Craig Taborn, piano

From the New York Times: Taborn’s music … has an elusive aura, both in its spectral, moody textures and in its proud refusal to cater to expectations about what jazz, or even music, should be. A lot of advanced jazz today has the feel of a self-conscious hybrid, combining (take your pick) punk rock, hip-hop, Indian rhythms or Middle Eastern modes. Taborn is a musical omnivore, too, but his explorations of other forms never sound willful: He has so fully absorbed his influences as to camouflage them, in a musical language of casual authority. The beauty of his art resides in large part in his ability to discover new sounds in the piano, from the keys to the strings; his playing inspires something rare in music today, a sense of wonder. Taborn is revered by other pianists and considered by many to be one of jazz music’s few contemporary innovators — a judgment likely to be reinforced by his stunning recent album, “Daylight Ghosts.”