An Honest Tune August 2002 August 2002 Vol. 4, number 1 Review by Tom Speed Though best known for his turns as the bass player for Fiji Mariners and BlueGround UnderGrass, Joseph Patrick Moore presents here on his third solo release nothing but his bass-fifteen tracks that touch on jazz, rock, and classical music. Most of the tracks were written by Moore but he also includes some interesting cover selections such as the Police’s MASOKO TANGA. Alone Together features Moore on upright acoustic and electric basses with overdubs and samples and whatever else it takes to make it work. Listening to this record, one gets the feeling of being invited into Moore’s living room for a long musical conversation that lasts well into the night.
It’s a must for bass players but is also an excellent record that captures an amazing performer and his craft. Double Bassist – August 2002 Autumn #22 Review by Malcolm Creese Double Bassist Website This is an extraordinary album of bass-only music by a highly talented and versatile American player. Joseph Patrick Moore visits classical, jazz and pop genres in this showcase collection, most of the 15 short titles are his, and he employs a myriad of studio devices to achieve a surprisingly complete sound. There are delays, loops, harmonics, echoes, multi-tracking and synthesizer effects. Moore is a fine player on double bass, bass guitar with and without frets and even the occasional vocal. The bottom end is obviously well catered for, but he higher registers are also there in abundance, and with accuracy and clarity. Heaven knows how many strings the various bass guitars have (lots!), but the music never sounds muddy or bottom-heavy. Moore’s fretless playing is reminiscent of the great Jaco Pastorius‘ impact on the fretless bass was so overwhemling that it is difficult not to sound like him on this instrument. Moore dedicates a track to some others who influenced him – including Dave Holland and Ron Carter – and his choice of a song by Sting gives another clue as to his list of mentors. As an extra bonus the funky Bobby McFerrin track Drive is included on the CD in video format, where the youthful Moore gives a solo bass guitar performance in what looks like his living room. CD Title: Alone Together Year: 2002 Record Label: Root Cellar Record Style: Free Jazz / Avante Garde Review By: Wendy E. Ross Review: Joseph Patrick Moore’s third solo CD, Alone Together, is an intriguing mixture of Jazz, Funk, Classical and Soul. It draws you in slowly, enchanting you with varieties of mood and space. Moore creates and populates whole landscapes with impressionistic sound. He is probably best known for his stints as a member of BlueGround UnderGrass and Col. Bruce Hampton & The Fiji Mariners. The title cut convincingly holds it’s anchor spot, despite being the next to the last cut on the CD. Alone Together is vibratingly slow and beautiful. It’s as if Moore were blindly brailling, his bass. Moore claims this cut as his interpretation of the Dietz/Schwartz jazz standard. The thought of being ‘alone together’ with his instrument served as the inspiration for this title and for the whole album. The cut begins with western flavor, the music heavy with foreboding. It’s like the main street of a deserted gold rush town, after the mine has shutdown. In the distance storm clouds gather and the few residents left, hide indoors as if expecting the storm to blow in an outlaw along with the rain. The notes fall like leftover raindrops down a windowpane or like a single tear, sliding down a hot dusty cheek. Cuts one and four, Waterfall and Fall, balance each other in equal and opposing measure. Waterfall has a classical, almost baroque sound, ponderous, but at the same time soaring with lighter pizzicato notes. Moore’s liner quotes speak of a waterfall being forceful yet mysterious, and that if you look closely, you can see a rainbow through the mist. Fall according to Moore, is about his favorite season of morphing color, rededication, and renewal. The bass holds full- throated, falling notes, evoking the warm, rich colors with a lush, multi-layered sound. He draws the notes out as if wanting to linger over them and not let them go. On the cuts, Landscape, Prayer of Solitude, Masoko Tanga the bass has an Asian sound; one can almost hear a Koto and sometimes even a gong. The beginning of Landscape is other- worldly, bringing to mind a lunar terrain. Moore’s inspiration for the song was a desolate swamp, but in the distance he could see the most glorious sunset. Cut five and six, Sooner Or Later and Bobby McFerrin‘s Drive are fun and funky. There’s a heavy beat, but also a whimsical humor. It’s a journey with various adventures along the way passing pastures with cows, one minute and ending up in a biker pub the next. Qui-Es Tu Marie-Jeanne is a gorgeous sonorous tune, with classical leanings. The pensive searching chorus evokes the impression of nymphet in chiffon floral dress running barefoot through the winter bare gardens of a historic mansion searching for what was once there, but is now gone. Significant musicians and events inspired several cuts on the CD. Bebop Charlie, a bold rooster strut of a tune is dedicated to Charlie ‘Yardbird’ Parker, and reminiscent of his style, Pause # 4, dedicated to Ron Carter, Dave Holland, Victor Wooten, and Bill Frisell gallops, with enough ‘airs above the ground’ to make a Lippizaner Stallion look like Pegasus. The track Numb, was a reaction to September 11th. The opening crashes in like the dissonant buzz of a TV channel with bad reception. White noise? It certainly is numbing. The final cut Offering, speaks of the unique gift each person has to give the world. New age dissonant, with whispered ghost like poet-speak vocals, it’s hauntingly repetitive and querulous. I’d definitely recommend Moore’s latest CD. This is not background music but an adventure that leads one on a journey of introspection. It’s disturbing, in that instead of sending you to sleep, it would be more likely to stir your creative juices. Take a listen and see if you have the courage to be ‘Alone Together’. Bass Player Magazine July 2002 BP Recommends Review by Greg Olwell Bass Player Magazine A real bass solo record featuring nothing but Moore and his multi-tracked basses. JPM employs a huge range of tones and techniques, and with chops and songwriting as varied as his, this isn’t just another CD of look at me skills. Bassists and bass fanatics should find much to salivate over on Joseph Patrick Moore’s all-bass solo CD, Alone Together. Moore performs all the basses here, more often than not multi-tracking himself with various accompaniment on different basses; he is technically proficient on both acoustic double bass and the myriad electric kinds. Interestingly, Moore even creates rhythm tracks with the various clicks and taps he generates from the bass strings, as is evident on his cover of The Police’s “Masoko Tanga.” The music is resolutely jazz-based, but also features funk, rock, classical, world, modern atonal, and soul styles. Many of the songs lean toward the avant-garde and feature fuzzy soundscapes and impressionist textures, even when Moore attacks a standard such as the album’s namesake. Despite the impressive technical and creative abilities Moore showcases here, there is an insular quality to the recording, almost as if he made the album as a personal experiment he could control completely with no outside input. This makes for a beautiful if somewhat preconceived and clinical listen. Nonetheless, a project this ambitious and unique is worth checking out. - Matt Collar c/o AllMusic.com
Nashville Music Guide May 2002 7 out of 7 stars Review by Brad Fischer It seems I’m tripping instrumentally this month. This Root Cellar Records release of bassist Joseph Patrick Moore is a definite must for any record collection. The fifteen song CD is an eclectic mix of jazz, funk, classical and soul that is most inspirational in a musical sense. Part of the fun is figuring on which cuts is Moore playing which bass…acoustic, electric or fretless. Scheduled for release on June 18, 2002, the enhanced CD also includes a free Multimedia Musical portion which includes a special video performance of Bobby Mcferrin‘s DRIVE, and many extras. Check it out! Bassically.net May 2002 Review by Cliff Engel Drawing from a deep pool of jazz, funk, classical, and soul influences, Joseph Patrick Moore has delievered his third outing as a solo act with Alone Together. Moore’s latest project is comprised of eleven original compositions and four skillfully arranged covers from artists such as Bobby McFerrin and The Police. As an electric/acoustic doubler, Moore has successfully combined the best of both bass worlds while utilizing only the sounds of electric fretted, fretless, and acoustic upright basses. This effort finds Moore in solo, duo, and trio settings with perfectly orchestrated, multi-layered bass loops using both electric and acoustic basses can work together within the structure of a single piece of music in a completely coherent fashion. I can’t recall ever hearing this form of instrumentation being documented so well and convincingly. From tapping, slapping, harmonic, and chordal techniques on his electric basses to bowed, pizzicato, and walking chops on his upright bass, Moore proves he is more than totally proficient in each area. However, don’t let all of his dazzling technical displays distract you from the music and emotional content he is able to create as a result of his chops.
Bottom Line: With his previous two solo projects, Joseph Patrick Moore set the standard and firmly established himself as one of today’s up-and-coming premier bass artists. Now, with his dominating command of both acoustic and electric instruments on Alone Together, Moore has raised the bar yet again and demonstrated that he is one of the brightest electric/acoustic doublers on the scene today. Independent Music – May 2002 Review by John Scalzi Bassist Joseph Patrick Moore has put together a contemporary music album of all bass – not just bass as the highlighted instrument, but all bass all the time. However, he mixes up the bass sounds by using upright acoustic bass, picked and bowed, eletric bass, and electronically processed bass to create a whole spectrum of noise, in several genres of music, from ambient-like to jazzy. At its best (album opener WATERFALL) it creates a sonically-arresting space. At its least effective, it’s elevator music (note to JPM: Nice of you to cover Bobby McFerrin‘s DRIVE, but while you are a fine bassist, you’re really not a singer). Fortunately, there are rather more good moments than bad ones. Bassists in particular should enjoy this album as example of what their uderappreciated instrument can do, the rest of us can simply enjoy Moore’s ability to turn a single instrument into an entire band’s worth of sound
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