University of Chicago Presents JAZZ AT THE LOGAN

The University of Chicago was on Thanksgiving break, so it was not surprising that only fifty or so aficionados slipped under the spell of two of the most revered and sought-after pianists in the experimental improvisation scene. Their one-hour performance was not the traditional jazz structure of a melody set up in the chorus, which is then repeated as each musician takes a solo turn improvising around the melody. Or maybe it was traditional but difficult to discern as Taborn and Davis’s music is mostly atonal and timed to unfamiliar rhythms. Aside from identifying repeating arpeggios or chords that sustained some pieces, the balance of the keyboard music rained down on the audience in mesmerizing randomness.

Taborn and Davis Are Master Musicians

At certain points in the performance, Davis used foil and tape to alter the sound of select piano wires, checking the pitch with a clip-on tuner pickup. Why not open our minds to the fact that the piano is a string instrument and that the pitch of each wire is not permanently tied to the traditional tuning? New music requires that we break barriers. To this reporter, Davis and Taborn are master musicians who stretch the boundaries of piano music. Their creative world is uncomfortable for most, but necessary to push the frontiers of music.