Charnett Moffett: "Art of Improvisation"
TobiasAcoustic bass virtuoso Moffett has stumped on albums from – oh, everybody: Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Pharaoh Sanders, you name it.
But this isn’t your basic sideman solo project that supposedly “features” a guy holding down his most comfortable rhythms while the harmonic instruments do all the heavy lifting – the squealing/slithering/shimmering sounds Moffett pinches/ strangles/ tickles/ wiggles out of his upright are faraway, ethereal beings; an acquired taste, yes, but he’s as much a virtuoso doing his thing as Miles was with his. Sacrilege? Sure, and I hope you like the taste, because Moffett is due credit for all the months and years of sleep he obviously lost fine-tuning these jaw-dropping runs, channeling Jaco Pastorius one moment and some impossibly exotic animal the next.
At the least, every bassist who takes his instrument the least bit seriously should wear out a couple copies of this.
By Eric Saeger
Homepage: Charnett Moffett
Homepage: Motema Music
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