Charnett Moffett Trio: Still Life

The former wunderkind of the basses gets maximum exposure on this date, with Rachel Z’s keyboards and Cindy Blackman’s drums providing support. Call it pure-ism if you wish, but somehow Moffett fares quite a bit better when challenged by his acoustic bass. On bass guitar his identity is not as clearly defined, despite the fact that he appears to have devoted equal time to developing both-and unfortunately most of the 14 originals on this date are addressed by the electric axe.

Things begin to get really interesting around track 7, when Rachel Z finally gets to express more than mere shadings for bass guitar noodlings. “Spiritual Bubbles,” the followup track, finds the trio swinging hard after an electronic intro-gravitational momentum that is all too short at 3:08. “Ocean Wave,” solo acoustic bass with arresting electronic effects, offers further evidence that Moffett makes his best statements on acoustic bass, even when he electrifies.

Originally Published September 1, 1997