The Many Sounds of Steve Jordan

They Say...

Review by Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide

This is a flamboyant artist operating in a style of music that is already pretty rowdy to begin with. The legend of Jordan being the Jimi Hendrix of the accordion might strike listeners as hype, but in reality is accurate more from a musical point of view than the obvious similarity in freaky appearances that both artists share. (Jordan has a wild mop of black hair and wears an eye patch, for which he was given the nickname 'El Parche). But a typical recording finds him coming across as powerfully as the Hendrix guitar style: right out front of his backing bands, his tone of the industrial strength variety, strong and cutting. This set intelligently combines his earliest recordings with music from about eight years later, during which time he developed from an excellent but fairly typical player to an iconoclastic wild man, throwing in all manner of stylistic asides including fusion jazz drum fills, satirical breakdowns á la Spike Jones, and even country & western. Just as Hendrix mastered a variety of effects devices, Jordan plugs his accordion into phase shifters and fuzz boxes and figures out how to get a totally personal sound, enhancing the traditional tone of the instrument in ways that always draw the listener in. All the music on this set is extremely enjoyable but of course it is the later music that is most innovative. He seems to be forging a trail that few would follow, however, as only a few eclectic artists such as Doug Sahm have even approached this level of musical pioneering, and even proponents of the school of avant-garde accordion playing have yet to get anywhere near Jordan's sound or inventiveness on his instrument. The incredible tale of a small time gangster named Jhonny is told in "El Corrido de Jhonny El Pachuco," definitely one of Jordan's masterpieces.