Charnett Moffett and Jana Herzen Release EP 'Overtones'

To celebrate the upcoming start of a New Year, Motéma Music is pleased to release Overtones, the debut recording from Nett Duo, a new acoustic upright bass with guitar duo formed by legendary jazz bass virtuoso Charnett Moffett with guitarist Jana Herzen, Motéma Music's founder and President.

Out digitally on December 28, 2018, this all-original free-form program takes the listener on a spontaneous improvisational journey with jazz, folk, and classical overtones. Conceived as a stress-busting antidote to anxiety, and the hustle and bustle of our times, this is music that relaxes the mind, brings a smile and leads the listener within.

?A perfect program to re-center for the New Year, this EP marks Charnett Moffett's first foray into the instrumental duo format and also marks Herzen's debut as a solely instrumental recording artist. (Her prior releases have featured her guitar work as an accompaniment to her vocal compositions).

This audiophile recording faithfully captures the vibrational overtones of Moffett and Herzen's distinctive string instruments on five improvised musical interplays recorded at Power Station Studio C in NYC on September 16, 2018. [Moffett plays a custom Kolstein Bussetto acoustic upright bass, and Herzen plays a vintage 1950 Gibson CF100 acoustic, and a C.F. Holcomb 'Hunter' model acoustic-electric jazz guitar on the recording.] Also on the EP are two unreleased archive tracks: Herzen's "Afro-Cruz" recorded during sessions for Herzen's Passion of a Lonely Heart (Motéma, 2013), and "Celestial Dimensions," an unreleased solo-bass track recorded during Moffett's studio sessions for Music From Our Soul (Motéma, 2016).

"It is with great honor that I present Overtones," states Moffett who produced the project. "This freeform improvisational recording is influenced by raga, tribal, free jazz, blues, funk, rock and orchestral music. Music is a universal language, as exemplified by the many different types of musical cultures we have in our earthly society. The common denominator is our humanity. This project focuses on the vibrational overtones that resonate with the human senses. Performing in this duo format frees me up to play the creative musical idea on the bass in a lead capacity playing melodies, harmonies and counterpoint, in addition to fullfilling it's primary function and position. Enjoy. "

"Charnett and I have developed a distinct musical vocabulary over these past ten years of working together," reflects Herzen. "As a record label executive, I always aim to record artists or groups that have their own unique sound. It was in a sectional rehearsal for my own band in 2008 that I first discovered that our duo, whether with vocals or without, had such a soundprint. Charnett and I come from very different backgrounds, and we each have a range of influences as diverse as the Motéma roster. These varied cultural influences give the duo an unusually broad palate of colors to choose from when improvising, which is clearly reflected on Overtones."

NETT DUO: OVERTONES RELEASE SHOWS

Sunday, January 6: Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 3

Monday, January 7: Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Jazz at Lincoln Center

(Exclusive to Jazz Congress & APAP Attendees) -

RSVP: (212) 258-9595 or booking@motema.com

At both shows, the artists will also perform music from Herzen & Moffett's upcoming Spring releases. The band performing appears on both albums: namely, Jana Herzen (vocals + electric guitar), Scott Tixier (violin), Brian Jackson (keys), Charnett Moffett (electric bass), Mark Whitfield Jr., (drums)

For more information on Nett Duo, visit their Motéma artist page at motema.com

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