THE 15TH ANNUAL ARLINGTON JAZZ FESTIVAL WILL TAKE PLACE APRIL 8 - 12, 2026
and will culminate with our headlining performance featuring the Stanley Jordan Trio!
Full festival schedule to be announced soon!
and will culminate with our headlining performance featuring the Stanley Jordan Trio!
Full festival schedule to be announced soon!
In a career that took flight in 1985 with commercial and critical acclaim, guitar virtuoso Stanley Jordan has consistently displayed a chameleonic musical persona of openness, imagination, versatility and maverick daring. Be it bold reinventions of classical masterpieces or soulful explorations through pop-rock hits, to blazing straight ahead jazz forays and ultramodern improvisational works-solo or with a group, Jordan can always be counted on to take listeners on breathless journeys into the unexpected..
Jordan is the master of a special technique on the guitar’s fretboard. Instead of conventional strumming and picking, Jordan’s innovative “touch technique” is an advanced form of two-handed tapping. While a handful of other players use similar techniques, Jordan’s fluid, multi-layered textures and sheer virtuosity has raised the bar for excellence. However his technique, though impressive, is always a means to a musical end. His music is imbued with a warmth and sensitivity that has captured the imagination of listeners worldwide. More on his personal approach to the technique can be found at https://www.stanleyjordan.com/Technique/starting.html#.
A classically trained pianist before playing guitar, Jordan wanted greater freedom in voicing chords on his guitar, so he applied piano principles to do so. Jordan’s touch technique allows the guitarist to play melody and chords simultaneously with an unprecedented level of independence. It also allows Jordan to play simultaneously on two different guitars, or even on guitar and piano. He says that “I think of it as a single instrument, but one with a wide range of tonal colors -- that’s why I do it.” One of the many examples of his technique, “Stanley Jordan plays Blues” (Live in London 11/05/2023): https://youtu.be/oF5ByJSU5G4?si=GqnZD0sNt5bHIpcP. But you can also see where Jordan is headed from early on: https://youtu.be/aGoGyGSnVuA?si=4wAjie1CwmeNXOFL.
Visit stanleyjordan.com/ for further background, including Jordan’s explorations into Music Therapy and his Integral Arts Academy. His bass player Wes Wirth posted his gratitude to “guitar master Stanley Jordan, for having me as a member of his trio, and for sharing his integrated arts approach to guitar virtuosity, extraordinary musicianship, incredibly inventive study of harmony, music theory, physics, astronomy, coding, and so much more … and demonstrating/living the dynamic connections between music and other realms.”
Jordan is the master of a special technique on the guitar’s fretboard. Instead of conventional strumming and picking, Jordan’s innovative “touch technique” is an advanced form of two-handed tapping. While a handful of other players use similar techniques, Jordan’s fluid, multi-layered textures and sheer virtuosity has raised the bar for excellence. However his technique, though impressive, is always a means to a musical end. His music is imbued with a warmth and sensitivity that has captured the imagination of listeners worldwide. More on his personal approach to the technique can be found at https://www.stanleyjordan.com/Technique/starting.html#.
A classically trained pianist before playing guitar, Jordan wanted greater freedom in voicing chords on his guitar, so he applied piano principles to do so. Jordan’s touch technique allows the guitarist to play melody and chords simultaneously with an unprecedented level of independence. It also allows Jordan to play simultaneously on two different guitars, or even on guitar and piano. He says that “I think of it as a single instrument, but one with a wide range of tonal colors -- that’s why I do it.” One of the many examples of his technique, “Stanley Jordan plays Blues” (Live in London 11/05/2023): https://youtu.be/oF5ByJSU5G4?si=GqnZD0sNt5bHIpcP. But you can also see where Jordan is headed from early on: https://youtu.be/aGoGyGSnVuA?si=4wAjie1CwmeNXOFL.
Visit stanleyjordan.com/ for further background, including Jordan’s explorations into Music Therapy and his Integral Arts Academy. His bass player Wes Wirth posted his gratitude to “guitar master Stanley Jordan, for having me as a member of his trio, and for sharing his integrated arts approach to guitar virtuosity, extraordinary musicianship, incredibly inventive study of harmony, music theory, physics, astronomy, coding, and so much more … and demonstrating/living the dynamic connections between music and other realms.”
Big thanks to all who supported the 14th Annual Arlington Jazz Festival! The Mike Stern Group sold out the Regent Theatre and all the other events were well-attended!
Arlington Jazz thanks its partners!
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Thanks to all who made past years successful!
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Special thanks to jazz greats Rufus Reid for performing in 2017, John Patitucci in 2018 and 2023, Yosvany Terry in 2019, Randy Brecker in 2022, Christian McBride in 2024, and Mike Stern in 2025!
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