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A Glimpse of the Eternal is the tenth Criss Cross album by saxophonist and composer David Binney since 2005. Though Binney now lives in Los Angeles, he recorded this at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio in Astoria, New York, with longtime playing associates -- bassist Eivind Opsvik, drummer Dan Weiss, and pianist Craig Taborn. Binney's original plan was to record a ballads album comprised mostly of standards. His intention shifted during the process of research, leaving only one standard. He composed seven originals, covered two tunes by Vince Mendoza, and one each by pianist Michael Cain and ECM stalwarts Ralph Towner and Jan Garbarek. Despite the aesthetic change, A Glimpse of the Eternal stands apart in Binney's catalog. It's loose, laidback, and mostly straight-ahead with only occasional forays outside.
The set's 13 tracks are woven together like a dream cycle. Opener "Our Place" is introduced by Taborn's slow, moody, elliptical chord voicings before Weiss and Opsvik slide in alongside him. When Binney enters for the elegantly lyrical head, it hovers momentarily before shifting tempo slightly. Cain's "In a Way" walks a line between an airy bossa ballad and a lithe swinging post-bop tune, offering some of Binney's most intuitive, emotionally vulnerable playing that Taborn is only too happy to underscore with mid- and upper-register fills and accents. Mendoza's "Ambivalence" is a set highlight. Binney articulates the spacious, intimate melody in tandem with Taborn, whose embellishments shimmer. Weiss' stick work is malleable, allowing the lyric to enter his playing as Opsvik dances his bassline slowly in the margin. Binney's solo is blue, tender, and resonant as the band come close to soaring in the bridge. The composer's other number here, "The Cat and the Moon," is more complex and gently dramatic, but it's threaded through with an intimate lyricism displayed in the call-and-response lines between saxophonist and pianist while Opsvik becomes the turnstile for his bandmates. Garbarek's "Blue Sky," which offers a majestic use of a folk melody up front, betrays the Norwegian saxophonist's influence. Binney's playing is almost reverential in approach, but he adds enough of his inquisitive, exploratory self to transform the tune into a near anthem with help from a glorious solo by Opsvik and wonderfully expansive, melodic playing from Taborn. It's followed by Towner's "Nightfall." Opening with low-end arco from the bassist framed by Taborn's elliptical chords, Weiss adds heft with a syncopated martial snare. Binney flits through and across the melody, moving further afield as his bandmates urge him to travel deeper into Towner's mysterious harmonics. The title track is a lovely original ballad and one of the most intensely lyrical pieces Binney has ever composed. Closing standard "I Had the Craziest Dream" is a grooving midtempo swinger with a soaring saxophone solo amid walking bass, breaking snares, and luscious pianism from Taborn. A Glimpse of the Eternal is a delight from top to bottom. Its easy pace, breezy approach, and relaxed jam-session feel make it one of Binney's most welcoming and enjoyable offerings.
