Different Guitar Strokes: A Concert of Divergent Styles

Kenny Burrell and Stanley Jordan are not exactly what one might call similar jazz guitar stylists. Burrell, who heads the UCLA jazz program, is a solid, mainstream traditionalist. Jordan, who once performed on the streets of New York, employs a fairly radical technique that involves tapping the strings via keyboard-like articulation unlike previous guitar playing methods. On Saturday night in the season-opening event of the KLON Jazz at the Carpenter series at Cal State Long Beach, there was an opportunity to experience both approaches in a single concert. And the differences were striking.

Jordan opened the program in his typical solo setting. The virtuosic skill he has developed with the tapping technique enables him to produce thick, two-handed chordal textures, as well as multi-lines in which he simultaneously lays down low bass figures to accompany melodies and harmonies on the higher strings.

As a technique, it was utterly fascinating. Jordan’s interpretations, in an oddly eclectic program--”Killing Me Softly,” “Autumn Leaves,” “Sesame Street” and (no doubt in tribute to Karen and Richard Carpenter, for whom the auditorium is named), “Close to You”--were rendered impressionistically, with melodies surfacing then submerging beneath dense waves of sound. But too often the technique was the only real attraction, with the music it produced emerging with little coloration; rhythmic lines had little sense of urgency, and the technique seemed to lack the expressiveness inherent in more traditional guitar styles.

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Burrell, on the other hand--especially during a lovely solo set in which he rendered a group of Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn numbers on an acoustic instrument--played with warmth, intimacy and the essential swing that has always been a fundamental part of his music.

As it turned out, however, and through no fault of his own, it was the highlight of his part of the program. Because the balance of Burrell’s set, in which he was joined by bassist Roberto Miranda and drummer Sherman Ferguson, was badly betrayed by the Carpenter sound system. Despite constant complaints from Burrell and the audience, despite frequent shifts of wiring and changes of microphones, Miranda’s bass was never properly amplified into the sound mix. To their credit, all three players made the best of a less than optimal situation, despite the sound problem, which continued after the trio was joined by Jordan for a closing set.