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Nico Chientaroli - piano, percussion
Michael Moore - alto sax, clarinet
An intimate, improvised set of duo recordings featuring the piano of Nico Chientaroli and the sax and clarinet of Michael Moore. Four pieces, each named for a card game. Cou-cou — players are dealt just one card and may try and swap it with a neighbour. Noddy — players play in turn and add the values of the cards as they go. Rummy — the object is to acquire particular groups of matching cards before an opponent can do so. Old Maid — a game involving passing cards to your neighbour. Reviews "Featuring Nico Chientaroli on piano & percussion and Michael Moore on alto sax & clarinet. I hadn't heard of Buenos Aires-born, Amsterdam-based pianist Nico Chientaroli before this disc arrived, although Mr. Chientaroli does have a solo effort out on Creative Sources and has worked with Ziv Taubenfeld and Luis Vicente. Mr. Moore has released a handful of great duo sets over the past decade with pianists Achim Kaufmann, Alex Kaufmann & Alex Maguire and bassist Paul Berner. “Cou-cou (Yearning in the Castle)” opens with soft, haunting clarinet and the skeletal plucking or tapping of strings inside the piano. One of the things that I've always dug about Michael Moore is his ability to conjure musical ghosts or spirits that cut through certain distractions and come up with something pure or evocative or magical. His playing here is something special, playful, thoughtful, engaging but never too busy or difficult to endure. Mr. Chientaroli sounds like a perfect choice as a partner since he listens closely and always adds subtle ornamentation to whatever Moore comes up with. “Noddy (Discover Empathy)” is also subdued with the piano and alto sax moving slowly around one another in sympathetic balance. There is quite a bit of spaciousness here, a blank canvas that is carefully painted one or two strokes at a time with occasional bursts of activity. Things get more intense on “Rummy (All in Due Time)”, as both the clarinet and piano swirl around one another more quickly. The last piece, “Old Maid (All's Well)” has the duo erupting more at times, pushing each other higher while still using space more dramatically. I was wondering why this disc is called 'The Card Players' but I have an idea that the music is like a card game at times and depends on similar variables of chance and strategy in order to make it work. A most thoughtful endeavor is brought to life." Bruce Lee Gallanter/Downtown Music Gallery Nico Chientaroli & Michael Moore - The Card Players (Ramboy) "Rietblazer Michael Moore speelt graag duetten met pianisten. In zijn discografie vinden we albums terug met ..." |
