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November 2004:
There is a new generation
of jazz pianists emerging today to replace the eminent work of such
greats as Tommy Flanagan and Randy Weston. My pick for two
up-and-comers are Matthew Shipp and Craig Taborn. Today, pianist Brad Meldau’s trio is considered one of the top bands in jazz
-- yet Shipp and Taborn are often overlooked by critics outside the left-winged
publications such as the Village Voice. Shipp is the pianist in my old
teacher’s band, the David S. Ware Quartet. Taborn is the pianist for the
prominent tenor man James Carter. Both players are into more free jazz than any
other genre, yet both have original compositional statements to make.
Shipp is the curator of Henry Rollins’ Thirsty Ear Records ‘Blue
Series’. This imprint is redefining modern jazz -- a Blue Note of the
decade, mixing electronica and hip-hop with jazz. On this label, Shipp
has recorded albums with ‘illbient’ founder DJ Spooky and Queens, New
York underground rap
group the Anti-Pop Consortium. He signed Craig Taborn to the Blue
Series, whose album Junk Magic is filled with jazzy industrial
noise and features another underrated musician, tenor saxophonist Aaron
Stewart (who works with a third underrated pianist -- Vijay Iyer).
One shouldn’t also forget about Andrew Bemkey, a talented young pianist who
has worked with a number of jazz masters. Shipp landed a Cover-Story on
my then Hometown-based magazine Jazziz back in 1998 (the product
of its more progressive editorial regime-shift that took place in the late
1990s). Yet most publications have forgotten about Matthew Shipp and
Craig Taborn over the last few years…and these mainstream publications
still haven’t found out about Vijay Iyer or Andrew Bemkey. Keep an eye
out for these young and talented pianists, especially if you’re in the
New York City metropolitan area wanting to hear some great live jazz.
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