Charles Moffett
b. 1 September 1929, Fort Worth, Texas, USA. Moffett began his career playing trumpet with local R&B groups, and in the same high school band as Ornette Coleman, but at the age of 16 he began to study percussion. In 1953 he gained a BA in music and went on to teach in Texas for eight years. Coleman had been best man at Moffett's wedding in 1952; in 1961 they met again, Moffett taking the drummer's stool in Coleman's band. During Coleman's lay off from performance in the early '60s, Moffett went back to teaching, but he was ready when the group reformed to tour Europe in 1965. In 1970, Moffett moved to California, where he resumed his teaching while playing with local players such as Steve Turre, Keshavan Maslak and Prince Lasha. He also formed groups with his students and with members of his family. During the '80s Moffett moved back to New York, where he teaches mentally retarded children and continues to play. Moffett's easy swing and perfect sense of time often seems to owe much to earlier styles while remaining a perfect foil for the avant garde musicians he most often accompanied. A recent, and rare, appearance on record was on Frank Lowe's DECISION IN PARADISE (c.80s).