Jazz Articles about Craig Taborn

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 ...

Craig Taborn: Junk Magic

by John Kelman
April 16, 2004

Following his 2001 recording Light Made Lighter , keyboardist Craig Taborn returns with Junk Magic, a new recording that places him squarely in the 21st century, maybe even the 22nd. With a combination of sounds that incorporates techno, laptop electronics, shifting drum programming, ambient music and free jazz, Taborn creates a sound that is difficult to pigeonhole; the diverse elements coalesce into a fresh new texture, making this an early highlight of 2004. Unlike his previous album, which was mistakenly ...

Craig Taborn: Junk Magic

by Phil DiPietro
April 15, 2004

Craig Taborn Junk Magic Thirsty Ear 2004

Craig Taborn has consistently tugged thirsty ears his way in the ensembles of high profile leaders Dave Douglas, Tim Berne and James Carter. His work has been so remarkable that some very big expectations have ensued. Here, Taborn pulls off the trick of living up to them all, while, to those of us who have been following along, serving up virtually none within the music ...

Craig Taborn: Junk Magic

by Mark Corroto
April 14, 2004

Craig Taborn inhabits the territories in between the gestures we recognize as music. His sources are revealed to be “found sound" and the psychology of loops. As fans of the innovative '70s band Weather Report know, Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul’s genius was the sounds they created in between the hooks of their popular music.

Taborn has come a long way since he gained national attention as part of James Carter’s band. He has moved more toward ...

Craig Taborn: Suggesting Textural Dimension

by Phil DiPietro
May 2, 2003

Craig Taborn has distinguished himself through his work, some of it nothing short of groundbreaking, with some of the most important musicians in New York's “Downtown" scene. His contributions during parallel careers with Mat Maneri, Drew Gress, Marty Ehrlich, Gerald Cleaver, Dave Douglas' Witness project, and Tim Berne's Hard Cell and Science Friction Units, has been thrillingly spontaneous yet organic, accomplished yet somehow ephemeral. Craig possesses that trait so valued by listeners and leaders alike (and sometimes not, by the ...

Craig Taborn: Light Made Lighter

by Matt Rand
June 22, 2002

The decision to form an acoustic piano trio for his latest release, Light Made Lighter, offered an interesting challenge for Craig Taborn. Although he has years of experience with the instrument, he's also spent every one of those years fiddling with the dials on his Moog. Whether on synthesizer, sequencer, Fender Rhodes or Hammond B-3, he’s made a career of the beauty of sound as its own end. Yet when stripped of the nuanced current that electricity grants him, Taborn's ...