Open ears will revel in the dialogues that mark this offering from the bassist who came to prominence with the chamber jazz virtuosos Oregon. The program offers two complementary settings for Moore: duets with oud master Rabih Abou-Kahlil, and quartets with Carla Bley on organ, Steve Swallow on bass guitar and Arto Tuncboyaciyan on percussion and vocals. The duets give Moore a chance to run through his astonishing range of bass voices, from deeply resonant arco double-stops to ringing harmonics, from fleet melodic flights to extra-musical scribblings texturing the edge of a performance. The telepathy between Moore and Abou-Kahlil is deeply satisfying. The quartet pieces range as widely, from a village ringing with joy (“It Takes a Village”) to a spring fling at the dog pound (the ominously hilarious “Mayday”). Bley comes through with the wry musings we know and love from her own dates, and Swallow is ever the lyrical, fluid and imaginative soloist. Tuncboyaciyan is a fount of taste and imagination, adding depth and soul to the proceedings.
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