Criss Cross Jazz new releases February 2017

CRISS 1392 CD  DAVID BINNEY - THE TIME VERSES -

For his eighth date for Criss Cross as a leader or co-leader, alto saxophonist-composer David Binney documents the quartet with which he most frequently works in New York City (pianist Jacob Sacks, bassist Eivind Opsvik, and drummer Dan Weiss) for the first time since the 2009 recording Aliso.

It's an episodic, thematically cohesive, 65-minute suite on which Binney and his upper-echelon bandmates solo through the shifting moods and environments -- tracking his responses to the diurnal cycle -- with characteristic inspiration and derring-do.

CRISS 1393 CD  DAVID GILMORE - TRANSITIONS -

On his Criss Cross leader debut, Transitions, guitarist David Gilmore pays tribute to recently deceased masters Bobby Hutcherson, Toots Thielemans and Victor Bailey, the legendary trumpeter Woody Shaw, and living elders Annette Peacock and Hermeto Pascoal, by interpreting their music along with two original compositions.

Joined by a top-shelf New York quartet comprising tenor saxophonist Mark Shim, pianist Victor Gould, bassist Carlo DeRosa and drummer E.J. Strickland (vibraphonist Bill Ware plays on Hutcherson's "Farallone"; harmonicist Gregoire Maret plays on Thieleman's "Bluesette"), Gilmore navigates both the acoustic and plugged-in spaces with equal fluency, showcasing his lovely sound, improvisational prowess and focused intention within an array of stylistic formats.

A glimpse at Gilmore's distinguished discography (it includes four prior leader records, and consequential sideman stints with -- to name a short list -- Steve Coleman, Wayne Shorter, and Meshell Ndegeocello, as well as more recent Criss Cross dates with Donald Edwards [Criss 1365 ; Criss 1386] and Boris Kozlov [Criss 1389]), gives a sense of the breadth and accomplishment of this bracing recital.