Guitar wizard and jazz star Stanley Jordan is a rare breed. Not just a fancy two-handed finger-tapping fretboard shredder, he’s an incredibly versatile musician and arranger with a degree in music theory and composition from Princeton University. To call him a virtuoso of the guitar is one thing, but Jordan takes the art of performing to a level that one hardly ever sees, particularly on his latest DVD Stanley Jordan Trio – New Morning: The Paris Concert (Inakustik).

Jordan, with longtime stand-up bassist Charnett Moffett and drummer David Haynes delivered a 105-minute show in an intimate setting at the New Morning Jazz Club in Paris, France in July of 2007.

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August 21, 2008: I think I know how a stone mason in 1504 – an aging Florentine who built walls with stacks of rocks – would have felt happening upon 30-year old Michelangelo putting the finishing touches on his statue of David. Why do I know this? I’m an acoustic guitarist, and tonight I watched Kaki King play.

We appear to use the same basic materials, yes: hollow box, steel strings, body parts… But, somehow there is an enormous gulf between my result and hers. Standing at its edge, I consider tossing in the trowel.

Like Michelangelo in that year, Kaki is young.

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Guitar Hero is set to go all Rock Band, as the mega-popular video game is adding drums and vocals for the upcoming Guitar Hero: World Tour. The game’s new guitar will feature a touch pad that allows note sliding, and the ax will larger, nearly replicating the size of an actual guitar. The drum kit is more sophisticated than the existing Rock Band model — the drums are wider in diameter, touch sensitive (so hitting harder produces a louder note) and include dual adjustable cymbals. Van Halen, Linkin Park and the Foo Fighters are among the initial artists that will have playable songs.
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Punk’s original hell-raisers, the Sex Pistols, have bowed to technology and re-recorded their classic song “Anarchy in the U.K.” for use in the upcoming video game “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.” It was the first time singer John Lydon, guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook had been in the studio together since the late 1970s.

Recording took place at London’s Air Studios with producer Chris Thomas; today’s announcement hints that other songs were tracked, but at deadline it was unclear if that is true. “I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out but it actually turned out great and I think everyone held their own,” Jones says. “I like ['Guitar Hero'] because my friends’ kids like it.
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Spider-Man, Darth Maul … and now MCA of the Beastie Boys. What’s the pattern? They’ve all been virtual characters on a video game skateboard.

Game publisher Activision revealed to MTV News on Friday (August 24) that the Beasties’ Adam Yauch, a.k.a. MCA, will be an unlockable character in “Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground,” the company’s October installment of its annual skateboarding franchise.

The music legend joins a roster of unlockable bonus skaters that has included superheroes and rock stars from Iron Man to Gene Simmons to last year’s featured franchise guest, Travis Barker. In exclusive images, it appears that MCA will be skateboarding — of all places — on the moon.

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If you grew up loving rock and roll as I did, then you grew up loving guitar solos.

In fact, I consider myself really fortunate to have grown up in the sixties and seventies, which was a time when the guitar solo absolutely ruled music. So when it comes to narrowing things down to who were the obvious candidates for the best of the era, there are no shortage of choices.

Just go ahead and pick em’.

You’ve got your Jimmy Pages, your Eric Claptons, your Alvin Lees, and your Eddie Van Halens. And of course, looming large above this entire group, you’ve got the two ton gorilla that is Jimi Hendrix.

So yeah, I grew up loving all of these guys.

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