Charnett Moffett

A virtuoso on bass, Charnett Moffett brought buoyant lyricism to his improvisations across acoustic post-bop, electric fusion, and contemporary jazz. Son of drummer Charles Moffett, Sr., he first drew notice in the 1980s as part of Wynton Marsalis’ ensemble and later collaborated with figures such as Tony Williams, Stanley Jordan, and Ornette Coleman. His own recordings reflected an expansive stylistic outlook; projects including Beauty Within from 1989, Planet Home from 1994, and Bright New Day from 2019 highlighted a harmonically dense, spiritually oriented vision of contemporary jazz. That same sensibility surfaced in his partnership with singer/guitarist Jana Herzen on Round the World in 2020 and New Love in 2021.

Born in New York City in 1967, Moffett entered a musical household headed by his father, drummer Charles Moffett, Sr. He took up the bass in early childhood and appeared on one of his father’s recordings at age eight. During his youth he frequently performed with siblings drummer Codaryl, singer Charisse, trumpeter Mondre, and tenor saxophonist Charles Jr. As a teenager he enrolled at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City, then continued studies at Mannes College of Music before attending Juilliard School of Music. While at Juilliard at age 16 he secured the bass position in trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’ quintet, remaining with the group more than two years and contributing to the Grammy-winning Black Codes (From the Underground) in 1985. During that period he also appeared on saxophonist Branford Marsalis’ debut Scenes in the City and recorded with Stanley Jordan, Sadao Watanabe, and Frank Lowe.

Moffett launched his solo career with the 1987 Blue Note release Net Man, which included tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker, keyboardist Kenny Drew, Jr., guitarist Stanley Jordan, drummer Al Foster, keyboardist Kenny Kirkland, and several family members, among them his father. His follow-up, Beauty Within, arrived in 1989 and adopted a more fusion-leaning crossover approach featuring Kenny Garrett and Stanley Jordan; the album reached number eight on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Albums chart.

Throughout the 1990s Moffett worked extensively as a sideman with Tony Williams, Slide Hampton, Mulgrew Miller, Monty Alexander, Sonny Sharrock, David Sanborn, Arturo Sandoval, and Diane Reeves, among many others, and maintained a regular association with Ornette Coleman between 1993 and 1995. On his own he pursued a fusion and post-bop blend, issuing Nettwork in 1991 with keyboardist Kirkland, Planet Home in 1994 with pianist Geoff Keezer and drummer Victor Lewis, and Still Life in 1997 with pianist Rachel Z and drummer Cindy Blackman.

After additional sessions with Wallace Roney, Harry Connick, Jr., and Herbie Hancock, Moffett resumed solo activity with the spiritually oriented For the Love of Peace in 2004, recorded with pianist Scott Brown and siblings trumpeter Mondre Moffett and drummer Codaryl Moffett. World and spiritual influences persisted on 2006’s Internet, again with Brown and drummer Eric McPherson. Around this time he began a sustained collaboration with singer/guitarist Jana Herzen, first documented on Passion of a Lonely Heart in 2007.

Moffett next delivered the eclectic, world-music-inflected Art of Improvisation in 2009 and the East Indian-tinged Treasure in 2010. Two albums appeared in 2013: the solo-bass collection Bridge: Solo Bass Works and the expansive, Eastern-leaning Spirit of Sound. Music from Our Soul, released in 2017, featured drummers Jeff “Tain” Watts, Mike Clark, and Victor Lewis in rotation, along with saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, guitarist Stanley Jordan, and percussionist Babatunde Lea. In 2020 Moffett and Herzen married and issued their second joint album, Round the World, which contained interpretations of songs by Joni Mitchell and the Beatles. Their subsequent fusion-oriented New Love, released in 2021, included Moffett on vocals. Moffett died of a heart attack on April 11, 2022, at age 54.