Light Made Darker

Craig Taborn, Avenging Angel
ECM Records
 
Craig Taborn - piano
 
I’ve come to appreciate Craig Taborn due to an earlier CD, Light Made Lighter, his appearances on a couple of Drew Gress albums and his pivotal role on Michael Formanek’s The Rub and Spare Change. But Avenging Angel is a different beast. It sounds as if it might be fully improvised, yet each piece contains logic and structure. There’s a quiet intensity to it, even a sense of foreboding. It’s a nighttime CD, although more frenetic sections are contained within.
 
There’s a hint of vintage Jarrett in Taborn’s overt classical influences, the use of repetition in the development of certain pieces, the occasional sly allusions to gospel and the blues. But this is not to say we’re dealing with the rolling ostinatos of The Sun Bear Concerts, and Taborn definitely has his own approach. 

There are parts that gave me chills. If you even thought you might be a Taborn fan, get this. If you’re a solo piano fan, get this.