Jazz Articles about Craig Taborn

Craig Taborn: Avenging Angel

by AAJ Italy Staff
February 13, 2012

Un piano solo rappresenta sempre e comunque una prova per un pianista. Se poi di mezzo ci sono l'ECM e Manfred Eicher, dalla prova si passa alla sfida. Perché non stiamo parlando di un'etichetta qualsiasi, e nemmeno di un produttore qualsiasi. Qui c'è in ballo il confronto con un'estetica perfettamente definita e ingombrante, con un suono, una riconoscibilità, con una storia che pesa e può anche stritolare. Il rischio, paradossalmente, è quello di fare un disco “ECM," al di là ...

Craig Taborn: Avenging Angel

by John Kelman
May 31, 2011

He puts out albums under his own name so rarely, while amassing a discography as a sideman/co-leader that's almost unparalleled in its sheer size and stylistic breadth—with over 100 recordings to date, since he first showed up in saxophonist James Carter's groups of the mid-1990s—that it's cause for celebration any time pianist Craig Taborn gets around to releasing one. Whether expounding upon the more structured environs of saxophonist David Binney's Graylen Epicenter (Mythology, 2011), working the groove on saxophonist Chris ...

Craig Taborn: A Study in Contrasts

by Tom Greenland
February 6, 2010

Jonathon Haffner Life On Wednesday Cachuma Records 2009 Lotte Anker Floating Islands ILK 2009

Craig Taborn's seemingly innocuous musings have a way of sneaking up on you, revealing, upon closer listening, surprising density and intensity; two recent releases feature the empathetic yet independent keyboardist's complex musical mien. Alto ...

Craig Taborn Trio at the Vortex, London, England

by John Sharpe
January 21, 2010

Craig Taborn Trio Vortex London, England December 7, 2009

Judging by the number of young musicians in the audience, pianist Craig Taborn has something of a reputation among the cognoscenti. That many of them were pianists too just whetted the appetite even more for his leadership debut in the UK in the supportive setting of north London's Vortex. Of course Taborn is far from an unknown quantity in town, having high-profile sideman gigs with ...

Chris Potter Underground: Ultrahang

by AAJ Italy Staff
October 5, 2009

L'avvento di Chris Potter fu salutato qualche anno fa come uno dei più significativi nell'ambito di quella galassia assai indefinita che per comodità viene indicata con post-bop. Grazie ad un approccio fresco, muscolare e raffinato insieme, con una particolare attenzione alle forme, che espande con improvvisazioni fantasiose, il giovane sassofonista acquisì immediatamente fama di nuova stella del firmamento jazz, rafforzata anche dalle partecipazioni a band importanti come quella di Paul Motian, Dave Holland e Dave Douglas. Un buon numero di ...

Craig Taborn: Rooted

by Ian Patterson
June 15, 2009

There is no place for fear or doubt in pianist Craig Taborn's playing--such states are banished from a mind that seeks to explore the musical possibilities of each moment with maximum freedom. Taborn's improvisational playing is a continual creation where the journey is the thing, and words like beautiful, ugly and mistake have virtually no meaning. True improvisers like Taborn, with the ability to take the leap into the unknown, have always been a fairly rare breed. ...

Craig Taborn: Junk Magic

by AAJ Staff
April 18, 2004

Pianist Craig Taborn doesn't like to make his music too easy to appreciate, an attitude that seems to have only grown in importance. But don't confuse that with the all-too-common desire to be difficult, which tends to manifest itself in out jazz settings, perhaps as an effort to emphasize that such music is art and not entertainment. Taborn's mostly interested in his music having substance (and 2001's Light Made Lighter is as good an example as any). And that's particularly ...