Welcome to Life

David Binney | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 1, 2004)
• Original Release Date: April 1, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mythology Records
• ASIN: B00020NTQA
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #440,641 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing., June 7, 2004

By 

AT - See all my reviews

This review is from: Welcome to Life (Audio CD)

The first time I heard SOUTH I could not stop listening to it for 3 months. The same thing has happened since I picked up this "side." I feel that Dave Binney's take on "jazz music" is a strong indication of where it is headed. His conception is inspiring. WELCOME TO LIFE is the next step. Dave has amazing chops, beautiful tone and incredible time. His compositions are singable, yet completely intricate and ingeniously crafted. On "Welcome To Life" he uses the same band that is on SOUTH with the exception of Craig Taiborn sitting in the place of the amazing Uri Caine. Craig fills Uri's shoes and then some. Chris Potter's solo on "Frez" is totally amazing. Adam Roger's slide guitar solo on Lisliel could be my favorite part on the album! Scott Colley is featured on Enchantress. Brian Blade...enough said. A must have for any music lover's collection.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars David Binney's Best CD Yet..., May 24, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Welcome to Life (Audio CD)

Once again, NY-based David Binney has collected some of the finest players in the jazz world on this stellar new album: Brian Blade on drums, Craig Taborn on keyboards, Scott Colley on bass, Adam Rogers on guitar, Chris Potter on tenor sax and Binney on alto sax. If you've liked his previous work--South, etc...--you're going to love this record. The songs, all composed by Binney, are amazing. They express a range of sounds and emotions from melodic to dissonant, from cerebral to whimsical. The music is truly exceptional and this group of musicians really brings it to life. This is new, this is different, this is not your traditional jazz music. It's fresh, honest, original, non-commercial. Bend your mind and ears--you won't be disappointed.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The death of jazz? I don't think so, June 17, 2004

By 

Jan P. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Welcome to Life (Audio CD)

With bands as melodically approachable and harmonically and rhythmically sophisticated as David Binney's, one scarcely need think about the "death of jazz." Along with people like the Jazz Composers Collective (Ben Allison, Michael Blake, Frank Kimbrough, et. al.), The Claudia Quintet, Mephista, John Wolf Brennan, Brad Mehldau, The Bad Plus, Stefon Harris, and countless others too numerous to name, jazz is in exceedingly good hands.

What I think the newer generation of hip, savvy jazz purveyors has done is found a way to map the basic jazz improvisatory aesthetic onto a variety of new and traditional musics--that is, basically do what jazz has always done: incorporate both authentic folk musics as well as progressive influences into its dizzying sphere of improvisational influence. It has stagnated precisely where it has failed in this integrative enterprise.

David Binney and his remarkable band are among the best at doing this. Each of these players (Craig Taborn, piano; Chris Potter, tenor sax; Adam Rogers, guitar; Scott Colley, bass; and Brian Blade, drums) is a band leader of significance in his own right. Together with leader Binney, they form a kind of Young Turk super group.

Really, this is where some of the most exciting music today is happening. Freed from the empty posturing, faux political agendas, and media pandering that plague various popular and alt music subgenres, first-order improvisational jazz, which is what we have here, enables the widest possible audience embrace.

Dig.