Noah Kaplan, Giacomo Merega, Joe Moffett - Crows and Motives (2014)

A fascination with traditional counterpoint applied to contemporary improvisation is the departure point from which the trio-- Noah Kaplan (saxophones); Giacomo Merega (electric bass); Joe Moffett (trumpet)-- explores textures of 16th century polyphony through microtonal jazz. The hidden source, Josquin's Missa L'homme arme is abstracted in slipping glimpses of melancholy strains and dynamic unisons.

These tracks...seem to pry open the suspension, making it wider, longer, deeper imagine we have been given a sonic microscope so we can focus in on the tiny spaces between musical tones, and a time machine so we can slow these tones down and take the time to fully inspect them... As the crow dives down to take a closer look, the tiny cracks along the tectonic seam the little bits of earth that keep the plates from sliding reveal their beautiful details... and their frictional significance.
--Dan Trueman (excerpt from Crows and Motives liner notes)