by Grant Jackson
Pianist Jason Moran stands among a coterie of young pianists — Vijay Iyer, Craig Taborn and Ethan Iverson among them — who are defining the shape of jazz today. Educated by elder statesmen Jaki Byard, Muhal Richard Abrams and Andrew Hill, Moran brings wide-ranging interests to the music. Across his catalog, he's drawn inspiration from 20th-century painters Egon Schiele, Robert Rauschenberg and Jean-Michel Basquiat (the last two were the enfants terribles of their respective times). Moran can hold his own swinging on standards, but his thoughtful approach is undeniably of the moment. Unapologetically employing sampled loops from a minidisc player as a "fourth member" in live sets, Moran borrows from touchstones including Jimi Hendrix and Afrika Bambaataa.
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