By Suzanne Lorge | Published November 2019
London saxophonist Binker Golding has a way with a hook. And not just during his addictive, melody-driven solos or in his acoustic versions of broken-beat rhythm tracks, but when he writes the mischievous titles that describe his music. You might not understand what he means by Abstractions Of Reality Past And Incredible Feathers, but the music makes you want to find out.
Take “Exquisite She-Green,” with its intoxicating head, repeated against a bucking drum line. When Golding slips away into his sinuous solo, there’s no question that the melody will return, bigger and bolder than before. Likewise, on “Skinned Alive, Tasting Blood,” Golding lays out a motif—a scratchy, obdurate rhythm this time. Though only a few measures long, the insistent phrase grounds the tune in a recurring idea that the soloists push against. And just as you’re about to succumb to the hypnotic repetition of Golding’s blowing, an outside tone or a surprising movement will break the spell. These moments are important: To understand what Golding is saying, it helps to know what he’s leaving out.
Abstractions Of Reality Past And Incredible Feathers: I Forgot Santa Monica; Exquisite She-Green; Skinned Alive, Tasting Blood; … And I Like Your Feathers; You, That Place, That Time; Strange-Beautiful Remembered; Fluorescent Black. (46:47)
Personnel: Binker Golding, tenor saxophone; Joe Armon-Jones, piano; Daniel Casimir, bass; Sam Jones, drums.
