David Binney - The Time Verses

The Guardian 80

(Criss Cross)

The New York saxophonist and composer David Binney, an adventurer in contemporary music, has the technique and imagination to connect the saxophone intensity of John Coltrane or Ornette Coleman to the structural riddles of Tim Berne, Steve Coleman, and even contemporary classical methods. This set’s quartet, with pianist Jacob Sacks, bassist Eivind Opsvik and drummer Dan Weiss, is Binney’s most enduringly compatible partnership, and the proof is plain all over The Time Verses, a stylistically far-reaching suite. The almost nine-minute Strange Animal exemplifies the fluency with which Binney can maintain a mournful tenderness in his sound within a rhythmically fast-changing context, and unique vocalist Jen Shyu brings her glacial intimacy to the ruminative Seen. The exhilarating Walk becomes post-boppishly swinging after its airily devious opening, and the softly pulsing Arc – begun in thoughtfully smoky mood – swells into a convoluted and dazzlingly quick-witted improvisation of spinning lines and squeals. Binney has rarely sounded more at home, either with his materials or his partners.