New Album: Charnett Moffett Trio, Live

Charnett Moffett Trio, Live…

Renowned jazz bass virtuoso Charnett Moffett released his first live trio recording, furthering an exciting, unpredictable and richly artistic jazz journey featuring guitarist/vocalist Jana Herzen with drummer Corey Garcia.  The chemistry of this trio has deep roots. Moffett has collaborated with Herzen for over 12 years now, and Garcia has joined them for many live performances since 2018 and recorded with them on Herzen’s 2021 Live quintet album produced by Moffett, and also on Moffett’s internationally acclaimed studio project, ‘NEW LOVE’, released by Motéma in June 2021. 

Recorded at Yoshi’s on July 25th, 2021, CHARNETT MOFFETT TRIO: LIVE features Moffett’s legendary virtuosity on both fretless and fretted electric basses, Herzen’s warmly nuanced guitar and vocal musicality, and drummer Corey Garcia’s melodic, symbol-driven swing in a vibrant program of concert highlights that opens with an outstanding rendition of the Gershwin classic “Summertime” and journeys through four exceptional Moffettcompositions (two reprised from New Love, and two which make their debut on LIVE). 

The musical marriage of Moffett’s long-seasoned bass artistry with Herzen’s instinctive yet refined guitar work and signature warm vocal sound has inspired repeated press observations about a certain “magic” that arises when these two make music together. Whether performing together in their eclectic duo project, or in Herzen’s folk/rock/jazz projects, or in Moffett’s ensembles which fuse free-jazz, swing, post-bop, world, classical and psychedelic rock, the pair are gaining increasing acclaim as partners who complement each other on the front line.  While each of their projects has its own merits, Moffett’s power trio featuring Herzen and Garcia hit a special vein of jazz gold on the first five tracks of his trio/quartet project ‘New Love’ prompting critics on both sides of the Atlantic to call out this trio’s exciting chemistry.  

The trio’s artistic connection becomes even more evident in live performance as Herzen and Garcia instinctively turn on a dime together in response to Moffett’s creative and rapid-fire mercurial lead.    Moffett, whose storied career includes collaborations with many of the world’s greatest jazz artists including drummers Charles Moffett, Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, and Tony Williams realized a long-standing dream in assembling and grooming this trio. In 2018 he discovered a valuable gem in the young, deep-swinging and sensitive drummer Corey Garcia who’s musical lineage as a protege of Eric McPherson primed him well to learn Moffett’s musical language fluently. (McPherson, was a protege of Moffett’s father Charles, whom the famed bassist to this day claims as his most important influence.)  Charles Moffett was not only a great jazz drummer, he was also a multi-instrumentalist who innovated in Ornette Coleman’s 1960’s trio and went on to become an influential music educator who notably groomed Charnettand his sibs into The Moffett Family Band, a 1970’s phenom that first rose to fame in Oakland, California with an 8-year-old Charnett charming crowds as he grooved hard on both upright and electric basses.

As for Herzen, although an accomplished thespian and singer/songwriter for over 35 years, and the legendary label leader of Motéma Music for the past 18 years, it was Moffett who first encouraged her to stretch out as a jazz instrumentalist by inviting her to play guitar in his band in 2018. No one was more surprised than Herzen to discover her talents in this arena, but to Moffett, it was a natural choice to add her on guitar as the two had developed their own musical language over the many years that she had supported his artistry at Motema, and he had supported her artistry by playing bass on her acclaimed singer/songwriter recordings.    

For more information, visit online at charnettmoffettbass.net