Modarelli, Macsween, Moore Trio

The Moore / Mod­arelli / Mac­Sween trio are an excit­ing new col­lab­or­a­tion between three of the North’s most ver­sat­ile musi­cians. Formed in the summer of 2010, they ori­gin­ally col­lab­or­ated in order to explore world folk music through the con­text of jazz and west­ern instru­ment­a­tion. A par­tic­u­lar influ­ence on the trio has been that of Hindus­tani clas­sic­al music, which all three of the musi­cians have indi­vidu­ally explored through years of study with renowned Indian master musi­cians, and extens­ive travel to North India for the pur­pose of study and per­form­ance. The chal­lenge of over­com­ing the lim­it­a­tions inher­ent in west­ern instru­ments when present­ing Indian music, has led the trio to find an innov­at­ive new approach to play­ing both jazz and Indian clas­sic­al music, and their music­al­ity and ver­satilty, as well as their strong com­pos­i­tion­al ideas, has been the cata­lyst required to pre­vent this fusion becom­ing pre­dict­able and cliched. Other strong folk influ­ences on the group’s sound include Itali­an folk music, native to Giuli­ano Mod­arelli, and Mac­Sween’s inter­pret­a­tion of West-Afric­an kora music on the piano, as well as a clear East­ern-European gypsy influ­ence. The trio’s appeal is in their abil­ity to com­bine their influ­ences in a modest, open and music­al way, using the know­ledge and wisdom of past music to inform exit­ing new sounds.