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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Charnett Moffett’S ‘Treasure’
In stores June 8, 2010
For musicians, compositions are precious reflections of the soul – aural snapshots of emotions, reflections and conceptions covering broad swaths of human expression and experience. Each offering allows the musician a new opportunity to communicate on varying wavelengths - conscious and subconscious, simple and complex, spiritual and intellectual. Over the course of a fascinating career that began at a very young age, the virtuosic Charnett Moffett has reached profound musical depths and expanded the possibilities of jazz composition and performance through his creative imagination using his instruments as his voice. His approach to music making and recording can be challenging and unorthodox. Yet the rewards for taking on those challenges are often awe-inspiring, revelatory - and can elevate mere songs to Treasure, the title of Charnett’s second project for Motéma Music and his eleventh as a leader.
Treasure offers a thematic yang to the yin of his critically acclaimed Motema debut, The Art of Improvisation, which came out in 2009. While Treasure shares the eclecticism and some of the Asian and Middle Eastern influences of The Art of Improvisation, the newer release palpably concentrates an emphasis on the swing and pulse that has earned Moffett standing ovations throughout his career as one of the most highly regarded bassists in jazz.
Moffett uses a three-pointed musical arsenal to express his distinct musicality on Treasure: his upright acoustic bass, his fretless electric bass and his electric piccolo bass. Each has its own sonic spectrum which he further expands through his virtuosic bow-tapping and hand plucking techniques, and through the use of a select bag of electronic tricks which allow his boundless imagination to find just the right tone and feeling for each bass in each song. His unorthodox and emotionally charged approach to jazz has earned Moffett high praise from fans and critics alike. “Charnett Moffett is an undisputed bass champion, a musician’s musician,” remarked Audiophile Audition Magazine. “His playing on electric and acoustic basses has a grounded, vocal quality,” was the word from All About Jazz, while Details Magazine, in a rare jazz review commented “One of jazz’s top instrumentalists, Charnett Moffett is a hypnotic performer … [his] acidy version of "The Star Spangled Banner would have made Jimi Hendrix weep." In fact Moffett has built a career on using the bass in a much wider capacity than virtually any other bassist in jazz. “I remember as a youngster playing improvised solo bass for family and friends. This allowed me to express my creative abilities using the bass as a lead instrument from early on," Charnett explains. "It wasn't until I got older that I realized the bass was primarily a support instrument! Not knowing this allowed me to develop my voice as a bassist more fully than I might have otherwise."
On Treasure, Charnett explores both the inner and outer limits of jazz composition, through various formats: solo and duo works that benefit from his rhythmic dexterity and melodic strength on the upright bass; several iterations of the traditional piano, bass, drums trio format; as well as larger ensemble works which reveal the depth and sophistication of his imagination as they gracefully unfold into cinematic sonic-landscapes with colorful horn sections and various ethnic instruments from India, the far east and Australia. The resulting all original set offers perhaps the most authentic and impassioned revelation of Moffett’s compositional vision to date.
“My music is personal, and sometimes crosses genres but it is not made with an elite audience in mind,” Charnett insists. “It’s for everybody. I make sounds in a manner that a layman can appreciate. There is an element of intense freedom in my music that, to me, is one of the most important elements of jazz.”
Treasure opens with “Swing Street” – a groove-jazz anthem grounded by Moffett’s solid pulse on upright bass which underscores a trancelike ‘trialogue’ between his overdubbed fretless electric bass (which carries the melody,) a middle-eastern influenced bass clarinet line played by label-mate Oran Etkin and the fleet fingered piano improvisations of Casamir Liberski, an impressive new young lion on the scene that makes his debut here.
Up next is “The Celebration,” a cinematic orchestral waltz, which taps Moffett’s strengths both as leader and composer. The combined groove power of drummer Rodney Holmes, tablist Max Moffett, pianist Liberski and bassist Moffett make up a luxurious rhythmic bed for guitar icon Stanley Jordan (a long-time Moffett collaborator) to stretch out while curling imaginative guitar riffs around the infectious melody line. The eight-minute opus steadily builds in dramatic scope with the through-line anchored by a repeating bass line, which makes it somewhat reminiscent of Ravel’s ‘Bolero.’ A charismatic brass section featuring RJ Avallone on trumpet and Irwin Hall on tenor saxophone does its fair share along with Jordan to build an exciting emotional climax into this epic work.
“The Things of Swing” takes off next in toe-tapping style with a snare-brushed, feel good vibe. The arrangement retains Jordan on guitar, drops the brass and brings back Oran Etkin on bass clarinet as well as Motéma label founder Jana Herzen on didgeridoo, the long funnel-like horn of the Australian Aborigine. The melody is infectious, and the groove cuts deep into the swing pocket, making this a likely favorite on the disc for the traditional jazz enthusiast.
The trajectory of the first three songs points clearly to the disc’s underlying theme. “Ellington said it best: “ remarks the bassist, ‘It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing,' There is swing in every kind of music, it’s just not always a major focal point. ‘Swing’ is the ‘feel’ that allows one to be able to groove. On Treasure, I wanted to show that whether the bass is walking in 4/4, grooving in ¾, playing with harmonics or being totally free, the swing is always there in its many diverse forms and colors.”
“Say La,” returns to the fretless and upright basses, along with tenor man Irwin Hall and the voices of Angela Moffett (playing tambura and voicing the opening words) and Amareia Moffett, who makes her recording debut. Four tracks later is the companion piece “Say La La,” which unfolds like a soundtrack for ascension on which Charnett leads an ethereal string quartet with Kugo harpist Tomoko Sugawara (also a fellow Motéma artist), sitar player Anjana Roy and Angela Moffett on tambura.
Sandwiched between the two “Say Las" is the outrageous freeness of “Beam Me Up” which reunites the bassist with drummer Denardo Coleman. The high fire chemistry between Moffett and Coleman (son of avant-garde jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman), is born of their many years of playing together in Ornette’s band. “I’ve known Denardo literally forever,” says the bassist, who was named in part for the great sax player, and who came up on Coleman’s ‘Harmolodic Method’ in which every member of the ensemble leads and follows simultaneously and all twelve notes are considered equal.
The ultra virtuosity of “Beam Me Up” cascades into the open trio cushion of “Praise” –a heartfelt ballad in which Moffett’s bass ‘sings’ the melody and is backed by Casimir Liberski and Rodney Holmes’s empathic accompaniment. The solo upright bass piece “Country Blues” and the completely unorthodox country-jazz instrumental “Down Up Blues” bring two more sides of Charnett’s musical personality to the Treasure table and lead up to the contemplative closers, Sound Healing I & Sound Healing II.
Each song in the Treasure chest holds a key to Moffett’s concept. “I wanted to create through-lines that trigger the brain to listen to the album as one entire piece,” Charnett states. A spiritual side of the ‘Treasure’ theme is further expressed in Charnett’s consistent return to family. “It’s amazing to make music with artists who are family” explains Moffett, whose own career began at age seven in the Moffett Family Band, led by his father, Charles Moffett, known for his innovative drumming with Ornette Coleman in the 1960’s. “Max is a great drummer who seems to channel his grandfather more with every passing year. And I am pleased to introduce Amareia on this album. The purity of her voice had simply the perfect sound to express the idea behind “Say La.” Also, Angela plays tambura on several songs which provides a steady classical Indian raga sound which frees the bass space up so I can go beyond it’s normal function. It’s a real honor to be able to have my family join me in this art form.”
Charnett concludes, “It’s all about expressing the truth of how you feel. Each player, each piece is a Treasure. The music must flow naturally from an artist in order for the true creativity of an artist to be shared at the exact moment in time. I am looking forward to continuing this artistic process. It was a pleasure making Treasure!"
For a peak at the fun, please view, The Making of Treasure, a documentary directed and narrated by Charnett that is included as enhanced content on the CD.
Treasure will also be released this summer by King Records in Japan and by Membran International in the EU.
For press information, please contact:
Steph Brown/DL MEDIA 610.667.0501 steph@jazzpublicity.com
For high res photos, video and audio samples visit motema.com/artist/charnett-moffett
2009-05-27
Artist Soul Speaks by Judith Z. Miller - CD RELEASE REVIEW
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Charnett Moffett Blows the Roof off the Iridium!
Downbeat Magazine
YES! “Fierce” and sensitive and playful and graceful and majestic! The mind-boggling multi-bassist Charnett Moffett mesmerized audiences at the Iridium Jazz Club last night where he released his 10th solo recording and his Motéma Music debut as a leader, The Art Of Improvisation.
I don’t know what your life is like – certainly I can’t guess what the other 8.2 million people in NYC do on any given day or night -- but last night I witnessed music so profound and wonderful – I realized, yet again, that being alive in the presence of great art and great artists is what makes my life as a New Yorker joyous and worth living.
Charnett Moffett, among the most creative artists alive today, performed with his trio and an assortment of uber-talented friends who, together at the Iridium, blew the house away.
I’ve always been fascinated with the power of rhythm – mostly with a passion for drumming – but I’ve wondered, especially, about bass players. It just seems like they are from another planet, plucking away on those thick strings, keeping the underneath pulse alive, sometimes in a way that seems so odd and different – living in a world where the only mode of communication is the vibration of a deep, dark, string.
Charnett Moffett is one such inter-planetary bass player – a man from another dimension – able to tap the pulse of the universe with his fingers. He taps his universe through your head and your heart and even your groin. Simply put – no one plays like Charnett Moffett, and, with his out-there trio performing live last night at the Iridium, he proved once again, that he is in constant state of invention.
Jazz is, of course, is an improvisational tradition, and with the tradition of permission, Charnett creates his own form of exciting, vibrant and all-encompassing sound. He dances with his instrument. He slides his fingers along the strings in long fell swoops, he taps it percussively with his bow, he draws out the most beautiful and haunting melodies. And Charnett’s driving band has energy to burn – and burn they do - because what they play is clearly all-new all the time.
Steven Scott a piano that sounded, sometimes, like shattered glass, and like water swirling in a fast-moving stream. During his solo he confused me briefly, loosing me in the fast rush of his fingers running on white and black, and then reeled me back in, helping me understand where he had been taking me, with the expert weaving of familiar melodies and musical puns - making me feel comfortable and right back at home again.
When drummer Will Calhoun began to build the rhythm increasing in intensity inside a very funky piece, and then took what turned out to be a long solo, this master was like a rampaging bushfire, a pride of lions moving forward in a spiraling wave-like motion, building, building, and building. Listening to him roar, I felt so damn satisfied!
I had I entered the club, on time for the second set – but the first set just never seemed to end, the energy was so powerful, the band just did not stop. So I slipped in and took a seat while they were still playing. I’m glad I got in that room and didn’t wait, because within the first half hour or so, I heard and felt rhythms that inspired my body to rise up and freed me to get out of my chair to dance. Mr. Moffett inspired me with the freedom of his playing. His band, including the polyrhythmically blessed drummer Mr. Calhoun, ricocheted machine gun bullets, and caressed me with a underlying layer of sway, like an Island women’s hips shaking to a she karee – well, with all that, how then could I stay in my seat?
So there I was, in the middle of the Iridium Jazz Club, shakin’ my 57-year-old booty, dancing around the whole club - alone. Many of you who know me might not find that scenario so strange –me dancing like a wild-woman -- but it’s a rare occurrence, even for me, to dance like that to jazz.
At one point during this astounding concert, I was sitting quietly and I eased out of an hypnotic spell created by the musicians. I looked around the room … heads were nodding and bobbing and bodies were swaying in every kind of curve and pattern imaginable, all in time to the music, with each person immersed in his or her own private ecstasy – I studied the faces – each and every person in that room was in a trance. We were in a collective trance.
After the first set finally ended, the club was filled with an orgasmic afterglow. Charnett’s team of dedicated artist support personnel, including his manager, Vernon H. Hammond III, a very tall, handsome, impeccably dressed man with a debonair air, his publicist the buoyant Don Lucoff, a passionate supporter of his work, Jana Herzen, president of the Motéma record label, and the rest of the team -- all buzzed with the joy of possibility. I could feel it in the air.
I’m sorry if weren’t there too, because you missed one hell of a performance, but I encourage you to check out Mr. Moffett’s tour dates, and pass them along to your friend around the country.
And here, below, in case you don't believe me, is a quote to further encourage you to learn more about the great Charnett Moffett:
"Moffett is a hypnotic performer. Playing the upright and the electric bass and accompanied only by piano and drums, he mesmerizes with a series of propulsive minimalist grooves..." - DETAILS
All Power to the Music!
Judith Z. Miller
Aka Artist Soul
http://artistsoulspeaks.blogspot.com/
2009-05-21
O's Place by Dr. Oscar Groomes - Review
Charnett Moffett - The Art of Improvisation 2/4
O's Notes: Moffett is in full creative mode on the release, a set of twelve heavily improvised originals. He plays several electric and acoustic basses in solo, dubbed, duet, trio and in a full ensemble for "Dreams". Moffett uses a wah-wah pedal with his acoustic bass on "The Story" imparting a unique sound foe this spacey duet with Will Calhoun (d). We enjoyed "The Awakening" most followed by "We Pray". The highly accomplished bassist unleashed his creative juices for this CD and we get a sampling of what is running around in his head.
--
D. Oscar Groomes
O's Place Jazz Newsletter
P.O. Box 38430
Charlotte, NC 28278
http://www.OsPlaceJazz.com
2009-05-18
The Washington City Paper by Michael J. West
Q&A: Charnett Moffett
Posted by Michael J. West on May. 18, 2009, at 11:54 am
The son of free jazz drummer Charles Moffett, bassist Charnett Moffett began on his instrument at age 8…for the simple reason that the Family Band needed a bass player. At 16 he began playing in Wynton Marsalis’s first band, then moved on to work with Tony Williams, McCoy Tyner, Stanley Jordan, Ornette Coleman and countless others. In addition to his in-demand freelance work, Moffett has established himself as a leader; last week he released his tenth album, the innovative Art of Improvisation. He’s currently touring in support of the disc and will appear tomorrow night at Blues Alley in a trio with pianist Stephen Scott and drummer Will Calhoun.
Moffett talked to me this weekend while waiting to catch a plane; we discussed his musical family ties, the new album, and his approach to music in general.
Washington City Paper: You started off in your family band, led by your father—who’s mostly known as an avant-garde player—but you’ve played every style under the sun. How’d that happen?
Charnett Moffett: I grew up in a musical family, where we were introduced and exposed to all kinds of music. Although my father was largely known for his work with Ornette Coleman—whom I was partially named after and also played nine years with—he had a great appreciation for John Phillip Sousa, blues music, sounds of all sorts. And he did play avant-garde free jazz, but he also played rhythm & blues, with people like King Curtis. So growing up in an environment like this really heightened my own development. I came to understand that no matter what type of music you’re playing, there’s only 12 notes, and the same 12 notes are being utilized in classical, country & western, bluegrass, jazz, reggae, or whatever. So I’ve always had an open mind, and I’ve tried to incorporate many different styles into the expression of a creative idea in the moment.
WCP: So it really is part of your musical upbringing, then, to run the gamut.
CM: It really is exciting to play that way, not really locked into one thing. That’s the great thing about music: It brings people together from all different cultures and walks of life, if only for a short period of time.
WCP: Even so, I don’t think you’ve ever done a record with quite the stylistic breadth that The Art of Improvisation has. Was it a deliberate attempt to sum up all you’ve done so far?
CM: Well, not to sum up everything I’ve done—I’m just getting started! What I wanted to really capitalize on is the improvisational things that take place during the performance. I’ve found that the most exciting part is the improvised part, where each artist gets to actually express their voice, and gets to make a contribution from their position. And working in [Ornette Coleman’s] harmolodic concept, which has now evolved into “sound grammar,” allows many artists to play a lead and also accompany the other musicians simultaneously. And you don’t always have to follow the traditional structures or even the structures in the theme: you can create the form spontaneously as you improvise. Now you have to have good musicians in order to make cohesive music together, and they have to be sensitive enough to follow you from their position.
WCP: You use three separate basses on the record—upright acoustic, fretless electric, and piccolo. What are the different uses for these?
CM: Well, the acoustic was where I started. But I was out touring with Stanley Jordan several years ago, and we were watching some video footage of Jimi Hendrix. And I was just thinking “Wow, I’d like to try some of that on the bass!” I was heavily influenced by that. Also, I was always interested in people like Stanley Clarke and Jaco Pastorius; I used to live in Oakland, California, where I was introduced to music like Graham Central Station—the funkier stuff.
The piccolo bass is fairly similar to the upright, it’s the basic notes of the bass but tuned an octave higher. And I experimented with different tunings, and would hang out with great guitarists like Stanley Jordan and that would influence me on the piccolo bass. I’m also definitely influenced by Ravi Shankar.
So I wanted to incorporate all of these things into a piece and move them in and out based on a piece’s ideas. One thing I learned from Ornette is that our brain operates as a machine, and that the machine has its limitations—but within those parameters, there are things that can be done that will expand the possibilities of the mind creatively.
WCP: On the subject of Jimi Hendrix, is your interpretation of “The Star Spangled Banner” on The Art of Improvisation connected with his famous one?
CM: Not necessarily. It was what you heard at the baseball game and on TV, et cetera, and for me it got to be “Oh, the National Anthem is on. Let’s check out this interpretation.” So I really just fell in love with the song.
I had originally recorded “The Star Spangled Banner” on the Planet Home CD in 1994, on my double bass. But this is the first time I had an opportunity to perform it on my fretless bass. That would be a perfect example of where we played the theme, but took off in an improvisation from it. The whole album was basically constructed that way, because I feel that although the most interesting moments usually happen in the improvisation rather than in the composition, the truth is that when you are improvising you are composing anyway. It’s just a question of whether you fix the idea down when you compose it.
WCP: Is that easier to do with original tunes? In other words, when you compose a piece do you consciously structure it to give you a good jumping-off point for improvisation?
CM: Well, I think it’s all about the idea, really: whatever creative idea you wish to express to the public. You can’t really plan the way an improvisation is gonna go, but you can express an emotion that you want to share with people, and that’s usually set up by the melody and the piece before you improvise, and—to return to the question about the three basses—it’s determined by what instrument I want to use to shape the composition, which also helps determine the direction of the improvisation being played. For example, on the first piece on the album, “We Pray,” there’s three basses on that. I wanted to show audiences how the music can work in a not-so-freeform way, but still be in an organic way even with the form and the solo and even overdubs.
WCP: Was there a connection between your album title and that of Ornette Coleman’s The Art of the Improvisers?
CM: (chuckles) It’s funny that that happened! I wasn’t consciously thinking of that when I thought of the album. It was something that just ended up being a coincidence.
WCP: Back to those different basses you use. You talked about the effects and distortion, but that largely happens on your acoustic upright, not the fretless as you’d expect. What does the acoustic give you in terms of effects that the electric doesn’t?
CM: Well, in that case, I specifically wanted to show the audience how you can take an instrument out of its natural form and still use it as a voice to express whatever you want to express. Just because you’re playing an acoustic bass doesn’t mean you have to think about it only in the conventions of an acoustic bass! You can be very futuristic, provided you have a solid thought process. You can hear that particularly on the title track to The Art of Improvisation, which is a solo track.
We live in a very sophisticated modern world now, where the technology is always evolving; why not take advantage of that fact to demonstrate the possible range of colors and emotions? To not do so would be like a painter choosing to paint only in black and white. As artists I feel like it’s our responsibility to extend the level of the art and the way that the art is made.
And now that the acoustic is sounding more like an electric, the electric is sounding more like a voice on the guitar. I have something that I call the bass-wah, which is when I bow an upright bass and run it through a wah-wah pedal. I can more or less emulate the voice, and also complement a singer as well as be a singer myself through that technique, as I do on a piece called “Call for Peace,” on which I worked with the Tibetan vocalist Yungchen Lhamo.
WCP: You also work with your son, Charnett Max Moffett, who’s a drummer. Are we seeing a new generation of the Moffett Family Band?
CM: It’s not something that was planned. You know, I grew up in that heavily musical environment, and I guess in those circumstances you can’t help but love music—and I guess that I’ve passed that down to my own children, who are now young adults themselves. It’s not something that you can force on anyone; one has to want to do this. Because the whole thing about it is that you have to have fun.
You know, I began playing when I was 8 years of age; I’ll be 42 years of age this summer. I’ve been doing this for so long, and yet in so many ways it seems like I’ve hardly begun; music is keeping me healthy and keeping me young.
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/blackplasticbag/2009/05/18/qa-charnett-moffett/
2009-05-17
All About Jazz by Francis Lo Kee - Review
ALL ABOUT JAZZ
The Art of Improvisation
Charnett Moffett | Motema Music (2009)
By Francis Lo Kee
A fascinating recording, The Art of Improvisation is as mysterious as it is a showcase for the formidable bass playing skills of its leader Charnett Moffett; his playing on electric and acoustic basses has a grounded, vocal quality—he always seems to be singing through his instruments.
Even when he is playing a fusillade of notes (and Moffett does have fleet fingers), the feel of various folk musics (Asian, Middle Eastern, African, even Celtic) are invoked, as heard through both parts of "Enlightenment." "Part I" starts with a floating, meditative mood, building in speed and emotional intensity over a pedal tone. "Part II" becomes a duet of bass and drums, using the melodic materials of "Part I" in an approach similar to that of a sitar/tabla duet.
Moffett's bass again sings a duet with Tibetan vocalist Yunchen Lhamo on "Call for Peace," a striking track of such sincerity it begs for more. "Dream," another fascinating composition, features a poet's recitation over a sonic landscape that sounds as if it could have been recorded in the '60s or '70s—a cross between the Last Poets and music found at the Creative Music Studio. The title track, of course reminds listeners of Ornette Coleman's 1961 album, The Art of the Improvisers; Charnett, after all, is a contraction of Charles—as in drummer Charles Moffett, his father—and Ornette, Charles Moffett's boss circa 1965. And the bassist's version of the "Star Spangled Banner" convincingly revives the spirit of Hendrix's Woodstock version of the national anthem.
Moffett doesn't take the usual route of making a recording that's a concise collection of tunes. He stretches out on his basses more than any other bass player/bandleader dares to. And though Moffett can remind one of Jaco Pastorius, James Jamerson, Milt Hinton, Charlie Haden, Stanley Clarke or an Edgar Meyer—none would have made an album with this kind of directness.
Track listing: We Pray; Moses; The Story; Dreams; Elements of Life; Call for Peace; The Awakening; Swing Rock; Enlightenment Part l; Enlightenment ll; The Art of Improvisation; Star Spangled Banner.
Personnel: Charnett Moffett: basses; Will Calhoun: drums Yungchen Lhamo: vocal; Scott Brown: piano; Pat Jones: guitar. Steve Barnes: guitar. Eric McPherson: drums. Charnette Max Moffett: drums. Robert Joseph Avalon: trumpet.
Style: Beyond Jazz
Published: May 17, 2009
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=32614
2009-05-14
New York Times - Review and Performance Alert
freewheeling fusion
The bassist Charnett Moffett has a new album, "The Art of Improvisation" (Motema), that spotlights his facilty on acoustic, fretless electric and piccolo basses, often in a freewheeling fusion vein. He covers some of the same ground here with Will Calhoun, the drummer on much of the album, and Stephen Scott, an insightful pianist. At 8 and 10pm, Iridium Jazz Club, 1650 Broadway, at 51st Street, (212)582-2121, iridiumjazzclub.com; cover, $25, with a $10 minimum.
2009-05-08
Jazz Improv performance alert
Iridium: Wed 5/20 Bassist Charnett Moffett is the son of drummer Charles Moffett, the drummer who played with Ornette Coleman. Moffett began his professional career at a young age, and by the mid-1980s he was playing with Wynton Marsalis and Branford Marsalis. Since then, his credits have included performances and recordings with Stanley Jordan, Ornette Coleman, McCoy Tyner, Mulgrew Miller, Arturo Sandoval, and others. New album: on Motema Music.
http://www.jazzimprov.com/guides/ji_nyc_V04N11.pdf
2009-05-01
Details - Review
May 2009
Details (4 out of 5 stars) : "One of jazz’s top instrumentalists, Moffett is a hypnotic performer. Playing the upright and the electric bass and accompanied only by piano and drums, he mesmerizes with a series of propulsive minimalist grooves (like “Moses” and “the Story”) before firing up an acidy version of "The Star Spangled Banner” that would have made Jimi Hendrix weep. "
2009-04-25
Audiophile Audition by Doug Simpson - Review
Charnett Moffett - The Art of Improvisation - Motéma Music, MTM-00021 [Release date: May 12, 09], 59:00 ***1/2:
(Charnett Moffett - fretless electric bass, piccolo bass & acoustic bass; Will Calhoun and Eric McPherson - drums; Scott Brown - keyboards; Pat Jones and Steve Barnes - guitar; Robert Joseph Avalon - trumpet; Yunchen Lhamo - vocals on track 6; Angela Moffett - spoken vocals on track 4; Charnett Max Moffett - drums on tracks 4, 8 and 12)
Charnett Moffett is an undisputed bass champion, a musician's musician who has worked with everyone from Wynton Marsalis to Ornette Coleman, and from Art Blakely to Pharoah Sanders. He has led his own sessions since the late 1980s, always with a mission to showcase the diverse possibilities of his multiple bass skills, lacing his work with elements of jazz, fusion, instrumental pop, funk, and other modern genres.
On his newest solo album, The Art of Improvisation, Charnett Moffett continues his quest to couple his virtuosity with his wide-ranging creative muse. The record's subtitle, A Manifesto for Three Basses, is significant, since this is a recording that utilizes fretless electric bass, piccolo bass, acoustic bass, and myriad effects that manipulate the instruments beyond typical bass sounds. While there are other musicians who contribute muscle, nuances, or assistance, make no mistake, The Art of Improvisation is an exploration of the bass as a lead instrument. If a listener does not take this into account, the excess of bass features might seem relentless.
The Art of Improvisation is an eclectic outing that is a stylistically broad effort, moving from free jazz all the way to psychedelic rock, all of it fitting Moffett's free-spirited approach.
The album opens with the slightly Middle Eastern "We Pray," where Moffett builds a low-register theme counterpointed by his three layered, overdubbed basses, supported only by the brushwork of Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun, who presents complementary accents. The tune was sparked by Moffett's recent live concerts with Ornette Coleman, who employed three bassists. "We Pray" essentially affords Moffett an opportunity to play his three different instruments to express his varicolored voice. The free jazz segment "Dreams" was also prompted by Coleman's music, in particular Coleman's 1961 double quartet blowout release Free Jazz, although "Dreams" is not nearly as dense or harmonically rich as Coleman's extended opus. The turbulent percussion is provided by Moffett's son, Charnett Max Moffett, while the spoken word components are recited by Moffett's sister, actress Angela Moffett, who chants a timely message of the importance of "holding fast to dreams," a quote cited from the Langston Hughes poem that also inspired this tune.
The second composition, "Moses," is a funky contemporary trio number that also has a light Mideast seasoning, distinguished by an open-ended exhibition from pianist Scott Brown and swinging brushwork from drummer Eric McPherson. Here, Moffett uses an ample slap-pop treatment on his fretless electric bass guitar that is reminiscent of Stanley Clarke, and at song's end Moffett introduces his wah-wah, which has some Jaco Pastorius connotations. The mainstream jazz trio jaunt, "The Awakening," with Brown and guitarist Pat Jones, was also kindled by Clarke, but in a different way. The gamboling exposition applies a round-robin circle concurrence, wherein each artist throws out an idea, while the other two counterbalance the soloist, never straying from the melody, an arrangement similar to the Rite of Strings material Clarke did with violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and guitarist Al Di Meola. Meanwhile, on the jazz-rock duo delineation "Swing Rock," Moffett reconstructs a stronger Pastorius dimension, accompanied only by a plethora of effects and his son's likeminded drums, crafting a rock-rooted reading that echoes Pastorius's less restrained and raucous moments.
Calhoun and Moffett again duet on the incendiary "The Story," a knockout motif where Moffett's bowed electric bass, wah-wah pedal, and the percussive use of his tapped bow on the strings generates a blending of classical and neo-bop characteristics that are adroitly contrasted by some punchy rock-tinged roundabouts. The two-part "Enlightenment" carries on the Calhoun/Moffett interaction. The suite's first part starts with a limber, contemplative piccolo bass solo presentation, and then advances to an Indian-stimulated overdubbed bass jam. The much longer second section encompasses a concentrated deluge of Moffett's wah-wah effects, and escalates the ethnic swing by including Calhoun's precise and aggressive drums and percussion.
Moffett moves from duo to solo on the title track, an excursion on upright bass where he exploits his unconventional, tapping technique adopted from classical music. Moffett raps the strings with his bow down by the bridge, while fingering notes on the bass neck with his left hand, thus achieving a unique, tonal percussive result. Moffett continues his one-person trek on the somewhat raga-tinted "Elements of Life," another workout for his upright bass which displays Moffett's stunning pizzicato talent, although the cut fails to find a firm melodic footing. "Elements of Life" flows into "Call For Peace," a richer and more Asian-inflected section, where Moffett matches his arco work and wah-wah pedal in a dramatic duet with Tibetan vocalist Yun Chen Lhamo, whose unaffected artlessness gives her phrases, wordless singing, and lyrical vocals an exotic idiosyncrasy.
The collection closes with an electrifying, Hendrixian version of "The Star Spangled Banner," which has become a Moffett concert showstopper and was originally recorded for Moffett's 1994 release Planet Home. On this translation Moffett's son does his best Mitch Mitchell imitation, while Moffett plugs in his fretless electric bass, with his distortion pedal set to maximum and wah-wah pedal on full throttle. Moffett has said that this rugged tribute is also an homage, in spirit at least, to Jaco Pastorius, specifically to Pastorius's take on "America The Beautiful."
The Art of Improvisation reveals that the bass is a tool that has few limitations in the right hands, and throughout these twelve tracks, Charnett Moffett expands the articulation of the bass as wide as what guitarists or keyboardists customarily accomplish. The Art of Improvisation may not appeal to some traditional listeners, but should attract and engage anyone who is interested in what can be done with a bass, some creative chops, and a parcel of imagination.
TrackList:
1. We Pray
2. Moses
3. The Story
4. Dreams
5. Elements of Life
6. Call For Peace
7. The Awakening
8. Swing Rock
9. Enlightenment Part I
10. Enlightenment Part II
11. The Art of Improvisation
12. Star Spangled Banner
-- Doug Simpson
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