Charles Moffett
Encyclopedia
Charles Moffett was a free jazz
drummer
.
Moffett began his musical career as a trumpeter before switching to drums. He is probably best known for his part in Ornette Coleman
's trio with David Izenzon
in the 1960s. He also appeared on other important albums of that period, such as Archie Shepp
's Four for Trane
. He also performed on vibraphone
.
Later in his career, he began teaching music at New York Public Schools including P.S. 58 (Carrol School) in Brooklyn and at P.S. 177 M (under the Manhattan Bridge
and now defunct). He also taught at a Brooklyn High School
, and was principal of the alternative Odyssey public school in Berkeley, California
in the mid-1970s. The title of his first solo album The Gift is a reference to his love of teaching music. His then 7-year-old son Codaryl played drums on that album.
His sons are double bassist Charnett Moffett
and drummer Codaryl "Cody" Moffett.
:
with Eric Dolphy
:
with Archie Shepp
:
with Prince Lasha
:
with Harold McNair
:
with the Charles Tyler
Ensemble:
with the Bob Thiele
Emergency:
with Frank Lowe
:
with Ahmed Abdullah
:
with Sonny Simmons
:
with Keshavan Maslak
:
with Kenny Millions:
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
.
Moffett began his musical career as a trumpeter before switching to drums. He is probably best known for his part in Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
's trio with David Izenzon
David Izenzon
David Izenzon was an American jazz double bassist.Izenzon began playing double bass at age twenty-four. He played locally in his hometown of Pittsburgh before moving to New York City in 1961...
in the 1960s. He also appeared on other important albums of that period, such as Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
's Four for Trane
Four for Trane
Four for Trane is a studio album by Archie Shepp released on Impulse! Records in 1964. Three of the five tracks are reworkings of pieces originally recorded on co-producer John Coltrane's 1960 Giant Steps, rearranged by Shepp and Roswell Rudd....
. He also performed on vibraphone
Vibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
.
Later in his career, he began teaching music at New York Public Schools including P.S. 58 (Carrol School) in Brooklyn and at P.S. 177 M (under the Manhattan Bridge
Manhattan Bridge
The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan with Brooklyn . It was the last of the three suspension bridges built across the lower East River, following the Brooklyn and the Williamsburg bridges...
and now defunct). He also taught at a Brooklyn High School
Brooklyn Technical High School
Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly called Brooklyn Tech or just Tech, and also administratively as High School 430, is a New York City public high school that specializes in engineering, math and science and is the largest specialized high school for science, technology, engineering, and...
, and was principal of the alternative Odyssey public school in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
in the mid-1970s. The title of his first solo album The Gift is a reference to his love of teaching music. His then 7-year-old son Codaryl played drums on that album.
His sons are double bassist Charnett Moffett
Charnett Moffett
Charnett Moffett is an American jazz musician who plays piccolo bass, double bass and bass guitar.Moffett's given name was created as a combination of that of his father and that of Ornette Coleman...
and drummer Codaryl "Cody" Moffett.
As leader
- "The Gift" (SavoySavoy RecordsSavoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part in popularizing bebop.Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part...
) - "The Charles Moffett Family-Vol. 1" (LRS)
- "Net Man" (Blue NoteBlue Note RecordsBlue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
) - "Beauty Within" (Blue Note)
- "Nettwork" (ManhattanManhattan RecordsManhattan Records is a United States record label, owned by EMI and operates as a subsidiary of The Blue Note Label Group.-Company history:Manhattan Records was formed in 1984 by Bruce Lundvall, and was later renamed EMI Manhattan Records after absorbing EMI America Records imprint...
) - "Magic of Love" (Venus)
- "It's Luv" (Venus)
- "Africano" (Venus)
- "Moffett & Son's" (Sweet Basil/Apollon)
As sideman
with Ornette ColemanOrnette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
:
- "Town Hall 1962Town Hall, 1962 (Ornette Coleman album)Town Hall, 1962 is an album by Ornette Coleman released on the ESP-Disk label. It was the first recording featuring at its heart his new trio after the ensemble of his Atlantic years....
" (ESP Disk) - "Chappaqua Suite" (CBSCBS RecordsCBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
) - "An Evening With Ornette Coleman" (Polydor InternationalPolydor RecordsPolydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
) - "The Paris Concert '65" (Magnetic)
- "Live at the Tivoli '65" (Magnetic)
- "At The "Golden Circle", Stockholm Volumes One and TwoAt the Golden Circle StockholmAt the Golden Circle Stockholm is a two-volume album by the Ornette Coleman Trio, documenting concerts on the nights of December 3 and 4, 1965, in the Gyllene Cirkeln club in Stockholm. It marked the beginning of Coleman's contract with Blue Note....
" (Blue Note) - "Who's Crazy? Vol. 1 & 2" (Jazz Atmosphere)
- "Lonely Woman" (BAT)
with Eric Dolphy
Eric Dolphy
Eric Allan Dolphy was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist. On a few occasions he also played the clarinet and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s...
:
- "Iron Man" (Douglas)
- "Memorial Album" (FM)
with Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
:
- "Four For Trane" (Impulse!)
with Prince Lasha
Prince Lasha
William B. Lawsha, better known as Prince Lasha , was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flautist, and clarinetist....
:
- "It Is Revealed" (Zounds)
- "Firebirds (album)Firebirds (album)Firebirds is a 1968 album by two American Jazz musicians, Prince Lasha and Sonny Simmons . Other participating musicians in this album were bassist Buster Williams, drummer Charles Moffett and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson...
" w/ Sonny SimmonsSonny SimmonsHuey "Sonny" Simmons is an American jazz musician.He grew up in Oakland, California, where he began playing the english horn. At age 16 he took up the alto saxophone, which became his primary instrument...
(ContemporaryContemporary RecordsContemporary Records was a jazz record label founded by Lester Koenig in 1951 in Los Angeles. Contemporary was known for seminal recordings embodying the West Coast sound, but also released recordings based in New York...
) - "Firebirds Vol. 3" (Birdseye)
with Harold McNair
Harold McNair
Harold McNair was a renowned saxophonist and flautist.-Background:...
:
- "Affectionate Fink" (IslandIsland RecordsIsland Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
)
with the Charles Tyler
Charles Tyler (musician)
Charles Lacy Tyler was an American jazz baritone saxophonist.Tyler was born in Cadiz, Kentucky and spent his childhood years in Indiana, New York City and Cleveland, Ohio...
Ensemble:
- "Charles Tyler Ensemble" (ESP Disk)
with the Bob Thiele
Bob Thiele
Bob Thiele was an American record producer who worked on countless classic jazz albums and record labels.-Biography:...
Emergency:
- "Head Start" (Flying Dutchman)
with Frank Lowe
Frank Lowe
Frank Lowe was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and composer.Born and brought up in Memphis, Tennessee, Lowe took up the tenor saxophone and then moved to San Francisco...
:
- "Decision In Paradise" (Soul Note)
- "Bodies & Soul" (CIMP)
with Ahmed Abdullah
Ahmed Abdullah
Ahmed Abdullah is a jazz trumpeter. He began playing when he was 13 years old. By the 1970s he was performing in New York's loft scene, and joined the Sun Ra Arkestra in 1976. Since that time he has played with Chico Freeman, Ronnie Boykins, Charles Brackeen, Steve Reid, John Hicks and Marion Brown...
:
- "Ahmed Abdullah and the Solomonic Quintet" (SilkheartSilkheart Records- External links :* *...
)
with Sonny Simmons
Sonny Simmons
Huey "Sonny" Simmons is an American jazz musician.He grew up in Oakland, California, where he began playing the english horn. At age 16 he took up the alto saxophone, which became his primary instrument...
:
- "Ancient Ritual" (QwestQwest RecordsQwest Records is the American record label started by Quincy Jones in 1980 as a joint venture with Warner Bros. Records, and owned byWarner Music Group. although Quincy was still under contract with A&M records through 1981. George Benson's 1980 Give Me the Night LP was the first release on Qwest,...
/RepriseReprise RecordsReprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
) - "Transcendence" (CIMP)
- "Judgement Day" (CIMP)
with Keshavan Maslak
Keshavan Maslak
Keshavan Maslak, who also performs under the stage name Kenny Millions is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, avant-garde performance artist, poet and restaurateur.-Biography:...
:
- "Blaster Master" (BlackSaint)
- "Big Time" (Daybreak)
with Kenny Millions:
- "Brother Charles" (Hum Ha)
- "Masking Tape Music" (Hum Ha)