Craig Marvin Taborn (; born February 20, 1970) is an American pianist, organist, keyboardist and composer. He works solo and in bands, mostly playing various forms of jazz. He started playing piano and Moog synthesizer as an adolescent and was influenced at an early stage by a wide range of music, including by the freedom expressed in recordings of free jazz and contemporary classical music.
While at university, Taborn toured and recorded with jazz saxophonist James Carter. Taborn went on to play with numerous other musicians in electronic and acoustic settings, while also building a reputation as a solo pianist. He has a range of styles, and often adapts his playing to the nature of the instrument and the sounds that he can make it produce. His improvising, particularly for solo piano, often adopts a modular approach, in which he begins with small units of melody and rhythm and then develops them into larger forms and structures.
In 2011, Down Beat magazine chose Taborn as winner of the electric keyboard category, as well as rising star in both the piano and organ categories. By the end of 2020, Taborn had appeared on 14 albums as a leader or co-leader and more than 100 as a sideman.
Early life
Taborn was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to John, a psychologist, and Marjorie, a social worker. His father was a department chair at the University of Minnesota and his mother worked for Minneapolis public schools. Taborn's older brother, John Gregory, became a psychologist. They grew up in Golden Valley, Minnesota, where Craig Taborn attended Breck School. His parents gave him a Moog synthesizer as a present when he was 12, which was also around the time when he started playing piano. He received basic instruction initially from his father, who played by ear. Taborn borrowed records from a public library and listened to public radio, discovering music from the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and Sun Ra, among others. As a youth he also listened to heavy metal and contemporary classical music, and identified commonalities among these disparate forms of music.
At high school, Taborn studied music theory and composition for two years with teachers who had doctorates in music. In his own words, he is "not a classically trained pianist at all"; he practiced with others, initially playing rock, progressive rock, and jazz fusion, before becoming more interested in jazz. He borrowed from the library Segments II (Orchestra Of Two Continents) by pianist Cecil Taylor's band while at high school, but found separating the various elements of the music too difficult. After attending a Last Exit concert (a loud free jazz band of Peter Brötzmann, Bill Laswell, Ronald Shannon Jackson and Sonny Sharrock), he went home and listened to the Taylor album again: "It was more manageable in terms of being able to hear detail and listen to content. That was a big moment in terms of being able to relax and process information in more abstract environments."
Later life and career
1988–1999
Taborn studied at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor from 1988. He auditioned for the jazz program in the university's School of Music, but joined the College of Literature, Science and the Arts. Taborn met drummer Gerald Cleaver soon after arriving at university, and they established an electronic group, the Tracey Science Quartet. Taborn also played with Marcus Belgrave and Wendell Harrison. While still a university student, he became known for his membership of saxophonist James Carter's band, where he contributed to a series of albums, beginning with JC on the Set, which was recorded in 1993.
Taborn's first recording as leader came in 1994, and was released by DIW. Craig Taborn Trio, with bassist Jaribu Shahid and drummer Tani Tabbal, featured Taborn playing in a range of styles on piano and included several of his own compositions. At this stage in his career, his comments on his tastes in composition and performance were: "Even though I like avant garde jazz and classical music, I like to swing. I like to work with harmony and melody in my own music, and I like acoustical instruments. But I can be quite dictatorial about the composed section, and lay down in great detail what everyone is supposed to do and how they should do it."