“…Derrik Jordan is something of a one-man musical force of nature”
-Vermont Sunday Magazine
Living in southern Vermont and playing throughout the northeast, Derrik Jordan has sung national jingles, worked with many bands and has had his songs recorded by other artists, but what really excites him is writing, recording and performing his original music. “Creating live music is a sacred trust. That moment of ecstatic communion when performer and audience become one is one of life’s greatest experiences,” says Jordan.
As a recording artist, award-winning singer-songwriter and composer, producer, teacher and multi-instrumentalist (electric violin, percussion, guitar and piano), Jordan is used to wearing a lot of hats. “Brazilliance – Everyone Loves Brazil,” a 29 track double CD, showcases his original sambas and bossa novas. It contains a new recording of his song “Share Your Love,” first released by Angela Bofill in 1978 on her debut album for Arista Records. “Expecting A Miracle,” an acoustic-pop-soul album he co-produced with Tom “T-Bone” Wolk (Hall and Oates, Saturday Night Live Band) includes the song “Speak Through Me” which was awarded 1st place (Gospel-Inspirational) and 2nd place overall out of 32,000 songs in the 2004 USA Songwriting Competition, the world’s leading international song contest.
“Touch The Earth,” an environmentally themed concept album, was produced by Jordan and he sings and plays most of the instruments on it. The songs are recorded in a variety of world music styles (reggae, afro-pop, samba, salsa and funk). “Something’s Gonna Change” from the CD won top honors as 2002 Reggae Song of the Year from Just Plain Folks, the world’s largest songwriter organization.
He has released two CDs under the name SuperString Theory (including 2007’s “SuperString Theory Goes To Senegal”), showcasing his 5-string electric violin in a variety of world fusion settings (African, Middle Eastern and Asian) with exotic instruments like hoddu, balafon, kora, didgeridoo and sitar and featuring award-winning NYC free jazz singer Lisa Sokolov and Ethiopian vocalist Helen Kerlin-Smith.
In 1992, Jordan made his national recording debut on “Right As Rain,” a CD benefiting the Rainforest Action Network that featured Jerry Garcia and Paul Winter. He has studied percussion with master drummer Milford Graves and composition with Henry Brant at Bennington College. His musical journeys have taken him to Brazil, Senegal, Ghana and Trinidad and he performs with many bands including Tony Vacca’s World Rhythms Ensemble, Zabap, Simba and Natural History. His composition “Sky Mirror” for shakuhachi, string quartet and electric guitar won the Shakuhachi Chamber Music International Prize 2008. The Vermont Symphony Orchestra has recently commissioned him to write a piece for their 2009 Made In Vermont Fall Festival Tour, which will be performed in 10 venues around the state in September 2009.
Worldsoul Records P.O. Box 403, Putney, VT 05346
(802) 387-4050 hilljoy@sover.net www.derrikjordan.com