Programmed

On Programmed, Carl Craig puts live jazz players beside Detroit machines and keeps the friction audible. Some passages lock beautifully; others pull against one another and never quite settle. The record keeps testing how far each language can bend before it stops sounding like itself. The fusion is uneven and the ambition is enormous; few records bridge these worlds this seriously.

Craig again, with Francisco Mora Catlett and Craig Taborn playing. The jazz argument made with actual musicians.