This is pretty interesting...Stanley Jordan is trans.

D

Dogsinplastic

avuncular to no one
I remember seeing some pics of him jamming with DMB and other jam bands from a few years back and his hair was long and straightened and he was weary some pretty flashy clothes. I wondered for about a minute and moved on. But while doing some searching for Stanley images for Gary's string dampener thread I saw a lot more images and then found this article from Jazz Times last year:

https://jazztimes.com/features/stanley-jordan-my-spirit-transcends-gender/

I always dug Stanley and his playing, if not always appreciating all of music. But he seems in as healthy a place as any human I can think of. From what I understand, transitioning in minority communities, especially for African Americans can be another level of difficult. And it seems despite the openness of attitude towards music, the jazz community has not been as open to his music over the years or his more recent transition as a person.

This could easily jump into larger social and political issues better suited for the politics thread, which I hope to avoid. That said, I can't believe how many people are so openly hateful, resentful, afraid, etc. of difference. It's so sad that there has been an overt open and huge shift away from tolerance.

Anyway, good for Stanley. I hope to get to see him some time.
 
Huh. Didn't see that coming.

He's a great, original player. Saw him perform once (late 80s or early 90s). It was an excellent show. May need to dig his albums out again soon.
 
Wow. Haven't heard his name in years. I got one of his first albums back in the 1980s, but I can't say that I really connected with his music much after that.

Good for him. Sounds like he's in a good place. (Shame he fell in with the jam band crowd, though. :))
 
Deep Eddy said:
Wow. Haven't heard his name in years. I got one of his first albums back in the 1980s, but I can't say that I really connected with his music much after that.

Good for him. Sounds like he's in a good place. (Shame he fell in with the jam band crowd, though. :))
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I saw Stanley in the summer of 2001 at the Wetlands, sitting in with Lo Faber and Jason Crosby. He was a force of nature.
 
Deep Eddy said:
Wow. Haven't heard his name in years. I got one of his first albums back in the 1980s, but I can't say that I really connected with his music much after that.

Good for him. Sounds like he's in a good place. (Shame he fell in with the jam band crowd, though. :))
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While I appreciate your facetiousness, even if it's also honesty, it seems like a great place for any really open musician. Jazz still has it's militants, be they players or critics/writers. Wynton Marsalis, Pat Metheny, and others have taken shots at various points in the continuing evolution of the form or pop phenomenon. Jam bands and their communities are good with everything. So as Stanley addressed in the piece, he can be the wide ranging artist that he is and not feel pressured to be focused solely on jazz vs. rock vs. whatever the hell he feels like playing.

I also love that an established artist has worked extensively in music therapy. It's an amazing thing to do with music, but gets little to no praise and certainly not where the money is (and that's saying a lot in an industry that doesn't distribute the wealth any better than the rest of society...probably worse).
 
Dogsinotpalc said:
While I appreciate your facetiousness, even if it's also honesty, it seems like a great place for any really open musician. Jazz still has it's militants, be they players or critics/writers. Wynton Marsalis, Pat Metheny, and others have taken shots at various points in the continuing evolution of the form or pop phenomenon. Jam bands and their communities are good with everything. So as Stanley addressed in the piece, he can be the wide ranging artist that he is and not feel pressured to be focused solely on jazz vs. rock vs. whatever the hell he feels like playing.

I also love that an established artist has worked extensively in music therapy. It's an amazing thing to do with music, but gets little to no praise and certainly not where the money is (and that's saying a lot in an industry that doesn't distribute the wealth any better than the rest of society...probably worse).
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I was totally genuine in my statement that I am happy for Stanley in his personal life. The jam band comment was just intended to be a little good-natured teasing. I don't have anything against jam bands - they're not my scene, but to each his own.
 
Dogsinotpalc said:
That said, I can't believe how many people are so openly hateful, resentful, afraid, etc. of difference. It's so sad that there has been an overt open and huge shift away from tolerance.
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It's something I don't understand. Everyone is different, you could find something with anyone that is different than yourself. As long as it doesn't harm anyone else, why does anyone care? I hope Stanley is happy and has good support around.
 
Chad said:
It's something I don't understand. Everyone is different, you could find something with anyone that is different than yourself. As long as it doesn't harm anyone else, why does anyone care? I hope Stanley is happy and has good support around.
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It is funny that we are much more tolerant of being trans than we are of the jam bands. :wink: We should be open to both (and more).
 
Gary Blanchard said:
It is funny that we are much more tolerant of being trans than we are of the jam bands. :wink: We should be open to both (and more).
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I guess some here see appreciating jam bands/music as a choice...the wrong/worst choice. Orientation and the like are things that we don't get to choose, so we have respect or give leeway in those areas.

It's definitely intolerance and the moderators here need to moderate the hate...moderate the HATE...MODERATE the HATE...MODERATE THE HATE...
 
Gary Blanchard said:
It is funny that we are much more tolerant of being trans than we are of the jam bands. :wink: We should be open to both (and more).
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jam bands are totally cool with me. It's their fans that can't let it go if you don't like the jam band they are into. Them making me listen to the all of the bootleg recordings they own harms me and that can't stand :grin:
 
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Chad said:
jam bands are totally cool with me. It's their fans that can't let it go if you don't like the jam band they are into. Them making me listen to the all of the bootleg recordings they own harms me and that can't stand :grin:
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It's weird, I can't recall trying to convince anyone to like a band. Introducing them to a band that I like, maybe play a couple of tunes if they didn't dig the first one, but never being convinced that the only remedy for their obtuse perspective was inflicting upon them hours of music for which they've clearly shown no appreciation. I had a friend try to convince me the Phish was the greatest band ever...it wasn't a hard sell, but he kept playing me stuff and I just wasn't feeling it...for like 25 songs. Honestly, I think I still hold that against the band...but it's more about the timbre of their voices. Their voices just don't grab me...they can obviously sing and harmonize quite well, but they lack distinction in their tone and style. Unlike the Band where you had three amazingly unique voices creating awesome harmonies, Phish is four meh voices doing what (to my ears) are uninspired harmonies. Vocal timbre is one of the hardest things to quantify when talking about like/dislike versus actual ability.

I think Stanley just found a scene that accepted everything about him, the ideal place for any person/musician. I'm going to hunt down the clips of him playing with DMB and others to hear him in that context.
 
PunkKitty said:
Let's be clear here.

He does not say that he identifies at trans, so he is not trans.

He identifies as non binary.
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Thanks. I am still learning the language. Thankfully I have been able to attend a couple of really good workshops lately that I have learned from. I hate being ignorant (in the sense of not knowing).
 
PunkKitty said:
Let's be clear here.

He does not say that he identifies at trans, so he is not trans.

He identifies as non binary.
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Specificity not achieved and any disrespect unintentional...kind of slipping on an attempt at word play related to the article and his statement that his spirit trans-cends gender.

The definition did get a little murky for me recently when Eddie Izzard said he was transgender on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert a couple of weeks ago. He used to refer to himself as a transvestite (executive transvestite to be precise) which per the GLAAD media reference guide should now be referred to as cross-dresser. So I don't know if that was slip on Eddie's part or if he's working within the fluidity of the terminology as standardization of terms rarely universal and in this area seemingly evolving...much like related attitudes in general.

Further it seems he's talking about not identifying...including the notion of non-binary. Stanley lives Stanley's life the way Stanley wants and isn't concerned with outward perception. Sadly, there's a huge batch of folks like this that came out in droves last year, but what they lack concern about is the openness of their hatred and intolerance.
 
Mina Caputo, who fronts Life of Agony, has proven that people can just get over it.... especially considering that is a demographic most would stereotype as transphobic
 
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