ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC BIG BAND

A pro jazz musician and successful pop session keyboard player in London for many years, Charlie directed the Royal College of Music Big Band from 1999-2007 (pictured above), coaching and leading some of the top young jazz musicians in the UK. Charlie has directed ensembles of many kinds, and even in choral contexts specializes in working in groove-based styles, group improvisation and working by ear. All of this has its origins in his early career in London’s fertile jazz, pop music and musical theater scenes.

Below are two recordings of his final concert with the RCM big band in June 2007, the day these photos above were taken. The first is part of Maria Schneider’s original composition ‘Hanggliding’:

And the second is an extract from Quincy Jones’s classic ‘Quintessence’:

At this gig, the RCM big band recorded the first ever jazz CD produced by the Royal College of Music, which included several movements from Maria Schneider’s Grammy-winning suite ‘Allegresse’. Other tunes included Pat Metheny’s ‘Minuano’ and arrangements by Bob Brookmeyer, Bill Dobbins and the unique Clayton-Hamilton band.

Charlie also ran his own big band professionally for several years in the early 1990s, conducted big bands at college level for over 20 years, at universities in the UK including Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, Brunel University and Kingston University. He also taught jazz, arranging and improvising to high-school aged kids at the Purcell School, and a number of UK colleges and universities.

Charlie still does private jazz teaching in Brooklyn, New York, mentors mainstream educators in pop styles, and writes new big band compositions and arrangements.