User:Heather3886/Etienne Charles

Etienne Charles (Musician) (born July 24th, 1983) is a Trinidadian born Jazz Trumpeter and composer. He is the Assistant Professor of Jazz Trumpet at Michigan State University College of Music as well as an internationally touring bandleader and musician. He made his recording debut in 2006 with the album Culture Shock, at the age of 23. The album featured pianist extraordinaire Marcus Roberts, Ralph MacDonald, trombonist Vincent Gardner, Len "Boogsie" Sharpe, vocalist Pam Laws, Rodney Jordan on Bass and Leon Anderson on drums. In addition to having such highly acclaimed musicians featured on his first album, Charles has performed and recorded with Wynton Marsalis, Monty Alexander, Roberta Flack, Count Basie Orchestra, Frank Foster, Gerald Wilson, Marie Schneider, Johnny Mandel, and Benny Golson, among many others. In 2006, he won the National Trumpet Competition, Jazz division, in Fairfax, Virginia.

Life and Career
An accomplished trumpeter, steel pan and cuatro player, Etienne Charles defies easy musical categorization.

Etienne was born to Francis and ____ Charles in ____ Trinidad. Etienne's grandfather Ralph Charles, was a cuatro player who recorded on the classic folk and calypso recordings of the Growling Tiger. His father, Francis was a member of the Trinidadian progressive steel band Phase II Pan Groove, which Etienne would later join. Growing up listening to his father's record collection of recordings of calypso, steel pan, and African Shango drumming, he ultimately incorporates these styles into his musical arrangements and playing.

Etienne first attended the Bishop Anstey School where he began playing the recorder. He received his first trumpet at the age of 10 from his Uncle. As a result of constantly playing the instrument in his neighborhood, he began taking formal lessons. Attending the prestigious Fatima College, he excelled in music, academics and sports. Etienne, was a member of the school's football, cricket, swimming and water polo teams and won the Provincial Cup three times. He also studied trumpet briefly with Major Edouard Wade and then at the Brass Institute where he would became the youngest member of the school’s professional band, TBI Brass. Etienne added drums and percussion to his musical arsenal landing his first theatre job, in the pit playing percussion for local productions of My Fair Lady and Treasure Island. By then, Etienne also accompanied his father on the yearly ritual of playing on the road during the Carnival season on J'ouvert morning, Carnival Monday and Tuesday as well as for the Panorama Steel Pan Competition with Phase II.

At the age of 16, Etienne attended the Summer Preformance Program at Berklee College of Music where he studied with Lin Biviano and Tiger Okoshi. Three years later, he received a full scholarship to attend Florida State Univerity, studying under Scotty Barnhart (Count Basie Orchestra) and the distiguished pianist and teacher Marcus Roberts. During his undergraduate years, Etienne excelled in competitions such as the 2005 International Trumpet Guild Jazz Competition in Bangkok, Thailand, where he placed second and performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague, Netherlands. The year 2006 proved to be a big for Etienne where he placed 1st in the National Trumpet Competition in Fairfax, Virginia. He also attended the [[Henry Mancini|Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles where he recorded on the album Elevation, which received two Grammy Award nominations.  Etienne graduated Florida State as the College of Music Brautlecht Scholar with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music.

Etienne received a full scholarship to pursue his Master’s degree at the world-renowned Juilliard School of Music in New York City. At Juilliard, he studied with Mark Gould, Joe Wilder and Chris Jaudes and toured extensively to Qatar, Costa Rica, Aiken, SC and St. Louis, MO with the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra. Fascinated with the New York City jazz scene, he began to freelance arduously around NYC. He has performed and recorded with greats in many different genres including Grammy Award winners Roberta Flack, Wynton Marsalis, Johnny Mandel, Ralph MacDonald, Maria Schneider, the Count Basie Orchestra as well as Marcus Roberts, Monty Alexander, Frank Foster, Wycliffe Gordon, Rene Marie, Lord Blakie and David Rudder.

Musical Accomplishments
His debut album, Culture Shock (2006), features a unique mélange of Afro-Caribbean rhythms and straight-ahead jazz. Pianist extraordinaire Marcus Roberts is featured, with Ralph MacDonald, trombonist Vincent Gardner, Len “Boogsie” Sharpe, vocalist Pam Laws, and the hard swinging and solid rhythm section of Rodney Jordan and Leon Anderson on bass and drums respectively. This all-star cast brought together Charles’s diverse influences and created a unified, fresh, and urgent musical presentation. In August 2007 Etienne made his New York debut as a leader at the New York City’s Museum of Modern Art Summergarden series where he premiered Folklore Tales - a suite of original music inspired by the folklore characters of Trinidad.

In 2009 Etienne released Folklore, an enticing album of original music. The music employs jazz improvisation and harmony with folk rhythms and chants inspired by the African experience of Trinidad & Tobago. At album’s core is a suite of compositions based on characters of the Afro-Caribbean folkloric tradition: La Diablesse, Douens, Soucouyant, Mama D’lo, Mama Malade and Papa Bois. These mythical creatures have been a part of the Caribbean folk heritage for centuries as they were brought over by West African slaves and passed down from generation to generation through stories, chants and dances. The album explores these stories, interpreting images and tales and opening up a true rhythmic and harmonic dialogue between history, tradition and multiple music genres. Etienne shares the spotlight with two of the most acclaimed artistes of Trinidadian origin, steel pannist extraordinaire Len “Boogsie” Sharpe, and Grammy award winning percussionist Ralph MacDonald. In this connection, Etienne’s employment of the four-stringed cuatro, together with the La Vrai and extempo motifs, call attention to his thorough immersion and deep study of the calypso and Trinidadian folk music genres. This landmark recording also features Guadeloupean saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart, Milan Milanovic on piano, Luques Curtis on bass, drummer Obed Calvaire, percussionists D’Achee & Ray Charles as well as vocalists Keith ‘Designer’ Prescott, Wendell Manwarren and Roger Roberts.

2009-present
On ______ Etienne was the band leader on multiple dates with sold-out shows at the world-renowned Dizzy's Club: Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center where Wynton Marsalis in the Artistic Director. He was also asked to play at DC Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center Millenium Stage. Most notably, he was the bandleader and musical director of the acclaimed PanJazz2010 featuring Caribbean Jazz musicians, where he has yet another soldout show at thr Allen Room in Lincoln Center.

Etienne is presently finishing up his third album entitled Kaiso, which features new arrangements of classic Trinidadian songs by the Mighty Sparrow and ______, as well as many others. The album encompasses not only elements of classic Trinidadian folklore and modern jazz, but also a full orchestra. Kaiso also bolsters a notable list of featured musicians such as Monty Alexander, _______.

Awards and Recognition
1st 2006 National Trumpet Competition 2nd 2005 International Trumpet Guild Jazz Competition

Accolades
Assistant Professor of Jazz Trumpet at Michigan State University College of Music Juilliard School of Music- Masters in Jazz Trumpet Performance Florida State University- Bachelor of Arts in Jazz Performance

Studio Albums
Culture Shock(2006) Folklore2009) Kaiso(TBD)