''Golden Valley Is Now'' is an album by the group of the same name, featuring bassist

Reid Anderson Reid Anderson (born 15 October 1970) is a bassist and composer from Minnesota. He is a member of The Bad Plus with drummer Dave King, pianist Ethan Iverson, saxophonist Chris Speed, and guitarist Ben Monder. The original lineup of The Bad Plus ...

, drummer Dave King, and keyboardist

Craig Taborn 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 i ...

. It was recorded in August 2018 in Minneapolis, and was released by

Intakt Records Intakt Records is an independent record label, based in Zürich, Switzerland. History The label was founded in 1986 by Patrik Landolt.Margasak, Peter (September 2013) "Intakt's Landolt Takes Long-Term Approach to Avant-Garde". ''Down Beat''. p. ...

in 2019. The album title refers to the fact that all three musicians grew up in

Golden Valley, Minnesota Golden Valley is a western and first-ring suburb of Minneapolis in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 22,552 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is mostly residential an ...

, and have played together on occasion since high school.

Reception

In a review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Thom Jurek called the album "lovely," and wrote: "This date isn't about showing musical muscle; it's about composing, playing, and arranging songs -- simple instrumental ones -- with creativity and panache. This trio accomplish that with rawness, immediacy, collective good will, and a wacky kind of elegance." Kevin Le Gendre of ''

Jazzwise ''Jazzwise'' is a British monthly magazine focused on jazz, launched in 1997. The magazine covers a range of jazz sub-genres and provides news coverage, a national gig guide, a jazz-on-film page, feature articles, and a review section that evalua ...

'' stated: "With influences spanning the more cultured end of 1990s synth-pop and sophisticated, orchestral electronica... the music carries the kind of sheen and shimmer one would attribute to any artists with a deep interest in both analogue and digital technology. Beyond the rich textural palette created... there is a thread of intense melancholy running through the material." Writing for ''

Jazz Times ''JazzTimes'' was an American print magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade ...

'', A. D. Amorosi noted the album's "rainbow of surprisingly subtle colors and shadings," and praised the "manic propulsion" of "High Waist Drifter," with its "rapid-fire cymbal attack, party-ball handclapping, and Taborn's cheesy garage-band organ." In an article for the ''

Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 201 ...

'', Dan DiPiero described the recording as "a beguiling album of intricate, nuanced, melancholic pop songs performed by three master improvisers, and featuring almost no identifiable improvisations whatsoever."

Track listings

Personnel

– synthesizers, electric piano, acoustic piano *

– electric bass, electronics * Dave King – drums, electronic drums

References

{{authority control 2019 collaborative albums Craig Taborn albums Intakt Records albums