Criss Cross Jazz new releases January 2022

CRISS 1408 CD  DAVID BINNEY - A GLIMPSE OF THE ETERNAL -

The tenth Criss Cross album with David Binney’s imprimatur, A Glimpse of the Eternal, is, he says, “completely different than anything I’ve ever done – chilled out, an honest and pleasant vibe, nothing too complicated or intense.”

If that self-description seems at odds with the intense, complex tonal personality that Binney has presented on his 30-album discography since 1990 ... well, that was his intention. He explains: “Initially, I wanted to do something like those almost commercial records from the ’50s or ’60s or ’70s, like a Gene Ammons record I have where he plays these ballad- like tunes for 2½ - 3 minutes.” He adds: “All the guys were super-enthusiastic about doing a straight-ahead ballads record.”

But as Binney researched and culled repertoire, he changed course. He decided to incorporate a few “more energetic” tracks and to record some covers of “obscure tunes that meant something to me.”

CRISS 1409 CD  MISHA TSIGANOV - MISHA'S WISHES -

Misha Tsiganov, who lived in Leningrad in the former Soviet Union until he emigrated to the U.S. in 1991, at 25, has never shied away from a challenge. That’s apparent from the levels of complexity that Tsiganov embeds in the 18 arrangements and 9 originals on his three prior Criss Cross albums – The Artistry of the Standard (Criss 1367), Spring Feelings (Criss 1384), and Playing With The Wind (Criss 1401).

As written in the liner notes for Spring Feelings, Tsiganov has established “a signature blend of mixed meters, shifting tempos, changing keys and reharmonization that he deploys in order to insure ‘that something is happening always, so the listener doesn’t fall asleep.’”