* En anglais uniquement
Junk Magic is an exploratory electro-acoustic jazz band formed and led by pianist, keyboardist, and composer
Craig Taborn. Their 2004 debut of the same title was actually released under his name in Thirsty Ear's Blue Series, curated by
Matthew Shipp. The sound the then-quartet pursued incorporated compositional tenets drawn from modern jazz, hip-hop, minimalist industrial sounds, European art music, ambient, techno, and other electronic musics and wed them to improvisation. Intermittent live performances over a decade-and-a-half established them as a going concern. A second album,
Compass Confusion, was billed to
Junk Magic in 2020 on the Pyroclastic label.
Taborn had been recording for Thirsty Ear since issuing 2001's
Light Made Lighter in a trio setting. He established a mercurial musical terrain that existed between structured playing and free improvisation. He wove his long-held fascination with techno music and beatmaking into that framework. After fulfilling a slate of touring and recording commitments with groups led by
Roscoe Mitchell,
Tim Berne,
Susie Ibarra, and
Marty Ehrlich -- among others -- between 2001 and 2004,
Taborn carved out time with musicians he had been working with informally in studios and on bandstands. They included experimental violist
Mat Maneri (whose
Blue Decco and
Sustain albums the pianist had played on), drummer and lifelong friend Dave King of
the Bad Plus, and saxophonist Aaron Stewart (
Anthony Braxton,
Anat Fort,
Vijay Iyer). The
Taborn-produced
Junk Magic offered a crush collision of styles that threw less open-minded jazz critics for a loop since its seemingly alien sounds and wildly syncopated beats reflected the direct influence of EDM and hip-hop cultures. (Its acceptance was perhaps made more difficult by
Taborn's considerably more traditional post-bop bona fides established with the James Carter Quartet during the '90s.) That said, the recording won
Taborn respect from vanguard jazz fans and adventurous younger listeners for whom electronic music and hip-hop were primary, many of whom didn't listen to jazz. It also paved the way for many artists afterwards to experiment in similar ways, including Mark Giuliana,
Dan Weiss (in whose Starebaby
Taborn also plays),
Kurt Rosenwinkel,
Makaya McCraven,
Iyer, and more.
While the quartet continued to play occasional gigs given its various members' other commitments,
Taborn was so busy he didn't have time to cut a follow-up, at least not straightaway. Nonetheless,
Junk Magic provided the foundation for him to explore more interrogatory uses for electronics in jazz on his own recordings such as
Daylight Ghosts and, with others including
Mitchell,
Ikue Mori,
Cleaver, and
Dave Holland. In 2019,
Taborn teamed with King and
Bad Plus bassist
Reid Anderson to record The Golden Valley Is Now, a slipstream album that existed at the crossroads of jazz and indie rock and on which all members utilized electronics in addition to their standard instruments. That same year,
Taborn,
Maneri, and King began to play and demo recordings together as
Junk Magic. They enlisted saxophonist
Chris Speed to replace Stewart and added fifth member, bassist
Erik Fratzke. The quintet recorded
Compass Confusion for Pyroclastic and released it during the fall of 2020. ~ Thom Jurek