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David Binney: David Binney: Lifted Land
Normally, Binney saves his more ambitious recordings for his own Mythology label, albums like 2011's career-defining Graylen Epicenter, with a cast of 12; true, Binney works with a far more manageable quartet for Lifted Land, but musically this is no simple head-solo-head blowing session. From the brief, through-composed opener, "Fanfare for Basu," its initial, near-impossibly knotty lines morphing into a section of
Steve Reich
composer / conductorb.1936
Binney's quartet is a mix of old and new:
Craig Taborn
pianob.1970
Tim Berne
saxophone, altob.1954
Dave Holland
bassb.1946
Eivind Opsvik
bassOnly
Tyshawn Sorey
drumsb.1980
Dan Weiss
drums
Brian Blade
drumsb.1970
Which is a good thing; Lifted Land may have its fair share of Binney's challenging compositional work, but there's also some unexpected, completely free improvisation to be found. "The Blue Whale," the album's second-longest track, opens with an oblique bass solo that ultimately resolves into a supporting double-stop ostinato which, supported by Sorey's light but busy cymbal work, leads to a relatively simple melody (in Binney terms, that is), opening up to an alto solo that gradually unfolds, beginning with long-held whole notes but slowly gaining in speed and intensity—pushed, pulled and prodded by Opsvik, Sorey and, especially, Taborn, who underscores the saxophonist's work with contrapuntal combinations of abstract lines and dense voicings. The whole quartet ultimately turns incendiary as Binney then leaves Taborn to turn the heat up even further, creating a kaleidoscopic panorama of angular lines and block chords, as he ever-so-slowly moves towards an anthemic theme doubled by Binney and another ostinato that, this time, provides the space for Sorey to deliver a solo of tumultuous power and maelstrom-like energy.
But the centerpiece of Lifted Land is the tune that precedes "The Blue Whale." A significant reduction of an extended composition that Binney performed as an entire show at New York's Rubin Museum of Art in the fall of 2011, "As Snow Before a Summer Sun" is still over eighteen minutes in length, and in many ways is a consolidation of everything Binney has been about to date. Opening in a dark place, with a short melodic intro leading to Opsvik's brief a cappella, arco solo, space is a key partner here; after another brief melodic group passage, the only sound heard is a single gong that, for nearly a minute, is gradually processed and panned across the entire soundstage, leading to a similar thirty-second exploration of a single cymbal before fading nearly to black, but with Sorey working a combination of hand percussion, gongs, cymbals and a bass drum that, rubbed with a wetted finger, evokes a deep glissando. Revealing the entire section to be a percussion solo—one more orchestral in nature and, with so much taking place at low volumes, the complete antithesis of a typical drum solo.
Another brief group passage leads to another a cappella solo, this time from Binney, whose command, not just of harmony and melody, but of tone and texture, underscores a feature that, like his previous partners' solos, makes space and decay fundamental partners. With Taborn contributing a similarly brooding solo, it's not hard to see how the piece could be expanded to full-set length. Binney claims, in occasional All About Jazz contributor David Adler's informative liners, that ..."other than [a few sections that are difficult], the stuff is really not that hard." Begging to differ, just because the chart itself isn't particularly tough doesn't mean just anyone can bring it to life, whether here for 18 minutes, or in concert for triple or quadruple that length.
Elsewhere, the title track begins as a Binney ballad, which means that it may be gentle, but it's far from predictable. As Sorey and Opsvik gradually pick up the pace, so, too, does Binney's melody turn more stratospheric, leading to a 5/8 solo section for Taborn that's a focused contrast to his earlier unfettered abstractions on "The Blue Whale." When Binney reenters for a thematic reiteration it once again turns to an ostinato over which Sorey thunders and roars before a sudden signal to stop leads to an unexpectedly idiosyncratic line which, yet again, belies Binney's suggestion that this music is "not that hard."
"Curious About Texas" leads to some of Lifted Land's most flat-out aggressive free play, while "Losing the Central Valley" shifts from an appealing melody couched in a more complex context that, once again, leads to a freely improvised passage with cued segments that lend it an umbrella of form. In an unprecedented move for a Binney recording where he's the sole leader, the saxophonist leaves Taborn to close the record with "Red Cloud," an improvised a cappella solo that further explores Taborn's ability to think compositionally, even when he's in completely uncharted territory. Not unlike his own Avenging Angel, Taborn takes a single motivic idea and builds an entire—and entirely compelling—piece around it.
Lifted Land represents Binney at his absolute freest...and his most unequivocal, uncompromising best. Always a powerful and inventive soloist, it's not that he hasn't worked in this context before, having ventured into liberated territory on Out of Airplanes (which, also featuring Opsvik and Taborn, perhaps explaining why he chose to recruit them for Lifted Land) and South (ACT, 2002) In both cases, however, they were merely brief contrasts—more like palette cleansers—to the more structure-based compositions that ultimately defined them. With Lifted Land Binney doesn't just release himself more liberally from the shackles of structure when the spirit moves him, he throws them away entirely on a recording whose compositional excellence is as revelational as its even vaster terrain, where the unexpected lurks around every corner and rests in every nook and cranny—discovered and further explored by a quartet unerringly worthy of the trust, required by Binney, to comfortably document it in the space of but a single day's session space. ">
Track Listing
01. Fanfare for Basu; 02. The Road to Your House; 03. As Snow Before A Summer Sun; 04. The Blue Whale; 05 Curious About Texas; 06. Lifted Land; 07. Losing the Central Valley; 08. Red Cloud (C.Taborn). Composizioni di David Binney tranne quelle indicate.
Personnel
Album information
Title: Lifted Land | Year Released: 2013 | Record Label: Criss Cross
Tags
David Binney
Extended Analysis
John Kelman
Two for the Show Media
Criss Cross
United States
New York
New York City
Steve Reich
Craig Taborn
Tim Berne
Dave Holland
Eivind Opsvik
Tyshawn Sorey
Dan Weiss
Brian Blade
David Adler
David Binney: Lifted Land
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