Denis Charles

Before he passed away at the age of 64 from pneumonia, drummer Denis Charles enjoyed a diverse and nomadic career. Born in St. Croix, Charles began his professional musical career at the age of seven playing bongos with a local band. Charles moved to New York in 1945. Enamored deeply with <a href="spotify:artist:6QQuESLtKhAOcLW2TeWC2t">Art Blakey</a>'s physical style, Charles began playing anywhere and everywhere. He met <a href="spotify:artist:5jtGuhEEDh07yaFfm8qHg7">Cecil Taylor</a> in 1954 and the two began to play together, culminating in <a href="spotify:artist:5jtGuhEEDh07yaFfm8qHg7">Taylor</a>'s 1958 set, Looking Ahead. After this stint with <a href="spotify:artist:5jtGuhEEDh07yaFfm8qHg7">Taylor</a>, Charles met and played with <a href="spotify:artist:1BEsuwAkTQMG50TeHB5qny">Steve Lacy</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7g9DeYASD3RzlT4kDchsQZ">Gil Evans</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:4RncsrNJ1GDGsFBIxI76L6">Jimmy Giuffre</a> (Charles was the drummer that <a href="spotify:artist:4RncsrNJ1GDGsFBIxI76L6">Giuffre</a> decided was his last and began recording without one). Charles also met drummer <a href="spotify:artist:6OyNnPUKtNrjm5QQkK0Px9">Ed Blackwell</a>, who would become his greatest influence. <a href="spotify:artist:6OyNnPUKtNrjm5QQkK0Px9">Blackwell</a>'s polyrhythmic approach sat well with Charles, who was reconnecting with the rhythms of his island childhood. When Charles met <a href="spotify:artist:1VEzN9lxvG6KPR3QQGsebR">Sonny Rollins</a> (who also has Caribbean roots), they recorded a lackluster set of calypso-influenced jazz tunes. Undaunted and forever itinerant, Charles returned to <a href="spotify:artist:1BEsuwAkTQMG50TeHB5qny">Lacy</a>'s band and stayed though 1964. In 1967, he played with <a href="spotify:artist:7C2DSqaNkh0w77O5Jz1FKh">Archie Shepp</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3uPWecBPNXAChysw1uOJwI">Don Cherry</a>, but fell onto hard times until 1971. He became a fixture on New York's downtown scene, guested on dozens of recordings, and played tours with <a href="spotify:artist:5oUw6Uc3gqee9yccwr9mur">Frank Lowe</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:00SOiqZ0YGY2JhjSPxZMZg">David Murray</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3vUKE8RtjtiowUq8FSYHAF">Charles Tyler</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1ytHXKB2HiX4Bmz8KhjjD5">Billy Bang</a>, and others. Charles played funk, all kinds of jazz, rock, and even Caribbean folk music. His first of three recordings under his own name was a set of Crucian material called Queen Mary, after a sugarcane field worker who led a worker's insurrection against the Danes. After a final tour with <a href="spotify:artist:1AJxHHB7aEkXsIhtdb6HQE">Wilber Morris</a>, Charles fell ill and passed away in his sleep. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi