Charnett Moffett, the Bay Area jazz star who worked with Art Blakey, Ornette Coleman, Pharoah Sanders, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and so many other legendary artists during an almost 40-year career, has died at the age of 54.
From a statement shared by his family:
…The beloved and iconic jazz bass innovator, composer, and leader Charnett Moffett suddenly passed away due to a heart attack late Monday night, April 12th. He was with Jana Herzen, his wife of two years and musical collaborator of twelve years at the time. He was pronounced dead at Stanford University Hospital.
Mr. Moffett had privately been struggling with bouts of intense pain from Trigeminal Neuralgia for the past few years and Herzen and the family suspect that the heart attack was a complication of that condition. The family is in shock and devastated, but also is happy that he is finally out of pain and that his indomitable, vastly creative, mercurial, high flying, and joyful spirit is now free to fly even higher and even freer in the place “that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined” (1st CO 2:9).
The family will have a private memorial service in California on Sunday, April 24, and is looking into arrangements to honor Charnett’s musical and spiritual contributions with a life celebration ceremony in New York City in late August or early September.
Please respect their privacy at this time.
Charnett Moffett: June 10, 1967 – April 11, 2022
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