BIO
“THERE’S SOMETHING SPECIAL ANYTIME THAT JANA HERZEN AND CHARNETT MOFFETT MAKE MUSIC TOGETHER. IT’S PURE, SOULFUL AND ESPECIALLY BEAUTIFUL TO HEAR NOW, MAYBE MORE THAN EVER.” – AMERICAN SONGWRITER (single preview 4/17/20)
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE
March 27, 2020
JANA HERZEN & CHARNETT MOFFETT: ‘ROUND THE WORLD
releasing: 7/3/20 (digital) 7/17/20 (physical) from Motéma Music
Reinterpreting Kermit, Men at Work, Roberta Flack, The Beatles and More Alongside Original Music: A Quirky, Smart, Sophisticated Duo Album from Acclaimed Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist Jana Herzen and Innovative, World-Renowned Bassist Charnett Moffett.
Herzen and Moffett Capture Lightning in a Bottle on ‘Round The World’, Finishing Each Other’s Musical Sentences and Setting a Dreamy Vibe that Evokes a Warm Fireplace with a Glass of Wine and an Old Friend.
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On their upcoming Folk/Jazz duo album ‘Round the World’, acclaimed singer/songwriter/guitarist Jana Herzen and innovative, world-renowned bassist Charnett Moffett capture lightning in a bottle with a dreamy, sophisticated, smart and quirky mix of songs. On freshly imagined covers, from Men at Work to The Beatles to Kermit the Frog to Roberta Flack, plus originals by Herzen, the duo plays like creative partners who can finish each other’s musical sentences. There’s an intuitive, intimate vibe to these songs that evokes a fireplace and a glass of wine with an old friend.
For Herzen, who has spent much of the past 16 years helming the Motéma label and promoting other world-class talents such as Gregory Porter, Joey Alexander, Pedrito Martinez, Geri Allen, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Moffett, this period of fertile artistic output represents a watershed moment for her own considerable musical talents. According to Moffett, the partnership is also leading him to new realizations as a composer/performer/producer. Indeed, one can hear an exciting, deeper and more nuanced expression of his innate sound emerging.
Enthusiastic press feedback for Herzen’s January release, Nothing But Love, along with rising social media engagement (a ten-fold spike of her FB following, accompanied by a waterfall of adoring FB comments) have sparked a growing buzz around Herzen as she and Moffett gear up for the launch of ‘Round The World. People Magazine commented, “Herzen’s rich past imbues her work with color and character.” Those colors are influenced by experiences growing up on the Stanford Campus in the turbulent 1960’s, working extensively onstage and backstage in music and theater, travelling the world, and becoming a Founder and key executive for two of New York’s more influential arts companies: the MCC Theater (now in its fourth decade), and Motéma Music (now in its 16th year). Wisdom gained along the way shows up in her poetry and musicality as well as her confident and magnetic performance style.
As for Moffett, he brings his own forty-plus years of arts experience to the table, along with an unusual abundance of spirit and charisma. Considered one of the most virtuosic bassists in jazz, Moffett has honed his A-Team chops through four decades as a musician/composer during which he’s recorded fifteen innovative albums of his own, and over two hundred albums as a bassist to the stars including such revered jazz titles as Wynton Marsalis’ Black Codes for the Underground, McCoy Tyner’s Land of the Giants, Ornette Coleman’s Sound Museum, Herbie Hancock’s Future to Future, and Sonny Sharrock’s Ask the Ages.
When Herzen first signed Moffett to Motéma in 2008 they began forging an uncommon artistic bond that has grown organically through years of producing, touring and recording together. Serving first as his Executive Producer, Herzen released two Moffett’s projects on Motéma before they released their first duo project, Passion of a Lonely Heart in 2012. Next Herzen stepped into the co-producing chair for Moffett’s solo upright bass tour-de-force The Bridge (2013). She next produced Moffett’s first-ever live recording, Music From Our Soul, featuring Pharaoh Sanders, Stanley Jordan, Cyrus Chestnut, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, Victor Lewis, and Mike Clark (2017) which became one of Moffett’s most successful albums. Moffett then invited Herzen to fill the guitar chair for his live dates leading to her joining his quintet for his album Bright New Day. Herzen loved the sound that Moffett’s band brought to her song ‘Precious Air’ at those sessions and decided to engage the same team for Nothing But Love. Meanwhile, during the Nothing But Love mix sessions, Moffett initiated an impromptu instrumental duo side-project, Nett Duo, which released the digital album Overtones, in December 2018, prefacing Moffett’s Bright New Day (June 2019), and Herzen’s Nothing But Love (January 2020).
‘Round the World, coming in July 2020 represents both a new direction and a full-circle return for the duo. The tracks for these eleven songs were laid down in early experimental sessions that that led to their duo debut in 2012. Of twenty-two tracks recorded back then, half were jazz focused and showed up on Herzen’s Passion of a Lonely Heart. The remnants, which had more of a singer/songwriter vibe, were saved for later release and now appear on this disc. The arrangements for the 1960, ‘70 & ‘80s hits here that Herzen used to cover at folk clubs and coffeehouses in her teens, and for the five story-driven originals written along her path since then, reveal the deep musical camaraderie and artistic telepathy that seeded this unlikely duo’s many fruitful collaborations. This poetic music for mind, body, and soul marries innovation with nostalgia and shapeshifts from folk to jazz to reggae to Afro-beat and beyond. What can be felt throughout the disc, and on all of their collaborations, is what the duo calls out as the three most important ingredients: love, honesty, and respect.
“The music doesn’t lie,” explains Moffett. “Jana’s musical creativity is diverse. She is an artist with an original sound and style who always sings and plays from her heart. Her poetic lyrics and songwriting embrace the listener with the compassion of truth. I’ve found that playing in a duo capacity allows the sound of the bass to have a voice of its own. Our duo recordings and performances have all been exciting for me. I never know which style Jana will travel into next as each song finds a new journey every time the music is created.” – Charnett Moffett
“There’s a language we’re developing that been gaining nuance through the years. I’m looking forward to touring to accompany this release as much as we can, and to recording more projects in the times to come.” Jana Herzen
“Absolute Intimacy… Herzen and Moffett play it out perfectly.” was the assessment of the duo’s first project from Gary Walker of WBGO.
Live broadcasts, tour dates, bonus tracks, and exclusive videos are all in the works ensuring their vibrant presence on the music scene throughout 2020 and beyond. The next full album will be a spiritually uplifting Moffett trio and quartet album titled “New Love,” slated for release later this year on which Moffett steps into new territories as a composer, lyricist, and vocalist, and Herzen rises further as a guitarist. More on that soon.
Press Representation:
USA – Seth Cohen PR (seth@sethcohenpr.com) UK – Stuart Kirkham (stuartkirkham@mac.com)
GERMANY – Constance Pfieffer (constanze@chateau-du-pop.de) FRANCE –Stephane Papinot (stephane.papinot@gmail.com)
Booking Contact: booking@motema.com
Click here to see more releases by Charnett Moffett
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