Binker and Moses new album due 28 July 2017
Album release: 'Journey To The Mountain Of Forever' by Binker and Moses
Release date: 28 July 2017
Label: Gearbox Records
More info: Band website
Binker Golding and Moses Boyd are a semi-free jazz saxophone and drums duo. They are among the frontrunners of a loose yet interconnected group of London-based jazz musicians that are influenced by the music that surrounds them, including grime, hip-hop and electronica as well as jazz. Like their US counterparts, they’re connecting with a new, younger audience.
Born either side of the Thames - Binker north in Edmonton, Moses south in Catford – the pair met eight years ago and toured extensively as members of Zara McFarlane’s band, recording three albums for Giles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings. It was during the onstage sound checks with McFarlane that Binker and Moses started developing their duo improvisations, eventually bringing the idea of recording them to the attention of Gearbox Records, the vinyl-led record label and vinyl mastering studio.
Their debut album, 'Dem Ones', kickstarted a sensational period for the duo, earning them a string of awards including Best Jazz Act at the 2015 MOBO Awards and two wins at the Jazz FM Awards 2016: UK Jazz Act of the Year and Breakthrough Act of the Year. They were also voted Jazz Newcomer of the Year at the 2016 Parliamentary Jazz Awards.
From the beginning Binker and Moses have been building a strong young audience base performing in the more intimate rooms away from the traditional jazz venues, such as Brilliant Corners in Dalston and Deptford’s Job Centre as well in bookshops, cafes and record stores. In these situations they can play without amplification, often ‘in the round’ and facing each other, drawing the audience in to their uninterrupted sets that continually ebb and flow, building to tremendously powerful crescendos.
'Journey to the Mountain of Forever' is a two record set: the first disc features the duo on their own, while on the second they are joined by the great UK free jazz saxophonist Evan Parker, trumpeter Byron Wallen, harpist Tori Handsley, tabla player Sarathy Korwar and drummer Yussef Dayes.
At 31 years of age Binker Golding has already been playing saxophone for 23 years. He studied jazz at Middlesex University and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he completed his Master’s Degree. He has learned from and played alongside many great saxophonists including Steve Williamson, Jason Yarde, Denis Baptiste and Gilad Atzmon. Binker is the Musical Director of the TW Youth Orchestra and has composed concert repertoire and conducted the Nu Civilisation Orchestra. Binker also plays in Moses’ band Exodus, and performed with Kano at last years Mercury Prize.
26 year old Moses Boyd only started playing music in his teens, but within a few short years was performing in Denys Baptiste’s quartet at the Royal Festival Hall. Moses was the 2014 Worshipful Company of Music’s Young Jazz Musician of the Year and won the John Peel ‘Play More Jazz’ Award at the 2016 Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards. He has worked and collaborated with artists including Lonnie Liston Smith, Ed Motta, Little Simz, Four Tet, Floating Points, Sampha, Gilles Peterson. He leads his own outfits The Exodus and Solo Exodus which infuse jazz, grime and electronica influences. Moses also produces and releases music on his own Exodus Records label. During this incredibly busy period Moses still found the time to graduate from Trinity Laban with a BMus (Hons) Jazz Drums in 2016.