Still Life

Personnel includes: Charnett Moffett (bass); Rachel Z (keyboards); Cindy Blackman (drums).
Producers: Charnett Moffett, Hiro Yamashita.
Personnel: Rachel Z (piano, synthesizer); Cindy Blackman (drums).
Liner Note Author: Bill Milkowski.
Recording information: RPM Studio, New York, NY (1997).
Photographers: David Tan; R. Andrew Lepley.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, two groups tried to limit Charnett Moffett's creativity. On one hand, jazz purists wanted him to steer clear of fusion and confine himself to playing hard bop on the upright bass. On the other hand, there were marketing people and NAC radio programmers who urged Moffett to play unchallenging elevator Muzak. But thankfully, neither group got its way when Moffett was recording for Evidence in the 1990s. Moffett was far from the purist hardliner that former employer Wynton Marsalis is; nor did he aspire to become the Kenny G of the bass -- so on 1993-94's Planet Home and his next album, Still Life, he excelled by doing exactly what he felt like doing. "Full Circle," "Jungle Travel," and other gems on this fusion/post-bop CD (which employs Rachel Z on piano and keyboards and Cindy Blackman on drums) are compelling because Moffett lets his creativity and imagination take over. Instead of running away from the influence of Jaco Pastorius, he embraces it wholeheartedly. Those who found Moffett's Blue Note/Manhattan output erratic can take comfort in the fact that he lived up to his potential at Evidence. ~ Alex Henderson