There's another "two-handed" guitarist you may have encountered, Stanley Jordan, though his technique and sound are quite different from Erik Mongrain's. Jordan's recordings aren't all that interesting, tending a bit too much toward soft jazz for my taste, but fortunately, I heard Jordan live in Seattle at Dmitriou's Jazz Alley back in 2001, and his improvisational abilities are phenomenal. He has Frank Lloyd Wright's propensity for the "concealed entrance" ... it's some time into his improvisation before you realize what song it is, and by then you find you've known it all along. It's well worth your time (and money) to hear him live.
" 'Concealed entrance'? Nice way of saying a musical song disguised by a lot of other notes..." - ellroon
The term is usually used to describe Wright's work: he loved designing structures in which the main entrance was not immediately visible as you faced them. A lot of his houses in Oak Park are designed that way.
There are a lot of ways to disguise a song "by a lot of other notes"; most are centuries old. Preluding isn't exactly new, either, but Jordan is a master at it: what he plays first contains all kinds of hidden references to the song that follows, but even if that song is, say, a familiar Beatles tune, you won't catch the references until he reaches the tune. He's a clever one, musically as surely as technically.
4 comments:
Amazing... and pleasant.
There's another "two-handed" guitarist you may have encountered, Stanley Jordan, though his technique and sound are quite different from Erik Mongrain's. Jordan's recordings aren't all that interesting, tending a bit too much toward soft jazz for my taste, but fortunately, I heard Jordan live in Seattle at Dmitriou's Jazz Alley back in 2001, and his improvisational abilities are phenomenal. He has Frank Lloyd Wright's propensity for the "concealed entrance" ... it's some time into his improvisation before you realize what song it is, and by then you find you've known it all along. It's well worth your time (and money) to hear him live.
'Concealed entrance'? Nice way of saying a musical song disguised by a lot of other notes...
I learn more stuff from you, Steve...
I recommend Dominic Frasca as well.
" 'Concealed entrance'? Nice way of saying a musical song disguised by a lot of other notes..." - ellroon
The term is usually used to describe Wright's work: he loved designing structures in which the main entrance was not immediately visible as you faced them. A lot of his houses in Oak Park are designed that way.
There are a lot of ways to disguise a song "by a lot of other notes"; most are centuries old. Preluding isn't exactly new, either, but Jordan is a master at it: what he plays first contains all kinds of hidden references to the song that follows, but even if that song is, say, a familiar Beatles tune, you won't catch the references until he reaches the tune. He's a clever one, musically as surely as technically.
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