THE NEW YORK TIMES EXCLUSIVELY PREMIERES ETIENNE CHARLES’ CREOLE SOUL

 

photo credit Laura Ferreira

THE NEW YORK TIMES EXCLUSIVELY PREMIERES
ETIENNE CHARLES’ CREOLE SOUL

OUT JULY 23 ON CULTURE SHOCK MUSIC

WORLD TOUR THROUGHOUT SUMMER AND FALL

“Mr. Charles knows how to make an album more than just a calling card for a small band, and how to sequence it too; he’s an auteur.”—The New York Times

“[Charles] hones a velvet, supple tone that’s as melodically captivating as it is rhythmically agile…there’s always a gracefulness to Charles’ playing that’s immediately pleasing.”—Downbeat

Trinidad-born trumpeter Etienne Charles’ fourth full-length release, Creole Soul, is premiering exclusively at The New York Times’ “Press Play;” the album can be streamed at http://www.nytimes.com/pressplay.

Creole Soul is out July 23 on Culture Shock Music. An exploration of Charles’ musical roots featuring sounds from the French, Spanish and English speaking Caribbean as well as North America, the album highlights myriad inspirations from Haitian creole chants and blues to bebop and R&B while drawing on an array of rhythms including Rocksteady, Reggae, Bel Air, Kongo and Calypso.

Performing alongside Charles on Creole Soul are Jacques Schwartz-Bart (tenor saxophone), Brian Hogans (alto saxophone), Alex Wintz (guitar), Obed Calvaire (drums), D’Achee and Daniel Sadownick (percussion), as well as Thelonious Monk Competition winners Kris Bowers (piano & Fender Rhodes) and Ben Williams (bass). The record features a half-dozen original compositions by Charles in addition to interpretations of Thelonious Monk’s “Green Chimneys,” Willie Cobbs’ classic “You Don’t Love Me (No No No),” Winsford Devine’s “Memories” and Bob Marley’s “Turn Your Lights Down Low.”

Etienne is celebrating his newest release with a world tour, including stops at Jazz at Lincoln Center in Doha, Qatar, Le Poisson Rouge in New York, Washington, DC’s Bohemian Caverns and more. Please see below for a complete list of dates.

Charles has been hailed as “a daring improviser” by Jazz Times while Ben Ratliff of The New York Times called him “one of the more ambitious soloists and composers.” A musician and professor at Michigan State University, Charles studied under piano virtuoso Marcus Roberts at Florida State University and Mark Gould, former principal trumpeter of the Metropolitan Opera, at Juilliard. He was also mentored by Jamaican reggae and jazz luminary Monty Alexander and the late multiple Grammy Award-winning Trinidadian-American percussionist/songwriter Ralph MacDonald.

ETIENNE CHARLES TOUR DATES

July 19-20    Washington, DC    Bohemian Caverns
July 23    New York, NY    Le Poisson Rouge
July 27    Philadelphia, PA    La Rose
August 4    Toronto, ON    Daniels Spectrum
August 8    Cincinnati, OH    It’s Commonly Jazz
August 15    Denver, CO    Dazzle Jazz
August 16    Los Angeles, CA    Blue Whale
August 18    Santa Barbara, CA    Soho
August 19    Santa Cruz, CA    Kuumbwa Jazz Center
August 20    Oakland, CA    Piedmont Piano
September 12    E. Lansing, MI    Broad Art Museum
September 13    Cleveland, OH    Nighttown
September 14    Ann Arbor, MI    Kerrytown Concert House
September 30-October 19    Doha, Qatar    Jazz at Lincoln Center Doha