David Binney thoughts?

[Larry Kart]

In recent years, mostly at random through library sales, I've acquired a fair number of Binney's CDs, and while never really put off by his music, I've yet to be drawn to it either -- or, more important, haven't even gotten what seems to me to be a sure enough grasp on what it is he's up to as an improviser and composer to make a reasonable judgment. Can anyone weigh in on Binney and maybe help me?

[HutchFan]

Larry,

FWIW, I have a few of Binney's records too, and I've never been able to get much of a foothold on his music either.

 

Edited August 13, 2020 by HutchFan

[Larry Kart]

I should add that based on all that I've heard of Binney -- sampled a fair bit rather than pored over -- that while I don't flat out dislike his solo work, I'm either puzzled by or just don't get its flightiness, so to speak, its relatvely insistent sense of agitation/lack of repose -- and this air of flightiness/agitation without much if any sense of an ebb and flow of intensity. Seems to me at this point of my befuddlement that Binney is more a composer -- perhaps better, an assembler of shapes and episodes -- than a player per se. Depending on the piece, these shapes and episodes do, for me, accumulate more meaningfully than Binney's solo lines, though the way they do accumulate when they do is, I find, kind of funny/peculiar, kind of like if you were sitting outside in a chair you couldn't move from while an insect keeps buzzing around your head for 10 or so minutes. There's a certain coherence to the experience, but is it one you'd seek out?

[jcam_44]

I'm with you and Hutch. I have a few Binney records and never connected with them. I tried to listen to his newest release on Apple Music and just couldn't get into it. It was some weird atmospheric music, that he solo'd behind...some...i guess...i don't really know. I didn't finish it. It just wasn't for me. 

[JSngry]

Who is this guy?

[Larry Kart]

• Point Game (Owl, 1990)
• The Luxury of Guessing (AudioQuest, 1995)
• Free to Dream (Mythology, 1998)
• Afinidad with Edward Simon (Red, 2001)
• South (ACT, 2001)
• Balance (ACT, 2002)
• A Small Madness with Jeff Hirshfield (Auand, 2003)
• Welcome to Life (Mythology, 2004)
• Fiestas de Agosto with Edward Simon (Red, 2005)
• Bastion of Sanity (Criss Cross, 2005)
• This Life with Mario Franco (Tone of a Pitch, 2006)
• Cities and Desire (Criss Cross, 2006)
• Out of Airplanes (Mythology, 2006)
• Oceanos with Edward Simon (Criss Cross, 2007)
• In the Paint with Alan Ferber (Posi-Tone, 2009)
• Third Occasion (Mythology, 2009)
• Aliso (Criss Cross, 2010)
• Barefooted Town (Criss Cross, 2011)
• Graylen Epicenter (Mythology, 2011)
• Lifted Land (Criss Cross, 2013)
• Anacapa (Criss Cross, 2014)
• R&B with Adam Rogers (Criss Cross, 2015)
• The Time Verses (Criss Cross, 2017)
• Zinc City with Manuel Engel (Metonic, 2018)

With Lan Xang

• Hidden Gardens (Naxos, 2000)

With Lost Tribe

• Lost Tribe (Windham Hill, 1993)
• Soulfish (High Street, 1994)
• Many Lifetimes (Arabesque, 1998)

As sideman[edit]

With Uri Caine

• Urlicht / Primal Light (Winter & Winter, 1997)
• Gustav Mahler in Toblach (Winter & Winter, 1999)

With Scott Colley

• Portable Universe (Free Lance, 1996)
• Architect of the Silent Moment (CAM Jazz, 2007)

With John Escreet

• Consequences (Posi-Tone, 2008)
• Don't Fight the Inevitable (Mythology, 2010)
• Exception to the Rule (Criss Cross, 2011)
• The Age We Live In (Mythology, 2011)
• Sabotage and Celebration (Whirlwind, 2013)

With Joel Harrison

• Free Country (ACT, 2003)
• So Long 2nd Street (ACT, 2004)
• Harbor (HighNote, 2007)
• The Wheel (Intuition, 2008)
• Urban Myths (HighNote, 2009)
• Multiplicity: Leave the Door Open (Whirlwind, 2014)

With Donny McCaslin

• The Way Through (Arabesque, 2003)
• In Pursuit (Sunnyside, 2007)
• Perpetual Motion (Greenleaf, 2010)
• Casting for Gravity (Greenleaf, 2012)
• Fast Future (Greenleaf, 2015)
• Beyond Now (Motema, 2016)

With Miles Okazaki

• Mirror (2006)
• Generations (Sunnyside, 2009)

With Samo Salamon

• Ela's Dream (Splasc(h) Records, 2005)
• Government Cheese (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2006)

With Edward Simon

• La Bikina (Red, 2011)
• Sorrows & Triumphs (Sunnyside, 2018)

With Alex Sipiagin

• Images (TCB, 1998)
• Equilibrium (Criss Cross, 2004)
• Destinations Unknown (Criss Cross, 2011)
• Balance (Criss Cross, 2015)

With others

• Anthony Branker, The Forward (Towards Equality) Suite (Origin, 2014)
• Vinicius Cantuaria, Cymbals (Naive, 2007)
• David Gilmore, Ritualism (Kashka Music 2000)
• Drew Gress, Heyday (Soul Note, 1998)
• Wayne Krantz, Howie 61 (Abstract Logix, 2012)
• Nguyen Le, Songs of Freedom (ACT, 2011)
• Joe Locke, Subtle Disguise (Origin, 2018)
• Medeski Martin & Wood, It's a Jungle in Here (Gramavision, 1993)
• Virgil Moorefield, Distractions on the Way to the King's Party (Cuneiform, 1994)
• Lonnie Plaxico, Short Takes (Muse, 1992)
• Chris Potter, Traveling Mercies (Verve, 2002)
• Antonio Sánchez, New Life (CAM Jazz, 2013)

 

[relyles]

I own six CDs Binney either led, or co-led, and I heard him live under ideal listening conditions at least once. I enjoyed everything I heard for what it was - very possibly due in some part that he recorded with some of my favorite musicians like Craig Taborn and Mark Turner. I did not feel compelled to follow him where his journey has taken him in recent years. Sorry, I don't think I can offer anything to solve the mystery for you.