmonic resonance of his electric instrument, its full, lush chording drew an instant murmur of approval from the Beckman’s moderate-sized audience. But the performance was not one of Burrell’s best. His usual articulateness seemed to have abandoned him and pieces such as “Black and Tan Fantasy” and “Take the ‘A’ Train” were marred by a surprising degree of awkward fingering problems.

Kaukonen’s presentation had the quality, as his work so often does, of a pleasant evening in the living room of a talented friend. The music, especially in such originals as “Embryonic Journey” and “Water Song,” was relaxing and accessible, redolent with the airy feeling of open meadows and rolling hills.

The first chord from Barrueco brought another guitar sound--meticulous yet warm, fluent yet lyrical. The classical elements in his set were limited to several short “South American” pieces and a brief work by Albeniz. “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” in Baroque style, was an amusing diversion, and three of Chick Corea’s “Children’s Songs,” originally written for piano, became, in Barrueco’s hands, unexpectedly effective guitar works.

Jordan’s unique performance method, in which he plays the guitar by tapping the strings in two-handed, piano keyboard style, produces sounds not quite like anything ever heard before from the instrument. On a medium-tempo blues, Jordan simultaneously executed a walking bass line, accompanying chordal accents and an improvised melody--then, amazingly, he did so while doubling the tempo. It was the perfect climax to an evening illustrating the colorful marvels of guitar music.

* Two performances of the Guitar Summit concert will take place Sunday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, 2:30 and 7 p.m. (714) 854-4646.