''Shadow Plays'' is a solo piano album by

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 ...

. It was recorded in concert in March 2020 and was released by

ECM Records ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is an independent record label founded by Karl Egger, Manfred Eicher and Manfred Scheffner in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's a ...

the following year.

Background

Taborn's previous solo piano album, '' Avenging Angel'', was recorded in 2010. Since then, he had performed and recorded in a diverse range of bands and styles.

Recording and music

The album was recorded in concert at the Mozart-Saal of the

Konzerthaus, Vienna The Konzerthaus is a concert hall located in Vienna, Austria, which opened in 1913. It is situated in the third district just at the edge of the first district in Vienna. Since it was founded it has always tried to emphasise both traditional and ...

, on March 2, 2020. The concert was billed as ''Avenging Angel II''. All seven of the solo piano pieces were improvised. The album was produced by

Manfred Eicher Manfred Eicher (born 9 July 1943) is a German record producer and the founder of ECM Records. Life and career Eicher was born in Lindau, Germany. He studied music at the Academy of Music in Berlin. He started as a double-bass player of classic ...

Release and reception

''Shadow Plays'' was released by

on 8 October 2021. The

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

reviewer concluded: "Where ''Avenging Angel'' opened our ears to Taborn's consummate abilities to compose and organize simultaneously without surrendering his creativity, ''Shadow Plays'' extends that by offering a profound sense of intimacy with instrument and audience. It delivers fantastical groups of ideas that flow without undue force or ego to become something that is at once wondrous and revelatory." The reviewer for the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' wrote that the album features Taborn "delivering spontaneous masterworks with a majestic sense of form and captures his robust touch and uncanny sense of space in pristine sound".

Track listing

All compositions by Craig Taborn. #"Bird Templars" – 17:02 #"Discordia Concors" – 8:57 #"Conspiracy of Things" – 5:50 #"Concordia Discors" – 11:59 #"A Code with Spells" – 8:09 #"Shadow Play" – 18:37 #"Now in Hope" – 5:47

Personnel

*Craig Taborn – piano

References

{{Authority control 2021 live albums Albums produced by Manfred Eicher Craig Taborn albums ECM Records albums Solo piano jazz albums