''Junk Magic'' is an album by Craig Taborn, with Aaron Stewart (tenor sax),

Mat Maneri Mat Maneri (born October 4, 1969) is an American composer, violin, and viola player. He is the son of the saxophonist Joe Maneri and Sonja Maneri. Career Maneri has recorded with Cecil Taylor, Guerino Mazzola, Matthew Shipp, Joe Morris, Ger ...

(viola), and Dave King (drums). It was released in 2004 by

Thirsty Ear Recordings Thirsty Ear Recordings is an American independent record label. It was founded in the late 1970s as a marketing company for the then-unnamed alternative music field, and expanded to issue its own records in 1990. Thirsty Ear came to prominence ...

Background

The album's title was also the name of the band, which was formed to be Taborn's electronic group, allowing him to explore the interactions of composition, improvisation and electronics. The name came from Sam Shepard's writings.

Recording and music

Taborn produced the album. Texture and pulse were important contributors to the overall sound. The title track contains "skittering beats ..thatlayer themselves over off-kilter drum machine pyrotechnics and a looped piano phrase."

Releases

''Junk Magic'' was released on April 20, 2004 by

Reception

'' The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' commented that the album's title "is apposite, since it does resemble something beautiful and even something slightly forbidding created out of the remnants of a throwaway culture". The AllMusic reviewer concluded that "''Junk Magic'' is a stunner from start to finish, and one that challenges the notions and linguistic senses as to what jazz 'is', as well as what it is not." Nate Chinen praised Taborn's work as producer, stating that "What pushes this album into the zone of innovation is his work as a sequencer and producer, which gives the lie to any accusation that 'jazztronica' means jazz musicians superimposing their tunes on synthetic grooves. What Taborn does is infallibly organic, even when he's performing radical reconstructive surgery."Chinen, Nate (September 2004
"Craig Taborn – Junk Magic"
''JazzTimes''.

Track listing

All compositions are by Craig Taborn. #"Junk Magic" – 6:18 #"Mystero" – 6:55 #"Shining Through" – 5:50 #"Prismatica" – 3:32 #"Bodies at Rest and in Motion" – 7:07 #"Stalagmite" – 1:09 #"The Golden Age" – 11:07

Personnel

* Craig Taborn – piano, keyboards, programming *Aaron Stewart – tenor sax *

– viola * Dave King – drums

References

{{Authority control 2004 albums Craig Taborn albums