Denis Charles

[fasstrack]

Anyone here remember Denis? He was a good guy and player. We played in a street band years ago led by a trombone player who jumped up and down while playing what seemed like 80 choruses on what he called 'Tenodd Medness'. Denis would stand up after a while and tell the guy 'I love you, but why don't you learn some new songs?' I hope Denis isn't forgotten about:

http://www.denischarles.com/

Edited September 7, 2016 by fasstrack

[JSngry]

Not forgotten here!

[paul secor]

Nor here!

[clifford_thornton]

One of my favorites.

Also that website seems pretty out of date (the guestbook doesn't work, and Denis' 70th birthday would have been in 2003). Too bad as I'd buy one of those t-shirts in a heartbeat.

[felser]

I love the Cecil Taylor sides with him and Buell Neidlinger.  Fascinating rhythm section.

[B. Clugston]

I was just listening to his fantastic drumming on Steve Lacy's Capers just the other day. Definitely not forgotten.

[uli]

 

 

Edited September 7, 2016 by uli

[Steve Reynolds]

Captain of the Deep, baby

 

[JSngry]

3 hours ago, B. Clugston said:

I was whatevertening to his fantastic drummin g on Steve Lacy's Capers just the other day. Definitely not forgotten.

Yeah, that's not always a critical favorite or whatever, but afaic, pure zone.

[jlhoots]

2 hours ago, Steve Reynolds said:

Captain of the Deep, baby

 

Yes - indeed!!

[Joe]

He also sounds great on these  Billy Bang sessions: RAINBOW GLADIATOR and VALVE NO. 10.

[jeffcrom]

I love Charles with Cecil Taylor, Steve Lacy (early, middle, and late), Billy Bang, etc. But don't overlook Drum Talk on Wobbly Rail. It's a wonderful duo album with Susie Ibarra. No, an hour's worth of drum/percussion duets is not boring at all; it's varied and fascinating.

Drum Talk is out of print, but it looks like it can be had pretty cheaply if you look around.

[fasstrack]

Thanks, gents, for the nice response. Good to know he's remembered. I liked him.

FWIW: That street band played by the fountain just east of the Plaza Hotel. The other members were a bassist from Japan whose name I've  long since forgotten (I do remember he had Sam Jones's autograph on his bass), and a 20-year-old Don Braden, new in town. That trombone player has long since receded into the ranks of jazz supernumeraries, a crowded field...

13 hours ago, felser said:

I love the Cecil Taylor sides with him and Buell Neidlinger.  Fascinating rhythm section.

He also played with Sonny Rollins in the Bridge period. According to Denis, everyone in the group got a vote on whether to keep him---and Jim Hall voted him out (possibly because of his 'habits')...

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, jeffcrom said:

I love Charles with Cecil Taylor, Steve Lacy (early, middle,itand late), Billy Bang, etc. But don't overlook Drum Talk on Wobbly Rail. It's a wonderful duo album with Susie Ibarra. No, an hour's worth of drum/percussion duets is not boring at all; it's varied and fascinating.

Drum Talk is out of print, but it looks like it can be had pretty cheaply if you look around.

Second that. Stephan Wood had a copy for sale here not that long ago. I was fortunate enough to grabe diem. Marvelous music.

[soulpope]

Second the appraisal of "New York Capers" ....

[paul secor]

Billy Bang - Dennis Charles (as he was known at that time): Bangception (hat Musics)

and

The Jazz Doctors: Intensive Care (Cadillac)

[soulpope]

1 hour ago, paul secor said:

The Jazz Doctors: Intensive Care (Cadillac)

!

[Joe]

DC's Silkheart date, with the Wilber Morris and the somewhat mysterious Booker T. (Williams, Jr.) on tenor sax (he should also have received a special credit for those sunglasses he's sporting on the cover), is also very much worth hearing.

 

[clifford_thornton]

Both that and the Booker T. date on Silkheart (w/ Cyrille and Sarbib) are superb. 

Used to have the duos with Ibarra and remember digging that disc. Lost it somewhere along the way...

[JohnS]

Certainly not forgotten here.  I was lucky enough to see him play in London with the Jazz Doctors.

[Joe]

21 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:

Both that and the Booker T. date on Silkheart (w/ Cyrille and Sarbib) are superb. 

Used to have the duos with Ibarra and remember digging that disc. Lost it somewhere along the way...

http://discography.backstrom.se/booker/

[Justin V]

Having only heard (and enjoyed) Denis Charles on one disc, Organic, with Thomas Borgmann and Wilber Morris, this thread inspired me to buy Drum Talk.  I also haven't heard much of Susie Ibarra, so I'm looking forward to listening to Drum Talk to hear more of both Charles and Ibarra.

Edited September 16, 2016 by Justin V

[fasstrack]

FWIW, one guy in that street band complained about Denis: 'I never heard him on a full set', etc. (I think he just brought a snare and 2 cymbals). I thought he sounded pretty good, though...

[rostasi]

Learned my share from him,
but was too young to fully
appreciate who he was.

[JSngry]

The guy who said 'I never heard him on a full set', geez dude, get your ass to a record store, right?

Did nobody know who he was, what he had done? Or was he just some drummer showing up to play in a street band, might as well have been Charlie Dennis, that kind of anonymity?

I do remember when he started getting records out under his own name, I had a buddy who was a great player but not really "historically deep", if you know what I mean (and that's pretty common, actually) who got all gushy about Denis Charles and I said something along the lines of, oh, good to see him finally getting some profile, those records with Cecil & Lacy are awesome, etc. and this guy was, like, oh, he played with Cecil, when was this? So, we had a conversation about that.