Transcripts

SPEAKER 1: In the Jazz world, some listeners might yearn for tradition, while others listen for signs of authenticity. The acclaimed pianist, composer, and Golden Valley native Craig Taborn doesn't worry about such hangups. Whether on solo piano, in a trio, or experimenting with electronic music, he tries to reflect an evolving culture. David Cazares reports.

DAVID CAZARES: Craig Taborn is intent on hearing what surrounds him, finding the core of feeling he encounters in everyday life. His approach has produced stirring results, as it did on a 2004 recording, Junk Magic.

[ELECTRONIC MUSIC]

It's pointless for Jazz musicians to wander in a museum of tradition, Taborn says, when there are thriving sounds outside its doors.

CRAIG TABORN: If people haven't found the core of that stuff in their lived culture, it always sounds kind of lame to me. It may be exciting for a second because it's like, oh, this sounds like it used to sound. But then it's like, but it kind of doesn't. Because it's not new, because it's not going to be that thing anymore. You know what I mean?

[ELECTRONIC MUSIC]

DAVID CAZARES: Taborn grew up in Golden Valley, crossing paths with drummer Dave King and bassist Reid Anderson of The Bad Plus. Like them, he has acquired an international reputation, one he'll bring home Friday to the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis. He's been searching for the new thing since he cut his teeth in Detroit, a couple of decades ago, after attending the University of Michigan. He's now viewed as a leading experimental voice in jazz.

On solo piano, Taborn departs from the approach of a classic improviser like Keith Jarrett, who allows the music to unfold, often on long journeys. Instead, he takes a compositional approach that builds on a few musical elements, as he did in 2011 on Avenging Angel.

[ELECTRONIC MUSIC]

At the Walker, Taborn will explore his jazz evolution. There will be three distinct sets, one filled with electronics, another of solo piano, and a third in his trio with drummer Gerald Cleaver and bassist Thomas Morgan. Their newly released CD, Chants, owes much to the pianist's propensity for taking risks. Employing multiple voices and rhythms, the musicians create imaginative and spontaneous music in real time, the essence of improvisation.

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Taborn is ever mindful that the music he plays has largely been shaped by Black Americans who fused their culture with European music. But he rejects any suggestion that as a Black musician, he must satisfy those looking for what he calls racial coding.

CRAIG TABORN: What do you want? Like Blues licks, is that going to make it feel like the blues? Or what's going to make it feel like that thing? You know what I mean? And that's a different issue.

DAVID CAZARES: Yeah, it's the emotion.

CRAIG TABORN: Exactly.

DAVID CAZARES: Both jazz and the larger Black American musical tradition, Taborn says, have always been expansive. His own diverse body of work points to the many ways of expressing and living culture. Still, the Jazz legacy is inescapable in his playing.

CRAIG TABORN: When I'm at the piano, it's definitely kind of it's Duke Ellington, Cecil Taylor Monk world that's going on. I'm not trying to give people clues of recognition or anything. I'm just trying to deal with the music.

DAVID CAZARES: Taborn carries the sound of a treasured past into a broader future. David Cazares, Minnesota Public Radio News.

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SPEAKER 1: There's more about Craig Taborn online at mprnews.org, including audio from a studio session from our friends at WNYC in New York. So check it out, mprnews.org.

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