Search - David Binney :: Luxury of Guessing

The Binney Style

Anthony Cooper | Louisville, KY United States | 09/13/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"David Binney assembles an octet for this set of 12 mostly good songs. Donny McCaslin plays tenor sax, Steve Armor is on trombone, Uri Caine plays piano, Ben Monder is on guitar, Scott Colley plays bass, Jeff Hirshfield is on drums, and Daniel Sadownick plays percussion. McCaslin, Colley, and Hirshfield went on with Binney to form Lan Xang. After a short opener, "See How Fine My Address Was" is a song in the usual Binney style. The Binney style is an interesting, knotty-sounding song with a little funk thrown in. "The Three Stars" comes out brassier, and swings. "Without You", "Meddler" and "Surrounding As Influence" are more traditional sounding ballads. "Watch Your Head" and "Rue De Fishes" come back to the Binney style - they're both good songs. "Dream Of Five Places" is a ballad that seems fairly free until the band crescendoes in the middle, then settles back down. "Cochise" is an up-tempo funky song. The title track starts and ends quietly, but is mostly swinging. "Last Of The Day" alternates a section with three lines interacting simultaneously with quiet sections.



This is a very good CD, and it's helped by the top-notch playing on it. Fans of modern jazz or David Binney should get this one."