Detroit techno auteur Carl Craig founded Innerzone Orchestra to serve as his dedicated outlet for jazz-oriented recordings. The ensemble first assembled in the early '90s specifically to capture "Bug in the Bassbin," a single widely regarded among the most respected of Craig's career and issued on his own Planet E Recordings. Craig handled programming for the project, which featured a lineup that included percussionist Francisco Mora Catlett (a former pupil of Max Roach and member of Sun Ra's Arkestra, plus a leader on his own for Capitol), keyboard player Craig Taborn (a member of the James Carter Quartet, as well as a sideman with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Dave Holland), and Rodney Whitaker on upright bass. During the mid-'90s the group limited itself to scattered dates while Craig continued releasing material under his own name. Innerzone Orchestra finally entered the studio in 1999 to lay down its full-length debut, Programmed, for Astralwerks. Later that year the band undertook live engagements that included a performance at New York's Central Park SummerStage. Craig simultaneously launched Community Projects, a new jazz subsidiary of Planet E, whose inaugural release came from Catlett in the form of his World Trade Music LP. [See Also: Carl Craig, Paperclip People, Psyche/BFC, 69] ~ John Bush
