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Marked by an adventurous, harmonically fluid style, alto saxophonist/composer
David Binney is an award-winning jazzman whose grasp of tradition flourishes inside a vision focused firmly on the future. Since releasing Point Game, his 1991 leader debut, he has played on hundreds of records, and led or co-led more than 30 others. While he records for several labels,
Binney founded the Mythology label in 1998 for releasing his most adventurous recordings. They include 2006's
Out of Airplanes and 2009's
Third Occasion. The winner of three Down Beat Critics Polls for alto saxophone,
Binney seamlessly transitions between sideman and bandleader. He made his Criss Cross Jazz debut with 2005's
Bastion of Sanity. 2011's landmark
Graylen Epicenter is widely regarded as one of his finest outings; it showcased an expanded electro-acoustic ensemble that featured vocalist
Gretchen Parlato. 2014's
Anacapa was a vanguard exercise in 21st century electric jazz.
Binney is also a noteworthy producer. After helming tenorist
Donny McCaslin's
The Way Through in 2003, he produced seven more of his albums in addition to recordings by
Joel Harrison and many others.
Binney is credited with assembling the band (led by
McCaslin) on
David Bowie's last album, Blackstar. After releasing Here & Now as a digital outing from Mythology in 2018, returned to live in Los Angeles, and followed with the digital Aerial for the label in 2020. In January 2022,
Binney released the quartet date
A Glimpse of the Eternal for Criss Cross Jazz.
Born in Miami, Florida, on August 2, 1961, he spent some time in Detroit while his parents, who were big music fans, were at Wayne State University. They introduced him to the music of
John Coltrane,
Miles Davis,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Wayne Shorter,
Jimi Hendrix,
Milton Nascimento, and
Sly & the Family Stone, among others. Growing up in the beach community of Carpenteria, California,
Binney began formal studies on the saxophone with various teachers in nearby Los Angeles. In 1980, at the age of 19, he moved to New York City, where he was tutored by
Phil Woods,
Dave Liebman, and
George Coleman. He was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1989, using it to record his first CD, Point Game, in 1991 for the Owl label. He was a sideman for
Aretha Franklin and
Maceo Parker, was initially and briefly associated with the M-Base techno-funk crowd, and then formed a special partnership with tenor saxophonist
Chris Potter.
Binney has been a member of or collaborator with
Lost Tribe,
Lan Xang (with fellow saxophonist
Donny McCaslin),
Uri Caine's
Gustav Mahler and
J.S. Bach projects, the
Drew Gress-led combo Jagged Sky, the
Maria Schneider and
Gil Evans orchestras, and
Medeski, Martin & Wood. Audioquest released his second album as a leader,
The Luxury of Guessing, in 1995. In 1997,
Binney founded his own Mythology label and recorded the ambitious self-titled debut by
Lan Xang, with
Scott Colley (bass),
McCaslin (tenor and soprano saxes), Jeff Hirschfield (drums), and
Binney (alto, Tunisian horn, and wood flute). He followed almost immediately with
Free to Dream in 1998.
In 2001
Binney co-led
Afinidad, the first of two widely acclaimed outings with pianist
Edward Simon. That year he also released
South and
Balance for Germany's ACT label. 2004's
Welcome to Life (2004) and 2006's
Out of Airplanes both appeared on Mythology as bookends for the 2005 Criss Cross date
Bastion of Sanity and
Fiestas de Agosto, his second outing with
Simon. The charting
Cities and Desire appeared from Criss Cross in 2006, the same year he issued the electro-acoustic
Out of Airplanes on Mythology. In 2007,
Binney and
Simon co-headlined
Océanos for Criss Cross.
In 2009,
Binney released the universally acclaimed
Third Occasion. Issued by Mythology, it featured the altoist in a lineup that included bassist
Scott Colley, drummer
Brian Blade, pianist
Craig Taborn, and a four-piece brass section that included trumpeter
Ambrose Akinmusire.
More praiseworthy albums followed on Criss Cross, including 2010's Aliso and the following year's
Barefooted Town. 2011 also saw the release of
Graylen Epicenter on Mythology. It remains one of the saxophonist's most celebrated outings. Other players on the sessions included bassist
Eivind Opsvik, drummers
Blade and
Dan Weiss, pianist
Taborn, vibist
Kenny Wollesen,
Potter on tenor,
Akinmusire on trumpet, and
Gretchen Parlato on vocals.
The saxophonist returned to Criss Cross for 2013's acoustic
Lifted Land, featuring
Taborn,
Opsvik, and drummer
Tyshawn Sorey. The following year he switched it up with the electro-acoustic fusion outing
Anacapa. He then paired with guitarist
Adam Rogers for 2015's bop-centric
R&B, and assembled the
McCaslin-led band for
David Bowie's final album Blackstar in 2016. In 2017 he delivered the quartet date
The Time Verses for Criss Cross. 2018's Here & Now arrived as a digital-only release on Mythology. It found
Binney utilizing electronics and synths alongside his saxophone. That same year, he joined fellow reed players
David Liebman,
Donny McCaslin, and
Samuel Blais for Four Visions: Saxophone Quartet.
Ghost Note Records reissued Here & Now on vinyl in 2019, while
Binney issued a second digital date entitled Aerial in 2020. He performed vocals and all instruments on all but two tracks. A year later, he followed with the completely solo Aerial 2. In January 2022,
Binney reassembled his longstanding quartet with
Opsvik,
Taborn, and drummer
Dan Weiss to release
A Glimpse of the Eternal for Criss Cross. Its 12 tracks included group improvisations, compositions by all members, and covers of modern jazz tunes by
Vince Mendoza,
Jan Garbarek, and
Ralph Towner, as well as a closing read of the
Harry Warren standard, "I Had the Craziest Dream." ~ Michael G. Nastos & Thom Jurek