| Jazz |
Who could have imagined one day that the paths of Dutch pianist Pieternel van Oers and Chilean guitarist Miguel Castro would cross?
Of Chilean origin, Miguel Castro began studying guitar in various musical styles before joining a New Orleans music orchestra where he performed his first jazz scales. Coming to Paris in 2008 to settle there, he took guitar lessons from Romain Pilon (whose first opus, ‘The Romain Pilon/ David Prez’, released in 2005 was hailed as a ‘revelation’ by Jazz Magazine), before joining the Rouen Conservatory and working on the development of the “constellation festival” in partnership with Jazz à la Villette.
A brilliant guitarist and composer, Miguel Castro is one of those jazzmen who never stay on the same paths. He leads his own artistic projects as a composer and releases his first album, ‘Origin’, in 2021, collaborates with the Trio Baleine for the album ‘Chant’ released in 2022, he also accompanies and records the Franco-Haitian Carlton Rara’s fourth album as well as the album ‘Instant d’après-midi’ by Venezuelan singer Eliana Barreto, while playing jazz standards with his ‘Standards Trio’.
Born in 1986, Pieternel van Oers began studying classical piano at the age of 6 at the conservatory in the Netherlands. Then, driven by her passion for improvised music, she studied jazz piano and performed with several groups. Arriving in Paris in 2012, she taught piano and continued her studies of jazz and composition at the Bill Evans Piano Academy. To Pieternel, composition seemed obvious, the expression of a great passion. In recognition of her talent, she was awarded the first prize for composition at the Sunside Jazz Club trophies competition in 2021.
Today, Pieternel performs with her Pieternel van Oers Trio and plays with them her own compositions. A first album, ‘Dialogue’, was released in May 2023, and a second opus is in preparation, which Paris-Move will present to you, of course. Also present in another trio format, Pieternel is part of the Enodia Trio, with musicians Moeun Son on violin and Kolia Hiffler-Wittkowsky on drums.
For ‘East of the Moon’, Pieternel abandoned the trio formula for that of a duo. Of the 9 compositions on this album, Pieternel signs 5 and co-signs one with Miguel. The duo offers us timeless and refined jazz. A mixture of serenity, delicacy and intensity. The 9 titles performed on this side of the moon give you a feeling of tranquillity, melancholy and dreaminess. The album alternates between powerful moments and infinitely tender moments, alternating between smiles and tears, because with this duet no note will leave you indifferent.
Depending on the titles, the two instruments come together to play simultaneously on the chords and the melody, or allow one or the other to fade away, to return and embrace the other, like a couple of lovers.
Piano and guitar engage in dance steps perfectly interacting with each other, offering sublime flights making your eyes touch the stars of their musical firmament, when they don’t take you by the hand to go and wander with them on side roads, these paths where you can offer a kiss hidden from the gaze of others. Because everything here is tenderness, complicity, desire, sensuality and beauty of the living for the moment.
With Pieternel and Miguel, the result of this meeting we thought was unthinkable, impossible, is here with just a six-string and a few ivories. The sound, superbly loaded with emotional waves, is for us a kind of tribute to entire generations of musicians of all genres, all styles, who interpreted their sorrows, their hopes, their loves, their despair, their roots and their beliefs.
Simplicity itself, this album, without pretension and superfluous technical demonstration, borders on perfection. The touch of the ivories grabs your guts and that of the 6 strings takes you into a universe without limits, without borders, without constraints, absolute freedom.
The album is overflowing with poetry and sensitivity. It’s an intimate jazz, full of feeling, that the duo throws at you with this ‘East of the Moon’, the kind of thing that sticks to your heart and soul, inviting you to look at the moon, tonight, listening again and again to this album which we wish would never end.
And after listening to this album for the ninth listen time, I still l can’t find the words to describe the very strong emotional feeling that emanates from the nine tracks. So, I’m giving myself another listen, for the tenth time. An album filled with infinite and intense tenderness at the same time, captivating, unpretentious, where simplicity is the absolute rule.
A convincing, perfect, essential album!
A magical, magnificent, “must have” album!
Without a doubt one of the nine best albums of the year, and maybe this decade, and which deserves a ‘vinyl collector’ release.
PS: Let’s hope this ‘East of the Moon’ enjoys the same global success as another opus on this celestial body, ‘Dark Side of the Moon’.
Frankie Pfeiffer
Editor in chief – PARIS-MOVE
PARIS-MOVE, November 23rd 2024
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