Charnett Moffett: New Love
Motéma Music

Charnett Moffett's astonishing bass command is evident throughout New Love, his seventh release as a leader for Motéma Music and seventeenth overall. His playing alone warrants the release's recommendation, but there's considerably more to like about the project beyond his fretless electric. All twelve songs are compact statements, and his primary collaborators, guitarist Jana Herzen and drummer Corey Garcia, impress with their own contributions. Malick Koly's in the drum chair for two tracks, and Irwin Hall adds alto flute and saxophones to five.

Born in 1967, Moffett's been turning heads since his Blue Note Records debut in 1987 and as both a leader and as a bassist for figures such as Art Blakey, Ornette Coleman, McCoy Tyner, Tony Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, and Herbie Hancock. He's appeared on more than 200 albums and has clearly absorbed the lessons those legends shared with him. If New Love isn't overtly intended to showcase the harmolodics concept associated with Coleman, it nevertheless does so when each player adopts a soloist's mentality during the performances instead of settling into a supporting role behind the soloist. The three (or four, with Hall included) excel at both collectively establishing a track's identity and treating it elastically as a vehicle for spontaneous expression. At every moment, the music registers as a high-level dialogue between wholly engaged participants.

Such a result comes about when musicians have worked together for a long time, of course, but for New Love it also stems from the approach used for the December 2019 studio date, with formal rehearsals foregone and the players learning the new material in-the-moment with Moffett directing. The strategy worked, as the playing's fresh and effervescent in the extreme. The music also brims with positivity, as shown by the overall mood but also the album title of this set and its predecessor, 2018's Bright New Day; the fact that the new release is dedicated to Herzen, who the bassist describes as his “New Love” also suggests why the material has the joyous tone it does (the two recently wed, apparently).

As cohesive as the album generally is, it does organize itself into sections: the opening five tracks feature Moffett, Herzen, and Garcia trio only; five thereafter add Hall; and the final four include vocals by the bassist and guitarist. Also like Coleman, Moffett possesses a gift for ear-catching melodies, as the jubilant “Swinging in the Realms” makes clear at the outset. When you're not staggered by the leader's light-speed runs and the interplay between him and his partners, you're enchanted by the tune's roller-coaster trajectory. Taken at a less breathless tempo is “We Remember,” whose relaxed swing allows for an easier monitoring of Moffett's use of harmonics and Herzen's bluesy explorations. Endearing too is the sing-song motif driving “Little Flowers,” with the gentle folk reverie also showing how effective Moffett's bass is in the lead role.

The leader impresses in powering “Today” with Bach-inspired runs and in grounding the composition in a prototypical Coleman theme. Here too we also find an excellent example of the deep connection shared by the three players in their free interplay, though any number of moments in the other tracks could be cited by way of illustration. Moffett isn't averse to using slap bass and wah-wah when the material calls for it (see “Higher Dimensions”), and the aptly titled “Flying in the Air” finds him and Hall dazzling with unison statements and the quartet operating at a remarkably advanced level of telepathy.

June 2021