1990s–2010s
From the late 1980s through the 2010s, Worrell recorded extensively with producer Bill Laswell, including on Sly and Robbie's 1987 Rhythm Killers, the 1985 Fela Kuti album Army Arrangement, and two albums in the 1990s with jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders (Save Our Children and Message From Home). He became a visible member of the jam band scene, performing at large summer music festivals, sometimes billed as "Bernie Worrell and the Woo Warriors," and later as "The Bernie Worrell Orchestra." Worrell frequently performed with Warren Haynes's band Gov't Mule. Between the years 1989 and 2003, he appeared on several Jack Bruce albums, including A Question of Time, Cities of the Heart, Monkjack, and More Jack than God.
When The Late Show with David Letterman launched in August 1993, Worrell was a founding member of the CBS Orchestra, playing lead synthesizer. That following November, Worrell departed once the orchestra added a horn section.
In 1994, Worrell appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation album, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool. The album, meant to raise awareness and funds in support of the AIDS epidemic in the African-American community, was heralded as "Album of the Year" by Time magazine.
In 2002, after meeting at the Bonnaroo music festival, Worrell, bassist Les Claypool of Primus, guitarist Buckethead, and drummer Brain formed the supergroup Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains. They released one album, The Big Eyeball in the Sky (2004).
Around that same time, Worrell formed Black Jack Johnson with Mos Def, Will Calhoun, Doug Wimbish, and Dr. Know. In 2004, they appeared on Mos Def's album The New Danger. That same year, he appeared in the documentary Moog, about synthesizer pioneer Robert Moog.
In 2009, he joined longtime Parliament-Funkadelic guitarist DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight, bassist Melvin Gibbs, and drummer J.T. Lewis to form the band SociaLybrium, who toured Europe. Their album For You/For Us/For All was released on Livewired Music in January 2010. He toured with Bootsy Collins, another major figure from Parliament-Funkadelic, in 2011.
From 2011 through 2015, Worrell performed with his group, The Bernie Worrell Orchestra. The band, which was formed out of a partnership with a young New Jersey producer named Evan Taylor, was known for appearance of special guests at their live performances, including Bootsy Collins, Jerry Harrison, bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, Blondie keyboardist Jimmy Destri, bassist Mike Watt of Minutemen and Firehose, and Captain Beefheart guitarist Gary Lucas. They released two albums, BWO is Landing and Prequel.
In 2012 and 2013, Worrell also played a series of concerts with rock guitarist Steve Kimock, Gov't Mule bassist Andy Hess, and vocalist-percussionist Camille Armstrong. In 2013, Kimock's son John Morgan Kimock played drums for the group.
In 2015, Worrell appeared in the movie Ricki and the Flash as Billy, the keyboard player in Meryl Streep's band. The film, about a woman who leaves her family behind to join a rock band, reunited Worrell with director Jonathan Demme, who had directed the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense.
Worrell and Preston Singletary cofounded the indigenous music group Khu.éex'.
