With "Cities and Desire," his second Criss Cross release, alto saxophonist-composer David Binney presents an intense, well-knit suite of compositions. These tracks are influenced by the sounds and signals he's absorbed while traveling through such cities as Lisbon, London, Toronto, Rome, Montreal, Miami, as well as his hometown (Los Angeles), his present home (New York), and his birthplace (the beach community of Carpenteria). Returning from "Bastion of Sanity" (CRC #1261), his inaugural Criss Cross session, are bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer-tablist Dan Weiss; tenor saxophonist Mark Turner and pianist Craig Taborn are creative foils par excellence.