1 	Music From Our Soul 	3:56
2 	Freedom 	5:23
3 	Mood Indigo		7:05
4 	So What?	3:41
5 	Come And Play 	5:08
6 	Love In The Galaxies 	3:39
7 	We Are Here To Play 	4:38
8 	Mediterranean 	4:58
9 	For Those Who Know 	5:29
10 	Just Need Love 	6:57
11 	Celestial Dimensions 	1:02
12 	Sound World Suite 	2:56
13 	Freedom Swing 	5:27
14 	Love For The People Encore 	0:35

Acoustic Bass, Electric Bass – Charnett Moffett   
Drums – Jeff "Tain" Watts (tracks: 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13),
 Mike Clark (2) (tracks: 4, 6), Victor Lewis (tracks: 3, 5)
Guitar – Stanley Jordan (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 5 to 10, 12, 13)
Percussion – Babatunde Lea
Piano – Stanley Jordan (tracks: 1, 7, 13)
Piano, Keyboards – Cyrus Chestnut (tracks: 2, 3, 5, 8, 10)
Tenor Saxophone – Pharoah Sanders (tracks: 1, 7, 13)

Bassist Charnett Moffett is one of those figures that we tend to take for granted, mostly because it seems like he's simply always been here. The once-upon-a-time child prodigy has been omnipresent on the scene since the mid '80s, holding down the low end for jazz's elite while bringing strength, consistency, and creativity to the fore through his bass work. A short list of Moffett's employers and colleagues reads like a jazz history lesson—saxophonists Ornette Coleman and Kenny Garrett, drummers Tony Williams and Art Blakey, pianists McCoy Tyner and Mulgrew Miller, guitarists Kevin Eubanks and Sonny Sharrock, and multiple Marsalis men have all called on the bassist at one time or another—but he's not merely a sideman du jour. Moffett has made more than a few splashes on his own, releasing a dozen or so albums as a leader, and he's spent plenty of time headlining at notable venues and events. He's been a musical rock and pillar for the past thirty years, and Music From Our Soul celebrates that fact.

For this occasion, Moffett assembled a program of music that capitalizes on his many strengths while also highlighting his varied musical exploits and excursions in the present day. There are performances that were recorded live at New York's Jazz Standard, showcasing the trio of Moffett, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, and drummer Victor Lewis; numbers with guitarist Stanley Jordan and drummer Mike Clark that were captured in a live studio setting; recordings from a run of shows at Seattle's Jazz Alley, where Moffett and Jordan combined forces with iconic saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and drumming powerhouse Jeff "Tain" Watts; and pieces plucked from Moffett's performance at the 40th International Bern Jazz Festival in 2015, featuring a quartet that includes Jordan, Chestnut, and Watts. When taken as a whole, all of it serves as a portrait of an artist in midlife—Moffett turned fifty on June 10, 2017—and a statement of dominance from one of the most technically gifted and imaginative bass players on the planet.

The fleet-fingered lines, liquid tone, and harmonic perspicacity that are universally recognized as hallmarks of Moffett's work are all here for the viewing. His massive chops and flexibility are on display on the large majority of these pieces and his rapport with these different groups is evident. He supports Sanders' atavistic wails and exhibits a coiled connection to Jordan on "Freedom Swing," moves from mellow and melodious environs to a bluesy barroom and back again on Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo," hits the gas pedal with Chestnut and Lewis on the feisty "Come And Play," explores pan-African cool on the title track, and gleefully mixes it up with Watts, Chestnut, and Jordan on the rocketing and explosive "For Those Who Know."

Sound quality and balance understandably vary a bit from place to place here—you can't source an album from three different live venues and a studio without encountering that issue to some degree—but musical quality remains incredibly high throughout. Moffett reached the summit three decades ago and he's still right there, bass in hand and fingers at the ready. He remains a giant on his instrument and a stalwart figure in jazz. ---Dan Bilawsky, allaboutjazz.com

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01 Caravan (Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, Juan Tizol)
02 Eleanor Rigby (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
03 Black Codes (Wynton Marsalis)
04 Fragile (Sting)
05 Haitian Fight Song (Charles Mingus)
06 Kalengo (Charnett Moffett)
07 Bow Song (Charnett Moffett)
08 Joshua Fought The Battle Of Jericho / Rolling In The Deep (Adele Adkins, Paul Epworth, Traditional)
09 Skip Hop (Charnett Moffett)
10 The Slump (Tony Williams)
11 Monk Medley ['Round Midnight / Well You Needn't / Rhythm-A-Ning] (Bernie Hanighen, Charles "Cootie" Williams, Thelonious Monk)
12 Oversun (Charnett Moffett)
13 Swinging Etude (Charnett Moffett)
14 Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit (McCoy Tyner)
15 Truth (Charnett Moffett)
16 The Bridge [Solo Bass Works](Charnett Moffett)
17 Nature Boy (Eden Ahbez)
18 Things Ain't What They Used To Be (Mercer Ellington, Ted Parsons)
19 All Blues (Miles Davis)
20 Free Your Mind (Charnett Moffett)

Charnett Moffett – Bass

The sound of Charnett Moffett's bass resonates almost instantly straight to the depths of the soul. Over his career, Moffett has played in a tremendous variety of settings and explored seemingly every avenue, alley, and obscure landscape of both the upright and electric bass. Now with his first solo bass CD, The Bridge, audiences can experience Moffett's artisanship in its most concentrated form. Comprised of 20 pieces, The Bridge covers a lot of territory, acting as a portrait of Moffett's musical experience. Included on the album are touchstones to the many stages of his long career, from his early work with Wynton Marsalis to his run with the Manhattan Jazz Quartet, to his explosive experiments as a bandleader, as well as his partnership with McCoy Tyner. However, though touching on these various aspects of his development, it is not a simple march through time, but instead a distillation of the various components into a captivating whole.

Moffett begins with a blistering take on "Caravan," followed immediately by "Eleanor Rigby" which in Moffett's hands undergoes a kind of sublimation that exposes the devastating salience of the original's commentary on the human condition. This ability to pair down and purify represents one of Moffett's signature abilities which he applies throughout The Bridge. A second powerful example is his brief 44-second rendition of "Nature Boy." Boldly approaching this classic, Moffett inverts the more usual jazz methodology of expanding on a tune's basic parts to instead render it into its most essential, emotive elements.

The remaining 18 selections continue this pattern, tapping both icons of the jazz repertoire, like Charles Mingus' "Haitian Fight Song" and a medley of Thelonious Monk works, and pop tunes like Sting's "Fragile." Moffett also contributes 8 original compositions that provide some additional standout moments, such as the Middle Eastern-themed piece "Kalengo" on which Moffett integrates pizzicato and bowed techniques in a virtuoso display. In fact, Moffett's bow work on this and several other pieces, including Miles Davis' "All Blues" and the closing, electric-tinged "Free Your Mind," represent some of the most redolent passages on the album.

No recording can capture the distinct and uncannily haunting sound of Moffett's tone when experienced live, but The Bridge is an exceptionally actualized statement delivered by the practiced hand of a master during a resurgence of his creative powers. (It should be noted that The Bridge will be followed closely by an ensemble album, and was previewed by a marathon run of solo performances in New York.)

In the end, as impressive as Moffett's technical facility on the bass and compositional talents are, it is his emotive clarity, the ability to cut to the core, that ultimately captures the imagination and moves the listener's inner being. His is a rare capacity to reach out—sometimes with only one perfectly articulated note—to touch the deepest aspects of our spirits and carry us forward. ---Franz A. Matzner, allaboutjazz.com

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