Reflecting upon his new acoustic quartet release, his 10th for the Dutch label Criss Cross, the saxophonist-composer David Binney notes, “[it’s] completely different than anything I’ve ever done – chilled out, an honest and pleasant vibe, nothing too complicated or intense.” Binney’s description is a relative one; although he’s Californian-reared and has returned there fairly recently having developed his prolific, uncompromised original work on the contemporary New York downtown scene, there’s not a lot that’s cool or West coast-y about his music.

However, A Glimpse of the Eternal is at opposite ends to Tomorrow’s Journey (a large ensemble recording I reviewed only last month in Jazzwise); it’s far more densely-organised and angular, and quite exhausting to listen to at times even for fans of his music. Here the form is conventionally jazz although the non-originals are a slightly unusual selection for an American jazz musician if it wasn’t Binney we were speaking about. From the Euro-jazz songbook comes Jan Garbarek’s Blue Sky’ and Ralph Towner’s ‘Nightfall’. On the Garbarek, the saxophonist’s airily pungent tone could be said to faintly evoke the legendary Norwegian’s at times while ‘Nightfall’ is a recorded highlight with its mantra-like feral-jazz lyricism. Vince Mendoza’s ballad, ‘Ambivalence’, is poignantly done while the composer-arranger’s ‘The Cat and the Moon’ is perfect material for the enigmatic harmonic approach of Craig Taborn, one of Binney’s closest collaborators over the last couple of decades. Taborn is on excellent form with some fascinating playing that’s both intriguingly otherworldly and animated.

The quartet are at their straight-ahead best on the closing standard ‘I heard the Craziest Dream’ on which Taborn’s sonically levitating piano seems to be suspended in both time and space, then Binney brings us crashing down to earth with a pulsating Trane-infused bop peppered with his expressive idiosyncrasies.