Denis Alphonso Charles (December 4, 1933 – March 26, 1998) was a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

drummer.

Biography

Charles was born in St. Croix,

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands () are an archipelago between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Caribbean Sea, geographically forming part of the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, Caribbean islands or West Indie ...

, and first played

bongos Bongos (Spanish language, Spanish: ''bongó'') are an Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. The pair consists of the larger ''hembra'' () and the smaller ''macho'' ...

at age seven with local ensembles in the Virgin Islands. In 1945, he moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, and gigged frequently around town. In 1954, he began working with

Cecil Taylor Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in comple ...

, and the pair collaborated until 1958. Following this he played with

Steve Lacy Steve Thomas Lacy-Moya (born May 23, 1998) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer. He gained recognition as the guitarist of the alternative R&B band the Internet, which he joined in 2015. His self-produced debut EP, '' ...

Gil Evans Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans (né Green; May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a Canadian Americans, Canadian–American jazz pianist, Music arranger, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators i ...

, and

Jimmy Giuffre James Peter Giuffre (, ; April 26, 1921 – April 24, 2008) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He is known for developing forms of jazz which allowed for free interplay between the musicians, anticipating f ...

. He befriended

Ed Blackwell Edward Joseph Blackwell (October 10, 1929 – October 7, 1992) was an American jazz drummer, best known known for his work with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. Biography Blackwell was born in New Orleans on October 10, 1929. His career began ther ...

, and the two influenced each other. He recorded with

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixt ...

on a calypso-tinged set, and then returned to time with Lacy, with whom he played until 1964. He worked with

Archie Shepp Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz. Biography Early life Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but ...

and

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. He played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins. After concluding a playing career in the A ...

in 1967, but heroin addiction saw him leave the record industry until 1971. In the 1970s and 1980s, he played regularly on the New York jazz scene with

Frank Lowe Frank Lowe (June 24, 1943 – September 19, 2003) was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and composer. Biography Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Lowe took up the tenor saxophone at the age of 12. As an adult he moved to San Francisco, where h ...

, David Murray,

Charles Tyler Admiral Sir Charles Tyler, GCB (1760 – 28 September 1835) was a naval officer in the British Royal Navy who gained fame during the Napoleonic Wars as a naval captain that fought at the Battle of Copenhagen (1801) and Battle of Trafalgar, bec ...

Billy Bang Billy Bang (September 20, 1947 – April 11, 2011), born William Vincent Walker, was an American free jazz violinist and composer. Biography Bang's family moved to New York City's Bronx neighborhood while he was still an infant, and as a ...

, and others, and also played

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

, and traditional

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

music. He released three discs as a leader between 1989 and 1992, and died of pneumonia in his sleep in New York in 1998. Charles died four days after a five-week European tour with the Borgmann/Morris/Charles (BMC) Trio, with

Wilber Morris Wilber Morris (November 27, 1937 - August 8, 2002) was an American jazz double bass player and bandleader. He was the brother of the cornetist, composer, and conductor Butch Morris.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Wilber Morris recorded widely, and performed with su ...

and Thomas Borgmann. His last concert with this trio took place at the Berlin's Willy-Brandt-Haus. With the BMC Trio he recorded some albums in his last two years. A fifth CD was released after he died: ''The Last Concert - Dankeschön'',

Silkheart Records Silkheart Records is a Swedish record company and label dedicated to improvised music and free jazz. Lars-Olof Gustavsson and Keith Knox founded Silkheart in 1985. In 1991, Jimmy Johnson of Forced Exposure suggested that Silkheart "could easily ...

, 1999. In 2002,

Veronique Doumbe Veronique Doumbe is a Cameroonian and West Indian independent filmmaker. She is the founder of Ndolo Films and is known as the director of The Birthday Party (2009), the 2010 winner of the Berlin Black International Cinema Festival Prize Best ...

released a film documentary, ''Denis A. Charles: An Interrupted Conversation'', about the life of Charles.

Discography

As leader or co-leader

* 1989: ''Queen Mary'' ( Silkheart) * 1991: ''

Captain of the Deep ''Captain of the Deep'' is an album by the American jazz drummer Denis Charles, which was recorded live in 1991 at the Zuid-Nederlands Jazz Festival and released in 1998 on the Eremite label. The album was issued to the public on the day Charles ...

'' (

Eremite A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

) * 1992: ''A Scream for Charles Tyler'' (Adda) * 1998: ''Drum Talk'' (Wobbly Rail) with

Susie Ibarra Susie Ibarra (born Anaheim, California, Anaheim, November 15, 1970) is an American contemporary composer and percussionist who has worked and recorded with jazz, classical music, classical, world, and indigenous musicians. One of SPIN's "100 Grea ...

As sideman

With

* 1956: ''

Jazz Advance ''Jazz Advance'' is the debut album by pianist Cecil Taylor, recorded for the Transition label in September 1956. The album features performances by Taylor with Buell Neidlinger, Denis Charles and Steve Lacy. Music The album contains three ...

'' ( Transition) * 1958: '' At Newport'' (

Verve Verve may refer to: Music * The Verve, an English rock band * '' The Verve E.P.'', a 1992 EP by The Verve * ''Verve'' (R. Stevie Moore album) * Verve Records, an American jazz record label Businesses * Verve Coffee Roasters, an American coffee h ...

) * 1959: '' Looking Ahead!'' (

Contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

) * 1959: '' Love for Sale'' (

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

) * 1959: ''In Transition'' (

Blue Note Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue no ...

) * 1960: ''

The World of Cecil Taylor ''The World of Cecil Taylor'' is an album by Cecil Taylor, recorded for the Candid label in October 1960. The album features performances by Taylor with Archie Shepp, Buell Neidlinger and Denis Charles. Alternate takes from these sessions were r ...

'' ( Candid) * 1960: ''

Air An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

'' (Candid) * 1961: '' Cell Walk for Celeste'' (Candid) * 1961: '' Jumpin' Punkins'' (Candid) * 1961: '' New York City R&B'' (Candid) with

Buell Neidlinger Buell Neidlinger (March 2, 1936 – March 16, 2018) was an American cellist and double bassist. He has worked with a variety of pop and jazz performers, prominently with iconoclastic pianist Cecil Taylor in the 1950s and '60s. Biography Neidling ...

With

* 1958: ''

Soprano Sax The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly smaller ...

'' (

Prestige Prestige may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films *Prestige (film), ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnett: woman travels to French Indochina to meet up with husband *The Prestige (film), ''The Prestige'' (fi ...

) * 1963: ''School Days'' * 1979: ''

Capers ''Capparis spinosa'', the caper bush, also called Flinders rose, is a perennial plant that bears rounded, fleshy leaves and large white to pinkish-white flowers. The taxonomic status of the species is controversial and unsettled. Species with ...

'' (

hat Hut Hathut Records is a Swiss record company and label founded by Werner Xavier Uehlinger in 1974 that specializes in jazz and classical music. The name of the label comes from the artwork of Klaus Baumgartner. Hathut encompasses the labels hat ART, ...

) * 1982: '' The Flame'' (

Soul Note Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz. History Black S ...

) With

* 1959: '' Great Jazz Standards'' (

World Pacific Pacific Jazz Records was a Los Angeles–based record company and label best known for cool jazz or West coast jazz. It was founded in 1952 by producer Richard Bock (1927–1988) and drummer Roy Harte (1924–2003). Harte, in 1954, also co-founde ...

) With

* 1962: ''

What's New? "What's New?" is a 1939 popular song composed by Bob Haggart, with lyrics by Johnny Burke. It was originally an instrumental tune titled "I'm Free" by Haggart in 1938, when Haggart was a member of Bob Crosby and His Orchestra. The tune was writ ...

'' (

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

) With

* 1967: '' The Magic of Ju-Ju'' ( Impulse!) With Peter Kuhn * 1979: ''Livin' Right'' (Big City) * 1981: ''

The Kill "The Kill" (written "The Kill (Bury Me)" on the single and music video) is a song by American band Thirty Seconds to Mars. The song was released on January 24, 2006 as the second single from their second album, ''A Beautiful Lie''. It was certi ...

'' (Soul Note) With

* 1981: '' Rainbow Gladiator'' (Soul Note) * 1982: '' Untitled Gift'' (Anima) * 1982: '' Invitation'' (Soul Note) * 1982: '' Bangception'' (hat MUSICS, 1983); reissued as ''Bangception, Willisau 1982'' (HatOLOGY, 1998) * 1988: '' Valve No. 10'' (Soul Note) * 1996: '' Spirits Gathering'' (CIMP) With

Jemeel Moondoc Jemeel Moondoc (August 5, 1946 – August 29, 2021) was a jazz saxophonist who played alto saxophone. He was a proponent of a highly improvisational style. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and studied clarinet and piano before set ...

* 1981: '' Konstanze's Delight'' (Soul Note) * 1981: '' We Don't'' (Eremite, issued 2003) * 1986: '' Nostalgia in Times Square'' (Soul Note) With

Wilber Morris Wilber Morris (November 27, 1937 - August 8, 2002) was an American jazz double bass player and bandleader. He was the brother of the cornetist, composer, and conductor Butch Morris.

Wilber Morris recorded widely, and performed with su ...

and

* 1981: ''Collective Improvisations'' (Bleu Regard, 1994) With The Jazz Doctors ( Rafael Garrett,

) * 1983: ''Intensive Care'' (

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

) With Rob Brown * 1990: '' Breath Rhyme'' (Silkheart) With William Parker * 1980: ''

Through Acceptance of the Mystery Peace ''Through Acceptance of the Mystery Peace'' is an album by bassist William Parker, his debut as a leader. It was recorded during 1974–1979, and was initially released on LP in limited quantities by Parker's Centering label in 1980. In 1998, the ...

'' (Centering) * 1995: '' In Order to Survive'' (

Black Saint Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italy, Italian independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz. History ...

) With John Blum (pianist) * 1998: ''Astrogeny'' (Eremite, 2005) With

Raphe Malik Raphe Malik, born Laurence Mazel (November 1, 1948 in Cambridge, Massachusetts – March 8, 2006 in Guilford, Vermont) was an American jazz trumpeter. Career Malik studied at the University of Massachusetts (1966–70), then moved to Paris, whe ...

* 1999: ''

ConSequences Consequence may refer to: Philosophy, science and social sciences * Logical consequence, also known as a ''consequence relation'', or ''entailment'' * Consequent, in logic, the second half of a hypothetical proposition or consequences * Consequent ...

'' (Eremite) With Sirone * 2005: ''

Live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film * ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film *'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...

'' (Atavistic)

References

External links

Audio Recordings of WCUW Jazz Festivals - Jazz History Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, Denis 1933 births 1998 deaths People from Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands Jazz drummers Deaths from pneumonia in New York (state) 20th-century drummers