Junk Magic is quite possibly THE best album to merge electronic and jazz music. This is not dull chamber music or cheesy Sinatra-aping lounge pop. This is daring music that honors classic jazz by sounding nothing like it. The musicians, including Bad Plus drummer David King, are shown respect not only by frequently being left alone in post-production, but by emphasizing the importance of playing together. As a result, the album doesn't feel like "a jazz-influenced electronica album". Taborn's clicks and chops, as well as whatever synthesizer sounds he used make this something other than just another jazz album.

It deserves a thread of its own, especially in the underused jazz forum. No I am not on a street team.

Show your love if you've heard it.

or

Read up on it, and download it from me, donkey909 on soulseek if you haven't.

Pitchfork review

Splendid review

Popmatters review

Village Voice review

Allmusic review

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Buck "Sweetie" McGuck,

As I mentioned elsewhere, Sweetie, I should have a copy of the disc in hand next week. I'm looking forward to it.

In the meantime, a few more reviews for you:

The most reliable Webzine for new jazz and improvised music One Final Note.

The far more conservative, but still worthwhile All About Jazz.

Another from All About Jazz.

And three webzines I don't know:

prefix magazine

The Milk Factory

Splendid

Now Playing: "Have Mercy On Me" Loretta Lynn Van Lear Rose (Universal)

Well, a month is a long time to wait, Sweetie, and I apologize, but given your strong feelings for the album, I didn't want to give it anything less than some quality listening time and by that I mean free of the distractions of work and home responsibilities.

The problem is those two things can be so very distracting.

Finally, though, I've been through Junk Magic three times in the forefront and another half dozen in the background and that should be enough to offer some considered thoughts on the album.

First, Junk Magic may not be the first album to attempt to merge electronics with jazz-based improvisational music. It shares a great deal stylistically with Weather Report (notably the track "Stalagmite") who did a fine job of expanding on the lessons its members learned working with Miles Davis on albums like In A Silent Way. Second, Junk Magic may not be the single best album to merge electronics and jazz-based improvisational music. Pat Metheny and Ornette Coleman's Song X in 1985 and the notable predecessor to that album, James Blood Ulmer's Tales Of Captain Black in 1978 both are essential examples of such efforts, albeit guitar-centric. So, what I think is striking about Junk Magic is not the fact that it is so original, or so good (though it is so very good), but rather that it actually finds something new to say within an only intermittently explored tradition and does so with assurance far beyond it's leader's years.

In recent years, other labels, notably Blue Note and Verve, have tried to create sessions where their young lions try to explore the hip-hop, dance, and electronic music of their generation in the context of their jazz chops. Personally, I've never found those exercises compelling. Adding a few turntable scratches, or covering songs by Nirvana feels more like a token nod to more current music than sincere exploration.

This is what I like most about Junk Magic. Taborn is a sufficiently young man to have been raised on and influenced by a variety of musical styles. If memory serves, he's from Detroit and I have to think that Carl Craig, for example, had some impact on him growing up. That being said, his early career as a musician included a stint with the prodigiously talented saxophonist James Carter who works largely in the tradition of Hard Bop, but flirts with the Avant Garde. Where for Carter it is a flirtation, Taborn embraces and extends the Avant Garde. His approach is organic, favoring recording the acoustic instruments live, and layering the electronics later. The challenge of this approach is in avoiding the sort of "let's-tack-on-some-turntable-scratches" trap I bemoaned earlier. Taborn succeeds in this more often than not, which is why Junk Magic is ultimately as consistently satisfying as it is.

Junk Magic is currently running neck-and-neck with Dave Douglas' excellent Strange Liberation for my favorite jazz album of the year. That means I like twice as many new jazz albums this year as I did last year and for several years before that. In the end, both are worthwhile, and Junk Magic in particular makes me impatient to hear where Craig Taborn is going next.

Now Playing: "The Golden Age" Craig Taborn Junk Magic (Thirsty Ear) <- Of course!

I don't know much about Taborn, but he first appeared on my radar screen when he was tenor saxophonist James Carter's pianist for a while. I haven't heard much from Taborn since, but did enjoy his work with Carter.

In fact, I do own a Taborn CD on the Japanese DIW label. Carter was recording for DIW and didn't use all his alloted studio time so Taborn took advantage and recorded a CD. I haven't played the disc in years. Maybe I'll pull it out.