Dave Binney’s Welcome To Life

Dave Binney-alto sax/Mark Turner-tenor sax
Adam Rogers-Guitar/ Craig Taborn-Piano
Scott Colley-Bass/Brian Blade-Drums

"A strikingly original composer, bandleader and conceptualist." - Downbeat

“A performance of extraordinary flexibility and invention.” – The Irish Times

“Judge a man’s nobility by the company he keeps”, says the Greek classical playwright Euripides, and as far as jazz is concerned, it never applied more forcefully than here. Few musicians could assemble a pool of talent as illustrious as this, but such is the regard in which the world’s leading players hold saxophonist and composer Dave Binney.

The clear incentive for players of the calibre of Brian Blade, Craig Taborn, Adam Rogers, Mark Turner and Scott Colley, each pillars of creativity in their own right, is Binney’s brilliant and wholly original music. He is a musician who embodies the dictum of ‘jazz as the sound of surprise’, his unique compositions morph across all manner of musical genres, from elliptical funk to washes of electronica, always tempered by a genuine lyricism. Unencumbered by the burden of jazz history, yet clearly steeped in it, Binney conjures up multifaceted music that succeeds on every level, poised between eclecticism and purity, access and intrigue.

Prior to his previous Dublin visit in spring 04, Dave Binney may have been something of an enigma to Irish audiences, but the word is out now on a musician who is unquestionably one of the most original forces at work in jazz today. If you’re in any doubt, just ask the other members of Welcome To Life.