His improvising, particularly for solo piano, often adopts a modular approach, in which he begins with small units of melody and rhythm and then develops them into larger forms and structures.

[7] He borrowed from the library Segments II (Orchestra Of Two Continents) by pianist Cecil Taylor's band while at high school, but found separating the various elements of the music too difficult.

[9] Taborn met drummer Gerald Cleaver soon after arriving at university, and they established an electronic group, the Tracey Science Quartet.

[4] While still a university student, he became known for his membership of saxophonist James Carter's band,[10] where he contributed to a series of albums, beginning with JC on the Set, which was recorded in 1993.

[12] At this stage in his career, his comments on his tastes in composition and performance were: "Even though I like avant garde jazz and classical music, I like to swing.

"On the strength of this recording", wrote the Los Angeles Times reviewer, "Taborn emerges as one of the most exciting pianists to lead a band since the ascent of Matthew Shipp".

[18] One critic observed that a lot of his collaborations in the early and mid-2000s did not feature a bassist, and suggested that Taborn's "dexterity and inventiveness [...] stand in for both a keyboard and a bass player.

"[18] In 2001, he had his first solo concert in New York,[19] and made his first recordings under the leadership of saxophonist Tim Berne, and with a trio led by percussionist Susie Ibarra.

[20][21] Taborn went on to record, during the period 2002–04, as a sideman under the leadership of Steve Coleman, Dave Douglas, Marty Ehrlich, Drew Gress, Evan Parker, Wadada Leo Smith, and others.

[22] Taborn's third release as a leader was Junk Magic in 2004, again for Thirsty Ear, with tenor saxophonist Aaron Stewart, violist Mat Maneri and drummer Dave King.

"[32] After joining Michael Formanek's quartet in 2008, Taborn recorded under the double bassist's leadership for the first time the following year.

[33] Also in 2009, Taborn played with trumpeter Tomasz Stańko in New York,[34] and returned to Europe for concerts with Torn,[35] violinist Dominique Pifarély,[36] and with his own trio.

[38] In critic Nate Chinen's view, this album concentrated on "pure sound", being "full of moments where a note hangs sharply in the air, and you hear the gathering overtones, the vibrations of the strings".

[40] In 2010, Taborn also toured Europe with Anker's trio,[22] Potter's Underground,[41] and played piano duets with Vijay Iyer.

[42][43] In the following year, Taborn again performed with Stańko,[44] as part of drummer Paul Motian's quartet,[45] and had another solo tour of Europe.

[50] A further ECM album, Chants, led by Taborn and with bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Gerald Cleaver, was released in 2013.

[54] Taborn played as part of the Ches Smith Trio late in 2014 and toured with the percussionist and Mat Maneri early in 2016.

[56] The trio recording, with Christian McBride on bass and Tyshawn Sorey on drums, employed compositions by John Zorn.

[57] This was followed by a string of duo albums: Octopus with Kris Davis from 2016;[58] Highsmith with Ikue Mori in 2017;[59] and The Transitory Poems with Iyer from 2018.

[62] The following year, Taborn made available for free streaming 60 X Sixty – 60 tracks of around a minute in length, played in a random order at 60xsixty.com.

[3] Taborn has explained the limited quantity of albums under his own name as being driven by the "age of almost profligate documentation", which he counters with "almost a discipline to be more selective about releases.

He starts simply, using basic elements such as major and minor thirds, varies them in turn, and then continues to expand to create larger structures.

[71] In 2012, he was given the North Sea Jazz Festival's Paul Acket Award, which is presented "to an artist deserving wider recognition for extraordinary musicianship".