Search - Craig Taborn :: Craig Taborn Trio

Better known as the pianist who supplies saxophone colossus James Carter's harmonic underpinning, Craig Taborn presents a debut CD that reveals what Carter's discs have, a pianist who is spry and evocative, playful and risky. Taborn rolls into tunes, maintaining their structure and breadth, but quickly infuses contours with sharp key smacks, angular thumps, and widespread runs of color that hang in part thanks to his able trio mates, drummer Tani Tabbal and bassist Jaribu Shahid. Taborn urges the low-end mourn from Ornette Coleman's "Compassion," only to drop slices of Thelonious Monk-isms that teeter this way and that. Although he proves himself an adept player of clustery pianisms, Taborn avoids the speed-demon energy level and instead opts for the liquidity of Don Pullen's roiling runs. As for the trio's chemistry, they made this CD on a lark, after finishing a Carter quartet session a day early and being left with hours of booked studio time. They made good use of the hours, creating jam-tinged trio jazz of very high quality indeed. --Andrew Bartlett