Etienne Charles

MUSICIAN, COMPOSER, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI PROFESSOR

Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Etienne Charles is a leading composer and performer of Caribbean/Jazz fusion music. Himself an accomplished trumpet player, he is currently an associate professor of studio music and jazz at the University of Miami (UM) Frost School of Music, where he directs the jazz band. A graduate of the prestigious Juilliard School in New York, he is also a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, and has recorded numerous albums, including “Creole Orchestra,” “San Jose Suite,” “Carnival: The Sound of a People,” and “Creole Soul,” the No. 3 Jazz Album of the Year in 2013. He has been featured as a band leader at the Newport Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Atlanta Jazz Festival, and many others, and has performed as a sideman to a roster of leading artists, including Roberta Flack, Marcus Roberts and the Count Basie Orchestra. The Lincoln Center has twice commissioned him as a composer and arranger.

CURRENT ACCOMPLISHMENT

Charles most recently produced and directed a multimedia performance of his compositions at UM’s Gusman Concert Hall, which was a special collaboration between the Frost Studio Jazz Band and the Peter London Global Dance Company. The choreography of Peter London, a fellow native of Trinidad and Tobago, was set to Charles’ acclaimed genre-defying suites “Bacchanal Tuesday,” “As an Offering,” and “Green Thumb,” blending live jazz and movement to tell stories rooted in Carnival, ritual, resilience, and Caribbean identity. The project highlights the Frost School’s role as a national hub for artistic collaboration. He was also recently commissioned to compose “Jazz Island” for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

WHAT HE SAYS

“What do I hope Miami audiences take away from this [recent] performance? I want them to feel proud of being in Miami and understanding that Miami is a place where these types of events can happen, a Big Band on-stage with a dance troupe led by a Caribbean visionary,” says Charles. “I want the people of Miami to understand that this collaboration could not have happened without the city of Miami… without the city of Coral Gables… without the University of Miami…. I want [them] to feel a sense of pride and a greater understanding of the fact that we are all here from somewhere, and that we all bring different energies, ideas, ideals, dishes, dances, songs, stories, books, styles of clothing – we bring all of these different elements of culture to this great metropolitan area. And I want people to feel proud and understand that we’re all here together.” – J.P. Faber