London composer Binker Golding has a way with a hook. And not just during his addictive, melody-driven sax solos or in his acoustic versions of broken beat rhythm tracks, but when he writes the mischievous titles that describe his music. You may not understand what he means by Abstractions of Reality Past and Incredible Feathers, the title of his new release on Gearbox Records, but the music makes you want to find out.
Take “Exquisite She-Green,” with its intoxicating head, repeated against a bucking drum line throughout the tune. When Golding slips away into his sinuous solo, there’s no question that this melody will return, bigger and bolder than before. Likewise, on “Skinned Alive, Tasting Blood,” Golding lays out a motif—a scratchy, obdurate rhythm this time. Though only a few measures long, this insistent phrase grounds the tune in a recurring idea that the soloists push against; this defiance leads to the some of the sweetest chords on the release.
Without question, Golding’s quartet—pianist Joe Armon-Jones, bassist Daniel Casimir, and drummer Sam Jones—serve as a fitting foil for the horn player’s musical phantasms. For instance, on “…And I Like Your Feathers,” the most subdued of the seven tracks on the album, the group coalesces around Golding’s simple theme and its variations—gliding, dipping, soaring. In this case, restraint makes a stronger musical statement than abandon.
But for a group foray into harder jazz forms, listen to “Strange Beautiful Remembered” or “Florescent Edges with Black,” with their bop riffs and jagged rhythms during solos. Just as you’re about to succumb to the hypnotic repetition of Golding’s blowing, an outside tone or a surprising movement will break the spell. These moments are important here: To understand what Golding is saying, it helps to know what he’s leaving out.—Suzanne Lorge
Abstractions of Reality Past and Incredible Feathers: I Forgot Santa Monica; Exquisite She-Green; Skinned Alive, Tasting Blood; …And I Like Your Feathers; You, That Place, That Time; Strange-Beautiful Remembered; Fluorescent Black. (46:47)
Personnel: Binker Golding, tenor saxophone; Joe Armon-Jones, piano; Daniel Casimir, bass; Sam Jones, drums.
(Reprinted from the November 2019 issue of Downbeat magazine)