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Cretan Dialogues - Michael Moore's 'Fragile' Quartet

by Michael Moore's 'Fragile' Quartet

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about

Now a decade old, Michael Moore’s Fragile Quartet was created in an effort to bring two generations of Dutch and American expat musicians together. Moore and drummer Michael Vatcher already had long affiliations with the Dutch free jazz scene during the 1980s with their Instant Composers Pool associates. The introduction of the younger pianist Harmen Fraanje and bassist Clemens van der Feen was an intriguing way to develop and enliven new music that Moore wrote for Quartet.

Fraanje and van der Feen met the challenge head on. Both are products of the jazz conservatory system but maintained a healthy and open outlook toward improvisation, not to mention their own eclectic musical interests outside of jazz, including modern classical and music of African Pygmy tribes.

The music for Cretan Dialogues was written while Moore was on vacation in Crete. Some of the pieces take inspiration from the local mythology. Moore’s approach to composition allows the music to grow once it is being performed. Most of the pieces for the Fragile Quartet are simple miniatures, easy to build upon, so while they were being recorded, a number of pieces grew fluidly from one another into sorts of suites or medleys. The rest of the pieces are compact, singular statements that feature the musicians developing the themes further through group play and solo statements.

The recording was made in mid-February 2019 at one of the theaters run by a fantastic artists collective in Amsterdam called Splendor. Moore’s longtime friend Gerry Hemingway was invited to take the drum chair as Vatcher was away in the United States.

The recording begins with “Cretan Dialogues #1” and “Cretan Dialogues #2,” two long medleys that tie three shorter compositions together. The first combines “Lolapalooza,” azure-inflected “Fenix Blue” and “The Meliae,” named for Greek nymphs, into an understated suite that highlights Moore’s crooning alto and van der Feen’s gorgeous bass work. The second suite features Moore on clarinet over a tribute to Zeus’s love “Europa,” the meditatively slow-moving “Doldrums” and “Leaving Paleochora,” a sad departure from a lovely Cretan village.

Two flora-inspired pieces come next via “Eugenia Unifora,” a quiet yet intense Brazilian waltz, and “Pussy Willow,” a stirring ballad led by Fraanje’s piano and subtle alto. “Content (for Saul Leiter)” is a strident but beautiful tribute to the great photographer, which leads to “Faint of Heart,” a coy tone poem spoken on a breeze. “A Little Box of Jazz” is as cleverly elusive as its name suggests, the instruments weaving to avoid capture. The program closes with the brief but unforgettable “Slowly, Slowly,” a piece made to leave one wanting more.

Moore’s Fragile Quartet is a perfect vehicle for his beautiful short compositions and, using the example of the singularly gorgeous island of Crete as a muse, Cretan Dialogues colors the miniatures in Mediterranean blue.

credits

released October 2, 2020

Michael Moore - alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, melodica, compostiions, Haarmen Fraanje - piano, Clemens van der Feen - bass, Gerry Hemingway - drums, percussion. Recorded 13 & 14 February @ Splendor, Amsterdam by Marc Schots, mastered by Frank van der Weij, artwork Isabelle Vigier

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about

Michael Moore Amsterdam, Netherlands

Michael Moore (1954, Eureka, California, USA) is a saxophone & clarinet player active primarily in Europe and North America playing creative jazz and improvised musics. He leads his own ensembles, works with the Instant Composers Pool Orchestra and many others, collaborates with dancers, teaches music at the Conservatories of Amsterdam and Groningen in the Netherlands and produces recordings. ... more

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