Marked by an adventurous, harmonically fluid style, alto saxophonist
David Binney has established himself as a true original and critically acclaimed performer in progressive jazz. Emerging in the late '80s after earning a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, he released his debut album, 1991's Point Game. From there, he has collaborated on projects with such similarly inclined luminaries as
Chris Potter,
Donny McCaslin, and
Uri Caine. A prolific artist, he founded his own Mythology label, and has continued to earn critical attention, including winning three Down Beat Critics Polls for alto saxophone.
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. In 1989 he was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, 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. He started his own record label, Mythology, yielding the albums
Free to Dream and the first
Lan Xang CD (1998), as well as
Welcome to Life (2004) and
Out of Airplanes (2006). The 2001 recording South for the ACT label brought
Binney's collaboration with
Potter to full fruition.
He's also led sessions for the Criss Cross label on
Bastion of Sanity (2005) and
Cities and Desire (2006), and for the Italian Red label on
Afindad (2001) and
Fiestas de Agosto (2005), while
Lan Xang issued a second disc for the Naxos label in 2000. A follow-up on ACT,
Balance (2002), found
Binney teamed again with
McCaslin. More highly regarded albums followed on Criss Cross, including 2010's Aliso, 2013's
Lifted Land, and 2014's
Anacapa. He then paired with guitarist
Adam Rogers for 2015's
R&B, and in 2017 he delivered the quartet date
The Time Verses. ~ Michael G. Nastos