Quotes about Brian:

The Hammond B-3 organist Brian Charette weighs the ageless objective of soul-jazz with a trace of restless modernity- Nate Chinen NY Times

Both B-3 stylist and student, serious jazz scholar and glitzy entertainer, Charette is a burning soloist who understands the tradition of the Hammond B-3 as well its future—just as certainly as he understands his place in that lineage- Ken Micallef Downbeat Magazine

Welcome to the future of organ trios- R.A Miriello Huffington Post

Q Who's sticking out now on organ?
A There's a couple of young guys around. There's one guy -- I heard this one guy when I was hanging out in Toronto, Brian Charette!- Joey Defrancesco

A Master of Space and Time- Josh Jackson WBGO NYC

Reliably Burning- Bill Milkowski Jazz Times

Just the right proportions of refinement and rambunctiousness- Chris Barton LA Times

"Baby....... you a Bad Motorcycle!" Bernard Purdie

Brian places 2nd in this year’s, Downbeat Critic’s Poll for Organ and wins Rising Star: Keyboard,
July 7, 2023

NYC Jazz Record reviews three releases that Brian played on as a sideman, Jan 5, 2023

Terrific review of Jackpot in Jazz Times, Sept 10, 2022

Nice review of Jackpot in Jazzwise, Sept 5, 2022

Lovely review in The NYC Jazz Record by George Grella. Nov 1, 2022

Great review of Jackpot in New York Music Daily

July 18, 2022

A Killer Party Album and a Chinatown Album Release Show From Organist Brian Charette

A gutbucket album is the last thing you would expect Brian Charette to make. He’s been pushing the envelope with organ jazz for the better part of two decades. His most recent album was a solo release recorded during the dead of the 2020 lockdown, full of devious electronic rhythms, some pretty far-out textures and even some electric guitar. So his latest album, Jackpot – streaming at Bandcamp – is pretty radical, a fond homage to the urban lounge organ jazz of the 50s and 60s. Charette is turning the swanky Django into a gutbucket with his album release show there on July 22 at 7:30 PM; cover is $25.

This is a party record. You can tell instantly how retro Charette is going to go with the first number, Polka Dot Pinup, from the Booker T-style implied call-and-response, to guitarist Ed Cherry’s circling Mike Bloomfield licks, to drummer Bill Stewart’s loosely-tethered snare sound. Tenor saxophonist Cory Weeds’ carefree solo completes the glossy picture.

Charette turns up his roto a ways for his cheery, blippy solo, matched by Cherry’s punchy Wes Montgomery attack in the shuffling second track, Tight Connection: once again, Weeds’ smoky flurries are the icing on the cake. The wryly titled Triple Threat is a warmly soulful jazz waltz that the group expand on a longer leash, notably with Weeds’ rapidfire first solo.

Stewart has irresistibly counterintuitive, deadpan fun with the cha-cha groove in Good Fortune, setting up Charette’s similarly sotto-voce sentimental funk. Charette looks back toward Larry Young with the acerbic voicings, chugging single-note lines (and a deadpan sax figure early on) in Upstairs, Then the quartet swing casually through High Ball, the most lowdown, sly and catchiest tune here, with a tantalizingly brief, bluesy Cherry solo.

Vague Reply is a brisk shuffle and just as full of hooks, but with more bite, Cherry’s punchy chords and Stewart’s increasingly stormy cymbals behind Charette’s steady eight-note runs. The album’s title track has a knowing, peek-a-boo syncopation, Weeds taking flight before Cherry and then Charette bring the lights a little lower. How much loaded subtext is there in the album’s final cut, Unmasked? It’s hard to tell. Weeds takes a long, crescendoing solo in this genial, contentedly oxygenated swing tune, This is the kind of record that makes you feel that you’re partying among pros rather than amateurs.

Jackpot breaks the JazzWeek top 10 at #9, Aug 30, 2022

Nice concert preview in NYC’s Hot House Magazine July 18, 2022

Great review of Jackpot in Jazzwax by Marc Meyers, Aug 8, 2022

https://www.jazzwax.com/2022/08/interview-brian-charette-on-jackpot.html?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=FeedBlitzRss&utm_content=Interview%3a+Brian+Charette+on+%27Jackpot%27

Concert preview for Jazz Michigan Festival by Larry Consentino in Lansing Citypulse

Brian Charette: Prague or prog?

A great noise will deep-fry the air when New York jazzman Brian Charette, one of jazz’s top Hammond B-3 organists, joins guitarist Ralph Tope for a funky-and-beyond excursion into the organ-o-sphere.

Charette’s slithery, supple new CD, “Jackpot,” is debuting to great fanfare in the jazz world. It was recorded at one of the holiest shrines in jazz, recording engineer Rudy van Gelder’s home studio in New Jersey, where many of the music’s landmark recordings were waxed by Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter and on and on.

“It was incredible,” Charette said. “The lathe they used to cut the records is still there.” Maureen Sickler, Van Gelder’s longtime assistant, now does the engineering. Charette used an organ touched by some of the greatest jazz organists in history, including Jimmy Smith and Larry Young.

Was it intimidating to occupy such a sacred space?

“Music doesn’t intimidate me,” he deadpanned. “Just every single other thing.”

He called “Jackpot” his “most adult” album to date.

“A lot of my albums have electronics, wind ensemble — they’re not traditional,” he said. “This is a very traditional organ quartet record.”

Charette, 49, and Lansing’s own B-3 virtuoso, Jim Alfredson, met several years ago at a trade show (both of them are endorsed by the Hammond Co.), hit it off and ended up playing many gigs together with Detroit drummer Jordan Wright, especially at Moriarty’s.

“That’s how we came to fall in love with Lansing,” Charette said.  He’s even got a collection of tiny chickens knitted by the fan lady in the front row at Moriarty’s.

The pandemic didn’t put much of a crimp in Charette’s career. He prides himself on saying no to nothing.

“If you play a keyboard instrument, you can communicate, and you get along pretty well with other people, there’s a lot of opportunities to do many different things,” he said.

He recently worked with country singer, composer and fiddler Amanda Shires. “She knocks me out,” he said. “I don’t work a lot in country music, but I find it very mysterious and beguiling.” He also writes “classical, legit stuff” that he plays with the Modern Arts Orchestra of Budapest. This summer, they’re working on an “alternate take” of Via Crucis, a late work by Franz Liszt for organ, with Charette on “distorted organ.”

“It’s very rock and roll, not what you would expect,” he said.

He’s been busy with recordings, movie scores, instructional videos, new jazz and electronic music, and he’s riding a “big boom” in students that started during the pandemic.

“Everybody was home and everybody was getting a check from the government,” he said.

All in all, Charette is grateful for his chosen line of work, on both the philosophical and practical levels.

“It’s obviously not easy, but I sleep very easy at night,” he said. “It’s not a lot of subterfuge. It’s very direct, somehow.”

Saturday’s JazzFest set is likely to be moderately adventurous.

“There will be jazz, for sure, but funky beats will dominate,” he said. “In a festival setting, it’s a little more of a party style — Lonnie Smith, Herbie Hancock. We also have a lot of synth, so we have this swirly electronica thing happening.”

I asked Charette if he planned to get into “prog,” or progressive rock, in the vein of Yes and King Crimson, thereby precipitating a fun misunderstanding.

“I used to live in Prague, and I have three Czech groups I play a lot with,” he offered.

I re-phrased the question.

“Oh, prog!” he cried. “I love prog rock too.”

However, being Brian Charette, he had stories ready for questions about both Prague and “prog.” 

Several years ago, he was munching goodies at a trade convention mixer when he saw a rival hand reaching for the same piece of cheese.

The hand belonged to Keith Emerson, the multi-keyboardist legend from the trio of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, as close to a founding god of prog rock as they come. “We ended up playing together that night,” Charette said, adding the late artist was a “very nice man.”

Wild pic in a German paper speaking about Jazz in der Burg. July 1, 2022

Nice review of Jackpot in All About Jazz, July 25, 2022

Fantastic review of Power from the Air from Chicago Jazz Magazine June 3, 2021

Review: Power from the Air: Brian Charette

By Hrayr Attarian

Brian Charette is an undisputed master of the Hammond B3 organ, he is also a skilled bandleader and an inventive composer. On the spirited and enjoyable Power from the Air, Charette leads his sextet through eight of his catchy originals and two standards infused with his dynamic style. The ensemble is an augmented version of the traditional organ trio, with four woodwinds, instead of one, joining Charette and drummer Brian Fishler.

The cohesiveness of the group and its inner synergy is on full display throughout. From the opening notes of “Fried Birds” to the closing ones of “Low Tide” the momentum does not slack. The energetic refrains of the former include brief individual interludes that emerge from the simmering collective sound. The latter is more languid yet no less passionate. Charette’s expressive and muscular lines form a harmonic core around which the reedmen take turns with brief and charming solos.

Each musician is given ample opportunity to display his talents throughout this captivating album. The soulful title track, for instance, features altoist Mike DiRubbo’s agile and wistful spontaneous phrases that flow effortlessly over Charette and Fishler’s swaggering groove. Flutist Itai Kriss showcases his clear, warm tone on an intricate and logical performance. Bass clarinetist Karel Ruzicka and tenorist Kenny Brooks also expand on the main theme with hints of melancholy and plenty of eloquence.

The classic “Cherokee”, is one of the highlights of this uniformly superb release with its orchestral introduction and creative extemporizations. Charette demonstrates his impressive virtuosity as he deconstructs the piece with deftness and elegance putting on it his unique mark. Ruzicka takes off with an exuberant and creative soliloquy while Brooks and DiRubbo contribute fiery and suave improvisations that contrast with and complement one another. Kriss’ acrobatic, blues tinged, embellishments of the melody lead to Fishler’s thunderous polyrhythms that usher in the conclusion.

As with all his work Power from the Air is accessible without sacrificing artistic integrity. The memorable tunes with their vibrant and diverse motifs, the superb artistry of all involved and the whimsy with which the band interprets this delightful music make for a highly enjoyable listening experience.

Great feature of Beyond Borderline in Jan, 2020 Downbeat by Bill Milkowski

2020 Downbeat Critic’s Poll

Feature article in Dec, 2020 Hot House Magazine by Elzy Kolb

Great review of Power from the Air in Jazz Times by Ken Micaleff Mar 8, 2021

A review of the bold organist's 19th release

Published March 23, 2021 – By Ken Micallef

The third SteepleChase release by Brian Charette’s freakishly swinging organ sextet—and his 19th release overall—takes unusual turns, leading the listener down paths adorned with so many forks that you’ll be sated, if at times confused, by record’s end. The key ingredient? Charette’s use of Olivier Messiaen’s modes of limited transposition, which, while only literally used in the first song, seem to influence the entire album.  

With Charette working a frothy modern version of a Hammond B-3 like McGriff and McDuff, Power from the Air initially comes on like a blast of grits-and-gravy goodness, only to be teeter-tottered by dissonant ensemble sections and odd-metered, often over-the-bar-line figures that could spin heads and scare farm animals. But that’s the album’s undeniable, if quirky, charm, cracking a new wrinkle in old-fashioned duds.

“Fried Birds” is a perfect example. On its face it’s a joyous, medium up-tempo vehicle, yet its melody is a slightly nauseous brew executed by the group’s unusual front line of flute (Itai Kriss), alto sax (Mike DiRubbo), tenor sax (Kenny Brooks), and bass clarinet (Karel Ruzicka). Head stated, everyone releases expertly crafted, thrilling solos. Five tunes in, “Elephant Memory” takes its seesawing melodies to their zenith in a six-over-four pulse that’s as funky as it is head-warping. The sextet also covers “Harlem Nocturne” and “Cherokee,” the latter suffused with the steam coming off Charette’s viscous solo organ. The horns wrap around the tune, then disappear, returning us to a classic organ-trio vibe—although you’re only hearing a duo, with Brian Fishler on drums. Brian Charette continues to punch holes in the sky of jazz tradition.

Great review of Power from the Air in Japan’s Jazz Life Magazine Mar 17, 2021

Review of Power from the Air from London’s Jazzwise magazine April 1, 2021

Brian Charette keeps you on your toes: last time he was on Steeplechase he was roogalating with a big band: now he's pared it down to a wind ensemble. One consequence is it's left him with the bass work plus plenty of harmonic underpinning. But he's quirkily happy with that: check out the almost child-like simplicity of ‘Want' where like an earnest youngster he unabashedly repeats a bare chord figure while the various wind instruments jaunt and dance around him.

By contrast the bluesy groove of ‘Harlem Nocturne' is delivered with a mix of knowing melodrama and easeful swing: all the cliches are there but delivered with a respectful swagger. That vibe's pumped up further on a swingsome take on ‘Cherokee' which is a rare feature for Charette himself.

That Charette can hold all these positions at once – showboating performer, soul-jazz groover yet artsome arranger – makes Power from the Air a frustrating affair at times: ‘Will the real Brian Charette stand up please!'

But there's no denying this is music of a certain mainstream surprise. It's best encapsulated on the tight but inevitably lithe title track where the flute, horn and notably Ruzica's bass clarinet revel in the prairie wide space Charette affords them.

2nd place in the Organ album category for the 42nd Jazz Station Awards, Jan 1, 2021

Organ:

1. Rhoda Scott (“Movin’ Blues” – Sunset); 2. Brian Charette (“Four” w/ Ronnie Cuber – SteepleChase); 3. Joey DeFrancesco (“For Jimmy, Wes And Oliver” w/ Christian McBride Big Band – Mack Avenue); 4. Shedrick Mitchell (“The Path” w/ Chien Chien Lu – self release); 5. Sam Yahel (“Incontre” w/ Massimo Biocalti - Sounderscore); 6. Paul Shaffer (“Smile” w/ Bill Warfield and the Hell’s Kitchen Funk Orchestra” – Planet Arts)

4th place in the keyboard category of the Encuesta 2020 13th Annual International Critic’s Poll

CRAIG TABORN (98 Votos)

Jamie Saft (56 Votos)

Matt Mitchell (41 Votos)

Brian Charette (26 Votos)

Ståle Storløkken (24 Votos)

John Medeski (22 Votos)

Nice review of Power from the Air from Matt Ruddick and London Jazz Meetup Feb 20/2021

Hammond organ player Charette draws his power from the air - and computers.

Hammond organist Brian Charette is a new name to KoJ but is a veteran of the New York scene. He regularly features on annual the DownBeat polls, and has played with the likes of Paul Simon, Chaka Khan and Cyndi Lauper, to name but a few. He also holds a black sash in White Crane kung fu, so we'd better give his new album a positive review.

Luckily that's easy, as there's plenty to enjoy. Power From The Air is the third album to feature Charette's band, which is described by the bandleader as a 'wind ensemble'. In addition to the organ rhythm section (Brian Charette - organ, Brian Fishler - Drums), the band features Itai Kriss (Flute), Mike DiRubbo (Alto), Kenny Brooks (Tenor) and Karel Ruzicka (Bass Clarinet).

If you're more accustomed to hearing the Hammond in a stripped-back, funk setting, you're not alone, but the bigger band arrangements here work well. "The reedy sounds of the (wind) section sounds, in my opinion, very complementary to the reedy stops of the Hammond organ," Charette notes. The leader's arrangements are also fantastic, demonstrating the abilities of each band member to great effect.

The album is primarily composed of originals, although there are also covers of Ray Noble's Cherokee and Harlem Nocturne, which was written by Earle Hagen and Dick Rogers for Noble's orchestra.

Fried Birds is the swinging opener, and serves as a good introduction, showcasing each member of the ensemble, each of whom takes a solo. The piece is held together by Fishler, who's drumming sets the pace. "The first two albums used unusual harmonic systems of composers like Olivier Messiaen, which has more notes than our major and minor scales," Charette notes. "On the new album, you can hear a little bit of this on the first track."

As If To Say opens with a funky groove, laid out by the rhythm section, from which a more meditative tune develops. The pace picks up as Kenny Brooks delivers the first solo. Charette clearly enjoys playing with some tricky time signatures, but the tunes always remain accessible.

Harlem Nocturne slows the pace, and has more of a late-night feel, and is one of my favourites. Silver Lining is also excellent, Fishler's drumming giving the tune a slight jazz-funk feel, which works well.

Elephant Memory's knotty opening gives way to a more predictable groove, with Charette laying down some funky grooves as Itai Kriss takes the first solo. The title track refers to people that live on 'prana', or life energy; it's got a more relaxed vibe, as the title suggests, with Charette's playing on the chorus particularly enjoyable.

Cherokee is up next, and sees the band pick up the pace, before the slower, more thoughtful Want, which again boasts an unusual time signature. Frenzy brings the album to a close, and has a more relaxed, fun groove.

Interestingly, Charette claims that his work in computer and electronic music fed into his compositions on the new album, and perhaps this helped him to picture how different sounds might work together. His top-notch band certainly help him to pull those ideas together, responding to the challenging compositions put before them, and delivering an album that reveals more with each listen.

Charette has recorded several album's for the Danish Steeplechase label, and if you enjoy this, you will also want to check out some of his small group work, too, including his album with George Coleman.

Power From The Air is released on March 15th.

Great review of Power from the Air in Dusted by Derrick Taylor April 30, 2021

Brian Charette – Power from the Air (Steeplechase)

Recorded four months prior to the pandemic-induced sea change on musical expression in New York City, Power from the Air feels like both an artifact and a hopeful reminder of what can exist again if this country gets its collective shit together. Organist Brian Charette is no novice at larger ensemble context for his musical compositions. Two earlier Steeplechase dates, feature his console fronting a cohort embodying essentially the same sextet instrumentation here. Nestled within a four-horn frontline, his nimble keys still have plenty of space to expound and breathe. It also helps that his compositions and arrangements of two standards balance propulsive swing with clever harmonies and combustible counterpoint.

Altoist Mike DiRubbo is the only holdover from Charette’s preceding incarnations. Flautist Itai Kriss, tenorist Kenny Brooks and bass clarinetist Karel Ruzicka are the relative new recruits. Drummer Brian Fishler ably shifts between engine room and accent duties and all five men sound totally dialed in to Charette’s designs. “Fried Birds” has a lush, stop-start, little big band vibe as a relay of terse statements opens up amongst the horns before solos proper. “Elephant Memory” has a melodic tag reminiscent of The Stylistics “People Make the World Go Round” that benefits from the layered sonorities of the reeds and flute. Charette plays the hoary warhorse “Harlem Nocturne” surprisingly straight, once again reveling in the rich, cumulative sound of his colleagues while coaxing a viscous incremental beat.

“Silver Lining” brings the funk and gives Fishler a chance to engage the pocket against a ripe bass ostinato by the leader while the horns riff opulently. Ruzicka, DiRubbo, Brooks and Kriss each deliver individualized improvisations that ride rather than erode the groove and picturing Charette’s pleasure at how well the piece comes off proves no problem. Outfitted with bright unison passages and slanted counterpoint, “As If to Say” feels almost like a ballad rejoinder while the disc’s title piece traffics in similar structural consensus in the service of emotive openness. “Cherokee” is the set’s other relic, given an extended rendering as a rare instance where Charette seizes initial solo honors for himself.

Three more originals close out the program and bring the project well into double-album territory in terms of duration. Fishler functions as fulcrum on the slow-burn, Janus-faced “Want” and the kinetically-charged “Frenzy,” while “Low Tide” brings the set full circle with final soulful salvos from the horns. Charette’s spent much of the last year focusing on solo projects that augment his organ with electronics and sampling. Solo home performance snippets are regular additions to his Facebook page. All this is to say that he’s been staying active, biding his time like so many peers in anticipation of a return in access to in-person audiences. Here’s hoping that interim is almost at an end.

Derek Taylor

Lovely review by Phil Freeman in The NYC Jazz Record Mar 29, 2021

Review of Power from the Air from Jazz Trail Mar 17, 2021

Brian Charette - Power From the Air

March 17, 2021

Label: Steeple Chase, 2021

Personnel - Brian Charette: organ hammond B3; Mike DiRubbo: alto saxophone;  Kenny Brooks: tenor saxophone; Itai Kriss: flute; Karel Ruzicka: bass clarinet; Brian Fishler: drums.

Armed with an extended knowledge of tradition, NYC organist Brian Charette reunites his groovin' sextet to perform a selection of eight color-rich originals and two jazz standards. The group appears here reformulated with some new members - Kenny Brooks on tenor, Karel Ruzicka on bass clarinet, and Brian Fishler on drums replace Joel Frahm, John Ellis and Jochen Rueckert, respectively, while altoist Mike DiRubbo and flutist Itai Kriss remain in their positions.    

Graciously melding hard-bop and soul jazz, “Fried Birds” spurs the same swinging motion and harmonic pulsation that brought fame to Lou Donaldson in the ‘60s. Working on top of a monumental groove, the soloists, one after another, explore their melodic pliability, which culminates with Fishler’s brief spread of chops over a final vamp.

Also packed with multiple stretches is the familiar “Cherokee”, one of the two covers on the album. The other one is “Harlem Nocturne”, a romanticized yet mysterious piece written by Earle Hagen in 1939 for the Ray Noble Orchestra. The screaming tremolos sustained by the Hammond B3 are supplemented with adrenaline-fueled horns in concurrent spiraling movements. 

Avoiding sounding tired, the group takes a couple of pieces to a more interesting rhythmic level. While “As If to Say” is initially delivered in nine and then reshapes into a regular uptempo swing, “Silver Lining” has its main melody sliding comfortably over a groove in 11. 

However, it was the eclectic aesthetics of “Power From the Air” that really grabbed me. The asymmetrical form of the theme doesn’t impede an irresistible soul jazz steam from gushing forth out of the structure’s surfaces. Other stylistic cross-pollinations include “Want”, a shifting number where the classical suggestions diverge to funk, and “Frenzy”, whose gospelized glee inspires us to dance.

This album illustrates how extremely versatile Charette is.

Great review of Tues live electronica stream by Eric Harabadian in Music Connection Mar 29, 2021

Beautiful review of Power from the Air in Something Else by Victor Aaron Mar 10, 2021

Brian Charette is a NY-based organ ace who’s been called upon by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Chaka Khan, Paul Simon, Cyndi Lauper, Houston Person and Oz Noy. But he’s got several of his own projects going, one of which is an innovative sextet consisting of Charette, a drummer and four horn players. We absolutely loved that first record, Music For Organ Sextette, which seemed to make up its own rules on how to combine the groove elements of a B3 and drums with the swing from a large bank of woodwinds.

Power From The Air (SteepleChase Records) will be Charette’s third album with his Sextette. Over the last few years, the Sextette have gone through some personnel changes with only Mike DiRubbo (alto sax) and Charette himself held over from the combo that gave us Music for Organ Sextette. Itai Kriss (flute), Kenny Brooks (tenor sax), Karel Ruzicka (bass clarinet) and Brian Fishler (drums) round out the current alignment.

While the basic concept remains intact — and that’s why this album is a winner out the gate — the leader has tinkered with his approach over time. Power is more contemplative but at the same time, Charette tosses in some nifty harmonic devices here and there to throw you off guard.

“Fried Birds” signals that this record embraces be-bop, but not in the same, tired ways; the opening pattern has just a hint of dissonance in it. Ruzicka, Brooks, DiRubbo and then Kriss take their shots, each introducing themselves as ace practitioners of the form, and then Charette goes last. As has always been the case with him, Charette isn’t shoehorning Baby Face Willette into Sonny Stitt, he’s playing organ that suits the material in front of him.

“As If To Say” shows more adventurism, starting with a harmonically unusual, Tristano-ish cyclical figure and then upshifting into a swinging gallop that platforms more individual improv moments before a return to the original incantation. The unusual thing about “Silver Lining” is its 6/4 meter, which provides the foundation for the melody and Charette builds a chart around it that takes advantage of it.

The evolution of Charette’s horn arrangements is also evident on tracks such as “Power From The Air,” where there’s rich harmonies on the head that nicely complement the organ part, and solos each from a different horn player are slotted between each run of the chorus. “Elephant Memory” has a heavy soul flavor to it that blends in nicely with the swirling, ascending-chord chorus. “Frenzy” is funky, accessible and chock full of lively asides, and Charette inserts interesting little hitches into “Low Tide” that moves it beyond being simply a waltz.

Most of the fare are Charette originals but the leader leaves room for a couple of covers. The Sextette’s take on the jazz standard “Harlem Nocturne,” a fine vehicle for showing off the harmonies of the four-strong horn section, backing Charette’s lyric lines with a gentility of a big band. But Charette also slyly inserts brief moments of jarring discord into certain moments of the arrangement. The classic bop workout anthem “Cherokee” runs about twice as long as the other tunes here, but that’s because everyone gets their turn to show off their chops. Fishler with Charette’s bass pedals form a snappy, swinging rhythm undercurrent.

A less forceful, more subtle Brian Charette Organ Sextette has its own, new charms in addition to a lot of the old ones. The evolution of Charette’s best ensemble is coming along just fine with Power From The Air.

Power From The Air is slated to drop on March 12, 2021.

Great review of Power from the Air in Making a Scene from Jim Hynes

Brian Charette

Power From the Air

Steeplechase

Power From the Air is the third album for organist Brian Charette with his primarily woodwind sextet, the most albums he has ever made with one group.  Consider however that this lineup has three new players from the previous The Question That Drives Us although the configuration remains consistent. Charette says this, “…This is the third recording of this ensemble and I feel like we are really maturing as a band. The pieces are funky and hypnotic with pretty wind ensemble part writing and a Hammond B3 rhythm section.”  The ten selections include eight originals and two covers. Charette is joined in his organ sextette (note his change from the conventional ‘sextet’) by returning members Itai Kriss (flute) and Mike Dirubbo (alto sax) as well as new members Kenny Brooks (tenor sax), Karel Ruzicka (bass clarinet) and Brian Fishler (drums).

Readers of these pages should be somewhat familiar with Charette as a vital sideman on the Posi-Tone releases we covered from Doug Webb and Farrell Newton. Charette also has albums on that label as a leader and some may also realize that he has recorded with the Vivino Brothers as well as Joni Mitchell and Chaka Chan. In the jazz idiom, he records with many artists including NEA Jazz Master George Coleman.  All three organ sextette as well as other albums where he is a leader appear on the Steeplechase label, six in total.

Mostly we tend to lump the Hammond B-3 players into a soul-jazz-blues mode and although Charette clearly shines in that vein, this configuration allows for plenty of horn-led ensemble playing as well as plenty of room for the players to stretch out on solos. Blending the flute and the bass clarinet with the two saxes creates nuances in sound and interesting harmonics. Th album begins with “Fried Birds,” an original, briskly rendered with Kriss’s flute in conversation with first the alto and then bass clarinet as the organ swells behind them. Brooks then joins in for a more extended tenor solo followed by Kriss and Charette while the rhythm section (Charette and Fishler) hold down the bottom.  The tune could just easily be titled “Free Birds” as soloists go freely unencumbered, setting the stage for what follows.

“As If to Say” takes the tempo down a notch with the ensemble in ostinato before Charette breaks out with a statement echoed by the alto, bass clarinet, flute, and tenor as he gently comps behind them. They then turn to the sultry standard “Harlem Nocturne,” composed by Earle Hagan in 1939 while he was an arranger with the Ray Noble Orchestra. The tune has long been a favorite with vocal groups and saxophonists, but this version is essentially a showcase for Charette on the B3 in a church organ mode as the woodwinds principally add the harmonic backdrop. Fishler kicks off the original “Silver Lining” and gets plenty of space, staying steady behind each of the woodwinds who freely solo as the leader comps but joins them in the melody when they rejoin the theme. Kriss bursts out with any especially perky turn near the end of the piece before yielding to Fishler and yet another organ-fueled climax.

“Elephant Memory” resembles the opener although its initial brisk tempo recedes a bit to allow Kriss to once again shimmer on flute. Not to be outdone, Dirubbo respond to her statement as do Brooks and Ruzicka in robust fashion.  Charette’s contributions are as varied and unpredictable as those of his sidemen. Their solos often turn to ensemble parts when one least expects them to. Similarly, Charette can provide subtle backing or steady comping but quickly step forward with his own melodic solo at an unexpected moment in the piece. Yet, the pieces are well constructed, the playing is consistently purposeful and interconnected.  That’s the beauty of it – the listener can often be surprised but the musicians are navigating a well-charted course.

The title track features a gorgeous ensemble melody line and crisp solos from each member, yet another classic example of well weaved textures. The standard “Cherokee,” stretched to almost 14 minutes, has Charette all over his instrument in a lengthy excursion more in keeping with the bluesy kind of B3 playing associated with such masters as Dr. Lonnie Smith before he yields to crisp declarations from each of the woodwinds, the earthy voice of Kuzicka’s bass clarinet and Brooks’ gutbucket tenor being especially notable. “Want” goes in a couple of directions from simmering quiet to heated boils and flowing lines merge with syncopated passages over an underlying blues current, conducive to the saxes that bring the intensity.  “Frenzy” seems to relate mostly to Charette’s sprightly use of seldom played high register notes that Dirubbo and Brooks counter in vigorous runs. Yes, it does get a bit blurred and frenetic when all play at once, hence the title. Finally, “Low Tide” captures each member embellishing the simple theme with perhaps their most emphatically stated sequences, almost as if they realize this is their last say over the tricky start-stop rhythm pattern.

Credit Charette for surrounding the Hammond B3 sound with a much lusher treatment than the usual.  The ensemble meshes the layers and harmonics in ways we’ve not typically heard from an organ led unit, unless of course we point to his first two sextette albums.

• Jim Hynes

  
  
  
  

Nice interview with Bret Primack on Jazz Video Guy Live Mar 27, 2021

Lovely review of Power from the Air from Richard Kamins’ Step Tempest Mar 26, 2021

Nice Feature in All About Jazz by Michael Ricci Dec 1, 2020

Brian Charette Releases New Solo Hammond Electronica Album, 'Like The Sun'

Simultaneously transparent, vaporous, inveigling, aura-matic. . . aswirl, synchronized and syncopated, ear candy buried like little treasures that reflect and enrich the main themes. Great stuff! —Howard Mandel

New York City organist/pianist, Brian Charette describes his latest recording Like the Sun as “Kraftwerk meets Harlem juke joint." It's Hammond with electronics and drum machines that he has programmed to react to him in provocative ways. Everything is tracked live. Here is Charette recording Track 2, “Time Piece" (view video).

Like the Sun was recorded in the first months of lock down. The release date is December 1, 2020. The music is original catchy instrumental tunes with hip beats, memorable melodies, slick chords, and dreamy atmospheres. The heart of the music is the Hammond Organ which, I think, is compelling because it is rarely seen in this robotic context. The pieces on the album speak of isolation, finding my lovely wife, and the terrible anxiety of losing my concerts because of the virus.

The CD release party is live at Soapbox Gallery on December 5 at 8pm. Seating is limited so contact fivefourproductions@gmail.com if you plan to attend. The set will also be streamed at the Soapbox Gallery website and located here.

Lovely review of Power from the Air by Marc Myers in Jazz Wax Mar 13, 2021

Brian Charette—Power From the Air (SteepleChase). By air, they mean reeds and flute. If you love those early '60s Prestige recordings with saxes and organ, Brian Charette does, too. But he takes the configuration to a new exciting, dimensional level with Larry Young-like grooves combined with broad and breathy arrangements. The organist is joined on his new album by Itai Kriss (fl), Mike DiRubbo (as), Kenny Brooks (ts), Karel Ruzicka (b-clar) and Brian Fishler (d). Recorded in December 2019, the album swings with the combined windy sound of saxes, the bird sound of a flute, the grounded call of the bass clarinet, and Brian's organ stirring it all up. Except for Harlem Nocturne and Cherokee, the rest of the tracks were written and arranged by Brian. Gifted and tightly arranged playing gives the group a wonderful breathy accordion articulation. The boldness of the scoring and the highly skilled playing make this album exceptional.

Take Five With Brian Charette by Michael Ricci in All About Jazz, Dec 2, 2020

Meet Brian Charette:

Grammy-nominated organist/pianist, Brian Charette, has established himself as a leading voice in modern jazz. Besides being a critically acclaimed composer and bandleader, he has worked with many notable artists such as Joni Mitchell, Chaka Khan, Lou Donaldson and countless others.

Charette is a Hammond endorsed, SteepleChase and Posi-Tone recording artist. In 2019, Charette released Beyond Borderline (Steeplechase), his sixth as a leader and was rated with 3 ½ stars in Downbeat. His recordings have been dubbed as "Reliably burning" by Jazz Times and he has been called a "Master of space and time" by WGBO. In the December 2020, Charette will release Like the Sun and a new sextet recording from SteepleChase March 15, 2020 Power from the Air .

This year, before Covid, Charette has been playing very successful engagements in NYC, Los Angeles, Detroit, Cleveland, New Orleans, Spain, Switzerland, Indonesia, Czech Republic and Germany. He also just placed 6th in the 2020 Downbeat Critic's Poll for Organ." Charette also won "Rising Star" from Downbeat in 2014 and "Best Organist in NYC" from Hot House Magazine in 2015

Mr. Charette is an active educator. In addition to writing for Keyboard Magazine, Downbeat, and Muzikus, he teaches master classes all over the world, and is on the faculty of the Czech Summer Jazz Workshop at Jezek Conservatory in Prague. He also has a new Hammond Organ instructional video on mymusicmasterclass.com and is featured prominently on two new Mel Bay instructional DVDs by Rodney Jones and Sheryl Bailey.

Outside of music, Brian is passionate about chess and White Crane kung fu, in which he holds a black sash.


Instruments:

Piano and organ.

Teachers and/or influences?

Kenny Werner and Charlie Banacos.

I knew I wanted to be a musician when...

I was three and would wander down to the piano, open a book called Folk Songs to a two page song called, "The Great Wall." I would stare at the animated picture of the Great Wall of China with people walking, merchants selling, and a horse drawn ambulance while improvising for hours.

Your sound and approach to music:

I play jazz but I would have to say I'm more of a rocker in my approach. I can be very angular and aggressive in the way I play. I try to balance this with extensive use of space and compositional devices. The solos in my groups are often very short and the motives of the pieces can be very minimal and trance inducing. Lately, I've been incorporating a lot of synthesizers, samplers, and drum machines. I've gone totally in this direction for the new album, Like the Sun.

Your teaching approach:

I try to show students how to spend time practicing only things they are weak in. After they identify the problem, I tell them to only focus their practice on one weak area at a time until they really internalize the concept they are working on. For example, I had one student practice only in the key of Ab minor for a month. At the end of the month, the student always sounded amazing when we got to an Ab chord change and before had always stumbled over the chord.

Your dream band:

I already have two dream bands with the trio and sextet. I do have a fantasy of playing piano duos with Chick Corea. I would also very much like to play with Roy Haynes.

Road story: Your best or worst experience:

One time, 20 years ago, I was playing in Brussels. The King of Belgium had just died a few days before. We were playing in a very big festival with about 8,000 people. There were huge video screens on the side of the stage. The singer picked up a picture of the king that had just died from a cigarette machine backstage and held it up to the audience. There was a camera on him and all the people started to cheer. The road manager on the side of the stage started to wave his arms furiously to put the picture down. The singer gave the road manager the bird and told him to relax. Unfortunately, one of the cameras was on him, and all 8,000 Belgians saw was a big middle finger in front of the picture of their beloved king. They threw rocks and beer at us for an hour. We made the news and left very quickly the morning after the show never to return.

Favorite venue:

My favorite place to play is Small's in NYC. It has the best vibe of any jazz place I have ever been. I also feel so supported by Spike Wilner and the whole gang at Smalls.

Your favorite recording in your discography and why?

I would have to say my favorite recording is this new one. I did everything on the album myself; every part, mix, entrance, song order, and mix was carefully scutinized. Most of my albums are completed very quickly, but this one took two years to make. I spent a lot of time getting everything just the way I liked it. The album cuts are also recorded live except for two guitar overdubs. Most of the time was spent rehearsing the performances and the difficult dance of manipulating the machines and sequencers at just the right time.

The first Jazz album I bought was:

Jimmy Smith, Unfinished Business (Mercury, 1978).

What do you think is the most important thing you are contributing musically?

I'm really trying to push the boundaries of organ music. I'm always reaching for sounds I've never heard before. I'm so interested in electronic music and am so interested in combining these robotic sounds with the earthy tone of Hammond organ.

Did you know...

I hold a black sash in White Crane Kung Fu. I was also deaf until the age of nine.

CDs you are listening to now:

Kraftwerk: Computer World (Warner Bros., 1981);
Jimmy Smith: House Party (Blue Note, 1958);
Bela Bartok: Bartok: 6 String Quartets (Deutsche Grammophon, 2006);
Hiatus Kaiyote: Choose Your Weapon (Flying Buddha, 2015).

Desert Island picks:

The Beatles, White Album (Apple, 1968);
Deep Purple, Machine Head (Warner Brothers, 1972);
Hank Mobley, Soul Station (Blue Note, 1960);
Kiss, Alive II (Cassablanca, 1977);
Emerson String Quartet, Debussy-Ravel String Quartets (Deutsche Grammophon, 1995).

How would you describe the state of jazz today?

I think jazz is in a great place even though the world is going through very difficult times. There are tons of great artists, especially in NYC. I feel very inspired by my peers and I love to listen to their music and get new ideas about my own writing and playing. I am friends with Sam Yahel, Jared Gold, Pat Bianchi and all of the NYC organists. I love to listen to their albums and live gigs. Because their level of artistry is so high, it pushes me to get better also.

What are some of the essential requirements to keep jazz alive and growing?

I think we have to make music that communicates to real people, not just musicians. That's not to say that it can't be complicated. I think people are actually pretty smart. I feel like some jazz music is a little selfish though, and the cats can be a little dark. This turns people off to the music. I think if we, as artists, thought more about communicating to our audience, many more people would be interested in jazz albums and concerts.

What is in the near future?

I have a CD release at Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn on Deccember 5 so I'm spending a lot of time preparing for that. I will perform the whole album live. I also have a new SteepleChase recording with Music for Organ Sextette coming out March 21 and we will have the release at Dizzy's at JALC on April 21, 2021 if clubs are open by then. I'm working on music for larger ensembles also; I'm writing brass music for The Modern Art Orchestra to be performed in October 2021, and string quartets.

What's your greatest fear when you perform?

My greatest fear is that my instrument won't work, or that it will play a minor third higher like it did in Thailand when the power to the B3 was incorrect.

What song would you like played at your funeral?

"Nowhere Man" by The Beatles.

What is your favorite song to whistle or sing in the shower?

"You'll Never Find" by Lou Rawls. I'm always singing it.

By day:

Lately I've been teaching a lot of private lessons over Zoom. It's really been helping since I have so few concerts lately.

If I weren't a jazz musician, I would be a:

A gardener or martial arts instructor.

Great review of Power from the Air from Debbie Burke’s Blog Feb 1, 2021

The Prismatic Facets of Brian Charette’s New CD “Power in the Air”

Coming March 15: “Power in the Air” by Brian Charette represents album number 3 for his sextet. The NYC-based organist has amped up the wattage in songs like “Harlem Nocturne” – sassy, brassy and with a wicked drag (and an unexpected couple of punches from the flute); “Want” shows playful counterpoint with a fantastic layered groove from drums in a song that drops you cold, midpoint, veering off a bridge to a different land (also dig those flames from the flute, reminiscent of “Spill the Wine”); and “Frenzy” is energized by soaring melodies, light, cool beats and a very yummy solo from the sultry saxes keeping things moving. The top strengths of this ensemble are its tight harmonies and infectious tempos.

Personnel: Brian Charette, organ; Itai Kriss, flute; Mike DiRubbo, alto sax; Kenny Brooks, tenor sax; Karel Ruzicka, bass clarinet; and Brian Fishler, drums.

What attracted you to playing organ in the first place?

I liked the power and the different sounds you can get with the drawbars and Leslie speaker. I was also very into Keith Emerson (from ELP) and organ was one of his main instruments

What was your first public performance?

A concert of piano music at my high school, Orville H. Platt High.

Playing by age 17 with icons like Houston Person – how did those opportunities arise for you at such an early age?

Around this age, I started to play in jazz clubs in Hartford, CT. When artists would come through town to play, I was often put in the group that would accompany them if they weren’t traveling with a band.

How does Hammond differ in its use in jazz from piano; how are those aesthetic decisions made?

They are similar in the way that they have keys, but a piano sound is made by hammers striking strings and an organ sound is made with electricity. Organ also has mechanical drawbars that are meant to simulate pipes on a pipe organ that you can adjust to change the color of the sound. Piano is touch-sensitive and organ is not. The technique of playing the keys is identical, though, with the slight difference of the organ keys being easier to push down than the piano keys.

And— for me, a lot of it depends on if I’m playing with a bassist or not. For most of my recordings I am supplying the bass line with the organ and pedals. For my albums as a leader, I’m usually asked to play organ because I am known primarily for playing that instrument, so in many cases I don’t get to choose. On my self-released albums, I play many different keyboards including organ and piano.

My self-released albums are usually much more electronic than my albums for SteepleChase and Posi-Tone which are usually acoustic jazz groups with Hammond organ.

What big bands throughout history, or contemporary ones, have informed your sound?

My first big influences were Emerson Lake & Palmer and Yes. These groups had very accomplished keyboardists using all sorts of keyboard instruments. I’m also very influenced by jazz organists like Jimmy Smith and Larry Young.

What inspired the CD itself, and also the title of it, “Power from the Air”?

I think the computer music I make lately has a big influence on my jazz music. I think the pieces have a hypnotic sound that reminds me of my music machines playing together. “Power from the Air” refers to people that live on “Prana” or life energy. I’m not sure if this is possible but I love the fact that humans like to reach for things beyond their understanding.

How would you characterize the vibe of this new CD?

Minimalist and meditative…..with a wink

What did you find the most satisfying during the production process?

Because I write the music by myself, the first time I hear the music performed by the group is the most satisfying.

A really schmaltzy, noir piece like “Harlem Nocturne”: does a song like this have its challenges in not going TOO overboard?

We do go a little bit overboard in the break sections which are completely free I don’t put any restrictions on the group, or tell them to play a certain way, though. To me, it sounds the best when each individual is bringing their own personal sound to the music.

Talk about your band members here; what they contribute to this CD and why you chose them.

The members of the sextet are amazing improvisers and sight readers. The music is very challenging, so they put a lot of effort into it. Our concerts are very fun and I think everyone really likes to perform with the group. Many of the members are close friends who have been in the group for a long time. Alto saxophonist, Mike DiRubbo, and I have been friends since I was 17.

What have you done to stay viable, visible and heard through the quarantine?

I stream live electronica concerts from Facebook every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. EST. I have been teaching making lots of tracks for people. I even did some music for a film, so I’ve been very lucky to still have lots of work.

Any performances scheduled for 2021?

I’ve had 2 European tours canceled since the lockdown, so as soon as Europe opens up, I will play these concerts. I’m hoping this will happen in October. I’m also supposed to play the release of this album at Dizzy’s in Lincoln Center on April 21. I’m not sure clubs will be open by then, but we are hoping.

Other comments?

Thanks so much for sharing my music with your readers and for the great questions BC

For more information visit www.briancharette.com.

Photos courtesy of and with permission of the artist.

(c) 2021 Debbie Burke

Interview on John Tendy’s That Jazz Show Dec 9, 2020

Review of Like the Sun in New York Music Daily by Delarue Dec 11, 2020

The latest artist to defiy the odds and put the grim early days of the lockdown to good use is Brian Charette, arguably the most cutting-edge organist in jazz. As you will see on his first-ever solo album, Like the Sun - streaming at his music page - he plays a whole slew of other styles. Challenging himself to compose and improvise against a wild bunch of rhythmic loops in all sorts of weird time signatures, he pulled together one of his most entertaining records. This one’s definitely the most surreal, psychedelic and playful of all of them - and he has made a lot.

Basically, this is a guy alone in his man cave mashing up sounds as diverse as twinkly Hollywood Hills boudoir soul, squiggly dancefloor jams, P-Funk stoner interludes, Alan Parsons Project sine-wave vamps and New Orleans marches, most of them ultimately under the rubric of organ jazz.

At the heart of the opening track, 15 Minutes of Fame lies a catchy gutbucket Hammond organ riff and variations…in this case surrounded by all sorts of warpy textures and strange, interwoven rhythms. Time Piece, the second track, could be a synthy late 70s ELO miniature set to a shuffly drum machine loop, with a rapidfire B3 crescendo.

Slasher is not a horror theme but a reference to a chord with an unusual bass note - as Charette says in his priceless liner notes, “If they can get along, why can't we?” This one’s basically a soul song without words with some tricky changes.

Honeymoon Phase could be a balmy Earth Wind and Fire ballad, Charette's layers of keys taking the place of the brass. He builds the album’s title track around an Arabic vocal sample, with all sorts of wry touches surrounding a spacy, catchy theme and variations in 5/8 time.

Mela's Cha Cha - inspired by Charette’s wife, the electrifyingly multistylistic singer Melanie Scholtz - is what might have happened if George Clinton, Larry Young and Ruben Blades were all in the same room together circa 1983. Three Lights has a warmly exploratory groove over a catchy bassline and a hypnotic syndrum beat.

Break Tune is a rare opportunity to hear Charette play guitar, adding a little Muscle Shoals flavor to this gospel-tinged, Spike Lee-influenced mashup. You might not expect a melody ripped “from a punchy synth brass preset on the Korg Minilogue,” as Charette puts it, or changes influenced by the great Nashville pianist Floyd Cramer in an organ jazz tune, but that’s what Charette is up to in From Like to Love.

Creole is a more traditional number, with a New Orleans-inflected groove and a handful of devious Joni Mitchell quotes. 7th St. Busker, inspired by a cellist playing on the street in the West Village, follows in the same vein but with a strange vocal sample underneath the good-natured, reflective organ solo.

Robot Heart would make a solid hip-hop backing track; Charette closes the record with 57 Chevy, a funky shout-out to Dr. Lonnie Smith, who goes back to that era.

Great Interview with Marcus Brandstetter on Hyperlocrian.com Feb 6, 2021

Brian Charette did not plan a career as an Hammond organ player, but by coincidence became one of New York City's busiest ones. Born in Meriden, Connecticut in 1972, Charette started out on the piano and became a working musician in his teenage years, regularly playing gigs in the Connecticut area.

Before he was 18, he was already performing with well-known, significantly older musicians on a regular basis. After studying classical piano at the University of Connecticut, he decided to move to New York in 1994. It was there that Charette started to play organ in various bands – and thus got employed more and more as a Hammond player. While New York City has been his primary home base ever since, Charette has also a strong bond to Prague, where he spent a good amount of his time teaching at the conservatory. He has extensively toured Europe various times with different line-ups.

The list of Charette's collaborations is long: In his early years, he has performed with Lou Donaldson, Jimmy Greene, Gregg Bisonette and many others. He has recorded with guitar player Oz Noy, played Carnegie Hall with Cindy Lauper and performed on stage with Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon and Chaka Khan. Apart from being a performer and composer he is also an educator. He has written articles for Downbeat, Jazz Times and Keyboard Magazine among others and is the author of the well known book "101 Hammond B3 Tips: Stuff all the Pros Know and Use" (published by Hal Leonard).

In November 2020, Charette released his album "Like The Sun", on which he goes all electronic, playing his organ over beats and loops. His next record will be a contrast to that: "Power From The Air" will be out on March 15th, 2021 and features a woodwind ensemble on top of Charette's organ.

Hyperlocrian.com spoke to Brian Charette about his career, his newest projects, living in New York City and the difference between the European and American jazz scenes. Read the full interview below.

Brian, let's talk about your beginnings. What made you choose the Hammond organ as your primary instrument?

I came to the organ very much by mistake. I was a pianist first. I moved to New York in 1994, at that time I was playing with a lot of blues groups. I started playing organ in some of those bands, which at that time I really didn't know a lot about at all. I bought a Hammond XB-1, one of the first modern organ clone keyboards. I got it for a particular tour. After that, I started getting calls in New York from people who wanted me to play organ for them, even though I was really a pianist. In those days in the East Village in New York there were a lot of gigs and many places to play. I started doing exactly that – but on organ, not on piano.

You were born in Meriden, Connecticut. What was your musical upbringing and youth like?

My mother played the piano. We had one in our house and at a very early age I'd just sit in front of it and play for hours. Because my mom saw that I liked it, I started taking piano lessons when I was really young. Where I grew up, there was actually a lot of work for musicians. So I started to play a lot when I was 15 or 16. I had gigs all the time, even when I was still in high school. It was something that I just stumbled into, that I never had to think about.

When you started to play the piano, were you already into jazz?

No, not at all. I played classical stuff. When I was a kid, we had those books by John W. Schaum. Those were piano exercise books by grade. I went through those all of these books. They had little songs in them and taught you how to read music. Then I started to play more advanced music. I learnt all the scales. That to me was the biggest thing. We have those books called Hanon Scale Books, those were very much drilled into me in every key. When I was around 15 or 16, I was playing jazz music already. That's how I got into it, because at the gigs I was playing I needed to improvise. It came naturally.

Did you study with teachers as a young player?

Yes, I had a lot of teachers! I studied with Kenny Warner a very long time ago. And I studied with a Boston Guru called Charlie Banacos, who is someone a lot of people study with for those kinds of patterns in modern, post 1964 jazz music, I guess you could say. I studied all kinds of music. I studied the organ, looking for all the information that I could find. And I was playing constantly.

Did you know early on that you wanted to become a professional musician?

Yes. I never even thought about doing anything else at a certain point. By the time I was 15, 16 I was already doing it all the time. I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to do when I grew up. It found me somehow.

As a teenager, you were already playing with well-known, much older musicians such as Lou Donaldson.

Yeah. I was lucky to know someone who booked concerts in the Hartford area, which was a very good place to play jazz music. This is the area where Brad Mehldau and Joel Frahm come from. I got to see these guys when I was kid and I was playing there. I got those gigs because I knew a booker. A lot of musicians were touring without a pianist – and I got recommended to them. Usually it went very well, and that's how I started playing bigger gigs.

Did you also tour?

Yes, I was also already touring by then. I started to go on pretty long tours when I was around 17 or 18.

Did your mother support you?

It was tough for my mom. I was very young and I was hanging out with a lot of older people. But I didn't get into trouble, I was cool. I was just working. I have very fond memories of those times. Those were my best times.

Who were your early influences?

I really fell in love with keyboard music when I heard the bands Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Those were my two early important influences. Especially Keith Emerson, who I met and got to play with. We both worked for Hammond. Keith was a wonderful man. I would say he is my biggest influence. I started getting into his music when I was 10 or 11. His music taught me a lot about jazz harmony. Keith Emerson's favorite organ player was Jack McDuff. Keith started getting into organ because of "Rock Candy", a song by Jack McDuff. These guys were also using the synthesizers that I was very interested in. Later, when I learnt jazz piano, I got into guys like Bud Powell, Bill Evans, all those players that everybody listens to. And talking about organ again, I was also very much into Melvin Rhyne, who played with Wes Montgomery. He was actually the organist that I checked out the most. And of course Larry Young and everybody who came after.

Later you went to university in Connecticut and studied classical piano. How do you remember that time?

It was amazing. I learnt a lot about music. About form and analysis, about writing for different instruments. I had access to a practice room that had a grand piano and a great stereo. I stayed there all the time, it was like my office. University was a place where I could really cultivate my place in music. I was around a lot of cool people, I was playing in a lot of bands.

Was there a strict division between classical and jazz piano

I'd say yes. I was not playing Liszt's Transcendental Etudes on classical piano though, I have to say. I was an okay classical pianist. Even though I was studying that music, I was already working in jazz music back then. I got more into classical repertoire after I was in school. But I studied all of that music. I would have to give concerts in front of juries. I played mostly slower music, Brahms, Ravel, I wasn't playing anything crazy. I love "The Well-Tempered Clavier", but that's a piece of music I got into later. The best part of those studies were analyzing what it was that those composers did. To see the form and to understand the harmony.

What often strikes me as an odd thing: Improvisation is often something that's completely absent in the musical spheres of classical players.

It is. The original composers were great improvisers. Johann Sebastian Bach was a jazz cat. Back then they didn't have the influence of the African rhythms. But he could improvise those fugues with six voices in any key. It doesn't get any heavier than that for improvisation. He would follow all those rather complicated rules – that he invented! When classical music started getting taught in schools, they just didn't teach classical musicians how to improvise anymore. They teach them how to get this killer program together, which is a lot in itself. But not a lot of classical musicians know how to improvise. In baroque times, when you went to play a concert as a Clavierist, you would have to realize figured bass. They would have a bass line and a bunch of numbers and you would have to provide the accompaniment. Improvisation was a bigger part of the music that we now call classical music.

After your degree you went to Europe to tour – but you also lived in Prague for a while.

Yeah, meaning that I was basically there half of the time for a few years. I had visas to be there, but yes, I was there for extended periods. I first went to the Czech Republic when I was still in college. I fell in love with the country. I was in Germany, in a lot of Central European countries. I loved it there and I started to go back all the time. I started to do my own concerts there. I was based in Prague, because I had a lot of friends in this city. I started teaching at Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory. They had something called the Czech Jazz workshop, where students from all over the world would come and take masterclasses. It is a lovely city, I have such fondness for it.

As somebody coming from the birth place of Jazz: How did you experience the European Jazz scene?

It is great. It is a little different. I would say that New York is into… well, there's a lot of different scenes in New York, but the scene that I work in the most is some sort of modern bebop kind of jazz scene. In Berlin the music is much more avant-garde, much more electronic. You don't have that standard based blowing session kind of vibe, which is what New York City pretty much is about. Prague is also very different. There are a lot of folk music elements, a lot of gipsy music elements. Incredible bands. Every place has a different sound. They bring their whole cultural identity to their sound. I don't think that any scene is better than the other, there is incredible music everywhere.

How was it like to move to New York in 1994?

I was young. I was 21 years old. New York was a lot wilder then in a lot of respects. There was fewer police, it was long before 9/11. It was a very different environment. I love New York, then and now, and there's good things about both times. It is much more expensive now, much more conservative. A lot of artistic people can't afford to live in New York, especially Manhattan. That drove the artistic element of the city. It's still an incredible city, I love it here.

Was there something that surprised you when you first played there?

What surprised me is that it wasn't that nice as it is today. It was a little bit more cut throat with musicians. It was a little more street than it is now. New York City to me is much more polite than it was 25 years ago.

Grittier.

Much grittier!

Some people miss that about New York.

There's good things and bad things about it.

Was it easy to get work in New York when you started out?

In those years it was easier than it is now. But remember, I play Hammond Organ. If you lined up all the musicians in New York City, the line for Hammond players would be the shortest. Even if you were doing it just a little bit, in those years, you'd be someone a lot of people would be calling for gigs. Because then they wouldn't need a bass player and a piano player. It sounded good, they were starting to come out with these keyboards that were very convincing. It had a kind of renaissance. Uptown, Larry Goldings was playing, Sam Yahel was playing. Those guys were becoming giants of Hammond Organ. Larry was playing with Maceo Parker, Organ was a big thing in those years. If you were someone who did it and people knew you were there – I was playing downtown, people saw me play the Organ. It came about very organic, just like that.

So you were very busy immediately.

I had tons of gigs. I still miraculously have tons of work. If you play piano, if you play a keyboard kind of instrument and if you're a cool person, you'll get work. It's needed.

In 2000, you released your first solo record. How did you juggle between your work as a sideman and as a solo artist and band leader?

In those years, I was working very much in production. I'd produce beats and mix. This was when pro Tools first came out and I had a little rig in my apartment in the East Village. I was doing a lot of production work. I wasn't doing that much Jazz, I was even playing in a few rock bands. I was doing a lot of different things. I was also traveling a lot. In the 2010s I was gone half the time. I was on tour a lot. I wasn't playing a lot of gigs.

What are your favorite on stage memories? You've performed with a lot of great people like Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon, you've collaborated with a huge number of people.

I played a concert in Central Park called "Joni's Jazz" a few years ago. I only played one song with Joni, she sang at the end of the concert. There were a lot of other great singers on stage, Chaka Khan was there, she was incredible. Also Joe Jackson, that was an amazing concert. I also have very fond memories of my European concerts, especially when I was young, playing for Czech girls – a great audience, I believe. I played with Laco Deczi, a trumpet player from Bratislava. His music is almost fusion, young people really loved it. For us to be playing concerts in those years, it was very wild. It was not long after the wall had come down. It was very fortunate for me to see this world which I wouldn't have been exposed to any other way. With Paul Simon I've also only performed one song. This particular event was the Mark Twain Awards at the Kennedy Center. They were honoring the comedian Steve Martin. They give out lifetime achievement awards, so we played with Paul Simon. I think Scarlett Johansson was there, Tom Hanks was the moderator, Larry David, all kinds of stars. I was very lucky. I worked with a music team who used to play for the Conan O' Brien show. When musical acts came to New York City, they were very often in charge of putting the bands together. I played with Cindy Lauper in Carnegie Hall in that way. We had a concert with Michael MacDonald. Those were amazing years when I was young in New York, to be around those guys with the cool gigs.

You also worked together with the great guitarist Oz Noy.

He's incredible. We're friends, we play tons of gigs together. He's a brilliant guitarist, trained in Bebop and all kinds of guitar music. On his recording sessions we got to play with Vinnie Colaiuta, that was amazing. Dave Weckl was on one too. These are great moments. Wonderful times.

Besides being a composer and performer, you are also an educator. You're doing masterclasses, you're an author of books and articles.

Now I really do that a lot, it has become my main source of income. I'm very grateful for that. I teach through Zoom. I teach piano for all different stages – and my students are doing great. They have a lot of time to practise right now.

You started teaching quite early. Were you already teaching before your time in the Czech Republic?

I started teaching already before that. I used to write instructional articles for Keyboard Magazine, that's how it all started. If they would interview a keyboard artist like Donald Fagan, I would write exercises so people could try to get the style of Donald Fagan. I did that for many years and through that I wrote a book about the organ called "101 Hammond B-3 Tips". Kind of through those things I started to give masterclasses at places that I would go to give concerts, cause people knew the books. I had videos, too. I made these instructional materials starting about 10 or 15 years ago. I also teach for the 92nd Street Y in New York City. And I have private students.

You're about to release a new album, "Power From The Air", which consists of a wind ensemble and you on organ, released on March 15th 2021.

This group has actually been together for a while. We record for a straight jazz record label called SteepleChase Records. The idea of the band very much came from John Ellis' group Double Wide. I fell in love with the bass clarinet. I wanted to make a Wind ensemble front line with a Hammond organ rhythm section. I didn't know a group that had that kind of formation. This is the third album from the group. It's very hypnotic and meditative, whereas the first album is almost contemporary classical. The second one is an oddball mix off things, the new one is kind of minimal, trance inducing music. It almost sounds like people playing on computers, which must be influenced by me working on machines a lot.

In November 2020, you released a record called "Like The Sun", an electronic album.

For years I've usually been making records with drummers and guitarists and me on hammond organ. I had begun to experiment with using sequencers and drum machines and mixing that with the organ a while ago. I've been working on it for a few years, getting some synths. When we went into the first lockdown, I didn't have anybody to play music with. I had my machines, and that is how I recorded the tracks for "Like The Sun".

Would the album not have happened if it weren't for the unexpected tie alone during lockdown?

I was kind of going into that direction anyway. I was already working on it when the lockdown happened, but the solitude of it went together somehow.

What was the recording process like?

The strange thing about the album is: Those are live takes for the most parts. I am playing all of the things live. A sequencer or an arpeggiator can remember a pattern that I do, but I am making the pattern in real time. That was the challenging thing and the thing that I spent the most amount of time perfecting: the performance. It was done in a very low budget way. It's eight or nine tracks usually. I spent a lot of time working with the samples, working out the different parts until I got the performance right Then I recorded the takes.

What kind of equipment did you use?

I'll show you. [Brian gives a little camera tour through his studio setup] This is a Korg Minilogue, where I play a lot of the bass. The drum machine is an Arturia DrumBrute Impact. A lot of my arpeggios and the things I play chordwise come from this MicroFreak, which is also made by Arturia. Then I have this control keyboard where I play my organ. An analogue synthesizer. Then of course my computer. Another drum machine. A Casio Trivia piano. A guitar – and that's basically what I use to make my albums with.

So you work with organ samples.

Yes, I use a few different things for that. For instance, I use the IK Multimedia B3X, because it works great with Hammond. I work a lot with Hammond too. They're very much going into this virtual world with organ stuff.

Which is quite a practical thing, because Hammond organs aren't really portable and easy to carry around.

And it's hard to make them work. Hammonds are very old, you know, sometimes they're 80 years old. I love them, though. There is nothing like a real Hammond organ. But I don't have a real Hammond organ in my house, it wouldn't even fit through the door. I couldn't even get it through my hallway! (laughs)

Neon Jazz interview with Joe Dimino about Like the Sun, Jan 13, 2021

Like the Sun makes DJ, Jay Hunter’s Best of 2020 list Dec 31, 2020

If you’re on Facebook and/or Instagram, you may have seen Brian Charette building bubbling, layered keyboard creations inside a space that looks like Rick Wakeman’s broom closet. In the spirit of social distancing, Charette has created a scintillating solo recording that has definite echoes of his righteous 2017 trio release Kurrent. While there are points where the lack of a rhythm section stands out, Charette’s well-established sense of whimsy lifts Like the Sun far above other COVID-era solo/duo releases that are either hamstrung by a depressive vibe or tripped up by a creative vision that falls flat at the finish line. In a year that took perverse pleasure in taking away things we love, Charette has proven once again that less can be so much more.

In depth review of Like the Sun on Dave Cromwell Writes by Dave Cromwell Nov 20. 2020

Holding true to the old axiom of how discovering one artist often leads you to another, Brian Charette finds his way onto this site following last month's deep dive into the music of Oz Noy. Noticing the high-quality, double-tiered Hammond B3 playing he contributed to Noy's “Looni Tooni” made it an easy decision to dig further into Brian's work.

A brand new full-length album “Like The Sun” is set for release on December 1, 2020 that features 13 mostly new original compositions. Recorded during the first months of lock down, these instrumental tracks forge a new hybrid sound that combine electronic beats with the richness of traditional organ sounds.

Opening cut “15 Minutes of Fame” lays out a funky robotic groove with a sharp, synthetic descending keyboard line surrounded by otherworldly textures. Lush, dreamy atmospherics alter the mood in-between in a most pleasurable way, before Brian's improvisational organ soloing commences. What's impressive is how nearly all of this record was recorded live in one take, reacting to random programming changes via the accompanying autogenerated beats and chords.

You can see and hear this happening live-in-that-moment via the below video (and 2nd album track) for “TimePiece.” Looking down on Brian's impressive rig of keyboards, samplers, drum machines and tone generators, the composer kicks off a mechanized beat and programmed chord progression. Taking to his highest-point mounted keyboard, sweetly piercing flute-like tones are the first to be played, establishing a central melody. Moving down one level to his mixer, audio samples and percussive bursts are initiated on the spot. As the song enters a defined chord change section, Brian drops to his third-tier down keyboard controller and unleashes some soulful organ improv. Check out this wonderful track here:

Third cut “Slasher” gets right to the warm organ tones, balancing that against slap-trappy percussion. After a minute another more synthetic keyboard texture emerges, providing counter-melodies to the organ running along simultaneously. Ascending otherworldly ambience serves up an appropriate coda.

While “Honeymoon Phase” continues that rough brush-stroke percussion, reverberated electric piano is introduced as a dueling keyboard element against the traditional B3 organ. Additional synthetic textures find their way into the mix as well, however it is the romantic chord selection and emotive playing that really shines through here.

Title track “Like The Sun” hits the ground running in full motion with a busy, angular sequence and syncopated percussive strokes marking out an interesting (and peculiar) pattern. Sampled voices materialize like Middle-Eastern prayer chants, and deep bass notes expand the sonic field into lower regions. Organs, synths, blips and bleeps all make appearances, adding an element of sci-fi to it all. There's even a bit of distorted-voice spoken word narration included in the final minute of this over six minute extravaganza.

Other cuts like “Mela's Cha Cha” position closer to more recognizable jazz-funk-soul hybrids, leaning more on buzzy brass synths for melody phrasing. However, there's always room for a few bars of rich, organ stylings and complimentary “outer space” ambiance.

“Three Lights” blends emotive Hammond B3 organ jamming over top of a hypnotic calypso beat. “Break Tune” takes the beat into a more static direction, with a pattern and sound like a Nine Inch Nails intro. While additional icy synths and distressed vocal samples may also throw off a Reznor-like feel, alternating passages with soulful organ and jazz guitar accompaniment take the edge off any potential existential dread.

“From Like to Love” introduces an even brassier synth as the melody instrument to build everything else around. Jazz inflections are the predominant voicings on chord phrasing while the blues scale is applied to solo forays. “Creole” blends a variety of traditional organs with buzzy brass synths over a funky bass and percussion rhythm. While the bright synth tones Keith Emerson with ELP, the end out jam is pure Brian Auger's Oblivion Express.

The motorik beat and Teutonic rhythm of “7th St. Busker” may be the closest track on the album fitting Brian's own self-description of “Kraftwerk meets Harlem juke joint.” Even the alternating synth textures have a “Trans-Europe Express” feel to them. An unexpected child's voice appears near the very end, adding one more twist to it.

An easy groove organ melody line over clearly defined chord progression introduces “Robot Heart.” Things become more “robotic” further in with an arpeggiated sequence, ice-alien keyboard stabs, high-hat tick percussion and mysterious voice samples. Final track “57 Chevy” builds off a funk heavy beat and three essential keyboard parts. A basic two-chord pattern of reverbed electric piano, soulful organ soloing over top of that, and a change section that features rising chords and low-end percussion.

Overall, this is a truly wonderful instrumental album that delivers a wide compositional and sonic range, perfect for the many moods we all experience throughout the course of each day.

Great review of Like the Sun by Dan Bilawsky in All About Jazz, Feb 11, 2021

By DAN BILAWSKY
January 11, 2021

With time on his hands, neurons firing fast and a serious hankering for tinkering, organist and keyboard whiz Brian Charette created what can best be described as an integrated groove orchestrion with catholic tastes. Using samplers, drum machines and arpeggiators programmed to react to and accompany his playing, Charette birthed a man-meets-machine outfit bent on exploring the outer limits, welding atmospherics to grooves, and forwarding catchy and playful lines that seem tailor-made for their territory, though the reverse is actually the case.

Recorded in the spring of 2020, when COVID-19 first kept everybody cooped up, this music obviously speaks to isolation. But, with necessity serving as the mother of invention, as few to no alternatives were available for in-person musical interactions at the time, Charette's experiments also shine a light on his incredible perseverance and the indefatigable spirit of the creative artist. Even in the face of a pandemic, with the rug pulled out from under him and the future uncertain, Charette found a way. And, in keeping with the album title, the music he brought to light shines brightly.

"15 Minutes of Fame," shifting between trippy techno-groove play and pseudo-soundscape territory, presenting earworm hooks, and offering some compelling solo work, proves to be the perfect entryway into this new world. Then Charette delivers an amped-up "Time Piece" bound for the raves, a slice of electro-soul in the form of "Slasher," and a comfortably flowing and glowing "Honeymoon Phase." By the time he arrives at the title track, where wordless vocal samples soar over foreboding undercurrents, processed language gives voice to thought, and ghosts peak out from behind the machines, it's clear that this music is a universe unto itself, where possibility outweighs predictability at every turn.

Charette charms and surprises with more twists and turns over the remaining eight tracks. "Mela's Cha Cha," delivering irresistible R&B dance currents, a detour or two, and a Latin pop solo section, cuts against the notion that man and machine can't make peace, groove as one and get lost in the moment together; "Break Tune," splitting time between the land of minimalistic notions and the church of soul salvation, alters its identity with nary an issue; and "Creole," with fingers joyfully prancing over a funky base, is absolutely magnetic. If it's at all possible to prove personable in the company of machines, Charette has done it here. Like The Sun, through its general sound(s) and creative thrust, offers a new slant on engagement and a welcome dose of optimism.

Interview with Czech National Radio by Marian Pavlík, Nov 4 , 2020

Brian Charette: Často mám pocit, že hraji s partou robotů

4. listopad 2020

„Mám pocit, že hudba se dost zpolitizovala. V mé tvorbě nenajdete žádný politický podtext, jde mi jen o krásu zvuku a samotné hudby,“ říká v rozhovoru pro Český rozhlas americký varhaník Brian Charette. Ačkoli newyorské kluby se pomalu otevírají, věnuje se aktuálně hlavně výuce a ještě do konce roku vydá nové album Like the Sun. 

Brian Charette se etabloval na newyorské scéně jako vyhledávaný hráč na varhany hammond. Jeho kvality ocenili v roce 2014 i kritici Downbeatu, když ho označili za Vycházející hvězdu. O čtyři roky později se již umístil na 5. místě v hlavní varhanické kategorii. Uznávaný skladatel a kapelník účinkoval s hudebníky jako například Joni Mitchell, Chaka Khan, Paul Simon. Brian Charette často účinkuje i na českých pódiích, nejen se svým českým triem, ale i jako host Jazz Dock Orchestra. 

Hudebníci dnes zažívají těžké časy. Jak se daří vám?

Děkuji za optání. Až do půlky března jsem normálně koncertoval, pak propukla pandemie. Ze začátku jsme se všichni báli, mnoho lidí onemocnělo, mnozí zemřeli. Momentálně nekoncertuji, věnuji se intenzivně výuce.

Je o vás známo, že jste častým hostem na českých pódiích. Kdy jste hrál naposledy v Česku?

Myslím, že to bylo před rokem s Modern Organ Triem na festivalu ve Slaném. Plánoval jsem se vrátit na jaře 2020 a hrát spolu s Liborem Šmoldasem a Tomášem Hobzekem. Měl jsem taky naplánované turné v dalších evropských zemích, ale nakonec jsem byl nucen zůstat v New Yorku. 

Jaké jsou teď vaše vyhlídky na koncertování v New Yorku?

Od října se pomalu obnovuje koncertní život. Začátkem měsíce jsem hrál v klubu Smalls. Kdysi jsem běžně hrál sedm až deset koncertů týdně. Přestože začínám trochu koncertovat, ani zdaleka to není tak často, jako tomu bylo před pandemií. Současná opatření tu umožňují zaplnit koncertní sály a kluby jen do 20% celkové kapacity. Do klubů chodí málo lidí, dvacetiprocentní návštěvnost malého klubu je přibližně patnáct lidí. Velké kluby, jako například Blue Note nebo Jazz Standard, zatím neotevřely vůbec.

Streamování není zrovna cesta, kterou bych se chtěl ubírat. Zaměřil jsem se více na online učení.

Dostávají umělci od vlády kompenzaci?

Amerika se nachází ve špatných časech. Je poznamenána nenávistí a politickým bojem. V této složité situaci se vláda snaží lidem pomoci a mám pocit, že docela úspěšně. Nyní pobírám podporu v nezaměstnanosti, protože ze svých učitelských aktivit si platím pojištění pro případ nezaměstnanosti. V současnosti stát dokonce vyplácí i mimořádné dávky, které za běžných okolností neposkytuje. Měli na ně dokonce nárok umělci, kteří do systému běžně nepřispívali. Zpočátku se ale ne všem žadatelům podařilo podporu dostat, protože systém nebyl na takový objem žádostí připraven.

Zmínil jste, že pomalu začínáte s koncerty, jaké byly ty první říjnové?

Hrál jsem v Smalls Jazz s bubeníkem Arim Hoenigem a basistou Joem Martinem. Jak jsem již zmiňoval, v současnosti mě zaměstnává především učení. Zároveň se snažím najít na další sezónu náhradní termíny za zrušené koncerty. Jde to velmi pomalu, protože kvůli nejisté situaci nemá většina klubů vůbec představu o tom, co bude v novém roce.

Mnozí umělci se pohotově přeorientovali na streamování svých vystoupení. Jak jste se s tímto fenoménem vypořádal?

Streamování není zrovna cesta, kterou bych se chtěl ubírat. Zaměřil jsem se více na online učení. Vždy jsem hodně učil a psal instruktážní články, dokonce i pro český magazín Muzikus. Napsal jsem také knihu, natočil videa. Dá se v podstatě říci, že se ze mě stal učitel. Učím hru na varhany a na klavír, radím jak psát tiskové zprávy, starám se o obchodní stránku svých hudebních aktivit, rozhodně se nenudím. 

Na vašem Facebooku mě zaujalo video s kytaristou Oz Noyem a bubeníkem Aaronem Comessem. Jedná se o trvalejší spolupráci?

S Ozem se už nějaký čas známe, hráli jsme spolu už dávno před pandemií. Video natočil chlapík, který se v newyorském studiu Euphoria začíná věnovat natáčení kapel. Poprosil nás, jestli by nás mohl v jeho studiu nafilmovat a použít to jako své propagační video. Hrál jsem i na Ozově novém albu Snap Dragon na hammond B3, Fender Rhodes a Korg Minilogue. V listopadu máme naplánovaný společný koncert.

Prvního prosince vychází vaše sólové album Like the Sun. Jak vzniklo a co vás k jeho vzniku inspirovalo?

Album vzniklo v prvních dnech lockdownu a jsou na něm chytlavé, rytmické autorské skladby s lehce zapamatovatelnými melodiemi a sofistikovanými harmoniemi. Zpracoval jsem mnoho svých nápadů z minulých let. Skladby pojednávají o izolaci, hledání milované ženy a nejistotách spojených s pandemií.

Publikum vás zná více jako varhaníka, než hráče na elektronické klávesové nástroje. Kdy jste začal koketovat s elektronikou?

Elektronika mě vždycky oslovovala. I moje první album s názvem Brian Charette z roku 2000 je celé elektronické. V mládí jsem obdivoval skupinu Yes a Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP), které používaly hammondky a analogové syntezátory. V posledních letech se snažím prezentovat svou hudbu také na syntezátoru. Sólové dráze jsem se začal více věnovat přibližně před pěti lety. Většina newyorských hudebníků mi dá jistě za pravdu, když řeknu, že v současnosti je téměř nemožné udržet si stálou kapelu, která by pravidelně nacvičovala.

V těchto dnech je to dokonce ještě obtížnější. Momentálně se věnuji syntezátorům více než doposud. Mým záměrem bylo dát dohromady nástrojovou kombinaci, která by mi umožnila pomocí kláves rytmicky a harmonicky doprovázet hammond. Jelikož jsem během lockdownu nekoncertoval, oprášil jsem svůj bicí automat se sekvencerem, a tak si dokážu všechno zahrát sám. Na Facebooku předvádím svou hudbu formou virtuálního koncertu. Nástroje programuji tak, aby hbitě reagovaly na to, co hraji. Moje mašinky se pak chovají nahodile a já na ně dál reaguji pomocí kláves.

Do jaké míry se mohou vaše nástroje chovat nahodile?

Úroveň nahodilosti mohu zvolit libovolně, přičemž na bicím automatu mohu nastavit zvuky různých činelů a bubnů. Nebráním se ani používání looperu. Jednotlivé přístroje ovšem ovládám v reálném čase.

Co je při takovém hraní největší výzvou?

Současné sledování a ovládání jednotlivých nástrojů. Často mám pocit, že hraji s partou robotů.

Jak přistupujete ke skládání hudby pro elektronické nástroje?

Nejprve vymyslím na pianu melodii a harmonie, pak naprogramuji jednotlivé části do přístrojů. Nahodilost volím otáčením knoflíku, její úroveň měním i během skladby. Každý nástroj mohu během hraní nezávisle ztišit. Takže i když mám elektronické nástroje předem naprogramované, během hraní do nich zasahuji podobně, jako kdybych hrál v reálném čase na hudební nástroj. Totéž dělám i se sekvencerem, který často hraje akordy. Do toho hraji jednou rukou sólo, druhou potřebuji mít stále volnou. Konkrétním typem algoritmu můžu měnit i délku not. Mohu tak improvizovat podobně, jak to dělám na varhanách.

Na několika videích hrajete přearanžované skladby od Herbieho Hancocka, Waynea Shortera, Weather Report. Do jaké míry vás jejich hudba inspiruje?

Herbie byl jedním z prvních hudebníků, kteří používali syntetizátor Moog. Začátkem 70. let ho používalo několik významných muzikantů: Wendy Carlos na klasické nahrávce Switched-on Bach, Herbie Hancock dokonce použil na Headhunters všechny starší analogové syntezátory. Joe Zawinul zas hrál na syntezátor značky ARP. Tyto syntetizátory mě oslovily nejvíce, proto je rád používám v kombinaci s novými technologiemi. Můj sekvencer má dost kovový zvuk, čímž kontrastuje s teplým analogovým zvukem. Používám i Fender Rhodes s efektovým pedálem phase 90 od firmy MXR. To je zvuk, který používal Zawinul. Mám rád i Elektric Band Chicka Corey, měl jsem dokonce příležitost hrát s Johnem Patituccim a Davem Wecklem. Co se týče jazzové syntezátorové hudby, nejvíce mě ovlivnil Herbie Hancock, kapela Weather Report s Jacem Pastoriem, z rockové hudby již zmínění Yes a ELP.

Ve zprávě o novém albu se zmiňujete o tom, že vaše hudba je zcela nezávislá na politice. Jak jste to myslel?

Mám pocit, že hudba se dost zpolitizovala. V mé tvorbě nenajdete žádný politický podtext, jde mi jen o krásu zvuku a samotné hudby. Současný svět je politicky příliš rozdělen. Je založen na postoji jedné skupiny proti ostatním. Jsem přesvědčen, že lidé mohou vedle sebe fungovat i přes odlišné politické názory, bez hádek a nenávisti. Je nutné si uvědomit vzájemnou podobnost a ne odlišnosti. Mám svůj vlastní politický názor, ale nebudu přeci někoho nenávidět jen proto, že on má jiný. Obzvláště instrumentální hudba je nezávislá na jakékoli politice. 

Vraťme se ještě k novému albu. Jedna ze skladeb nese název Honeymoon phase. Co vás k jejímu složení inspirovalo?

Byla to první píseň, kterou jsem složil pro svou milovanou manželku Melanie (zpěvačka Melanie Scholtz, pozn. autora). Odráží krásné období vztahu, když se dva do sebe zamilují. Fázi vztahu plnou citů, kde není místo na žádné problémy, ani na řešení finančních záležitostí.

Vzpomínám si na náš loňský rozhovor s vámi a s Melanie na JazzFestuBrno. Sršela z vás obou spokojenost a harmonie. Takže už mi je všechno jasné – Honeymoon Phase.

Melanie je fantastická žena a úžasná, inspirující umělkyně. Mohu s klidným svědomím prohlásit, že Melanie je to nejlepší, co mě kdy v životě potkalo.

Jak se jí daří v těchto nejistých časech?

Má se fajn, ačkoli také momentálně nekoncertuje. Intenzivně se věnuje učení. Od té doby, co je v New Yorku, se z ní stala uznávaná umělkyně – dělá různé koláže, věnuje se digitálnímu umění, organizuje semináře.

Jak vidíte v této nejisté době vaše další hudební aktivity? Máte v plánu i orchestrální projekty?

Minulý rok jsem složil hudbu pro Jazz Dock Orchestra a byl bych rád, kdyby se nám ji podařilo nahrát. Zkomponoval jsem i hudbu pro maďarský Modern Art Orchestra. Původně jsme ji chtěli uvést živě v dubnu, ale nevyšlo to. Plánoval jsem také hrát s orchestry v New Yorku, ale budu muset počkat, až se naplno otevřou kluby. Nahrál jsem album s formací 3rd Organ Sextette, mělo by vyjít v březnu 2021 u Steeplechase Records. Představíme ho v dubnu v klubu Dizzy 's v Lincoln Centru. I přes změnu původních plánů věřím, že brzy uvidíme světlo na konci tunelu.

autor: Marian Pavlík

Interview on Chicago’s WDCB show Jazz Organic with Andy Shultz Nov 22, 2020

Review of Like the Sun in CT Post by Joe Amarante, Nov 27, 2020

Meriden-raised Brian Charette, a Hammond organ artist, has new album Dec.1

By Joe Amarante

Published 7:00 am EST, Friday, November 27, 2020

If you’re ready for some “original, catchy instrumental tunes with hip beats, memorable melodies, slick chords and dreamy atmospheres,” Meriden-raised jazz man Brian Charette of New York City has a new album for you, coming out Tuesday, Dec. 1, called “Like the Sun.”

The Hammond organ artist played Firehouse 12 in New Haven with the group Kürrent awhile back. This set was recorded live during the first few months of lockdown with drum machines, samplers and arpeggiators that were programmed to react to Charette’s playing in cool ways, he notes. He says the tunes on the album speak of isolation, finding his lovely wife and the terrible anxiety of losing all of his concerts because of the coronavirus.

In an email recently, Charette said, “I describe ‘Like the Sun’ as Kraftwerk (German electronica) meets Harlem juke joint. It’s Hammond with electronics and drum machines that I have programmed to react to me in provocative ways. I track everything live.”

You can see Charette track his favorite tune, “Time Piece,” on YouTube:

Q: How and when did you fall in love with the Hammond sound?

My first favorite organist was Chester Thopson of Tower of Power. I loved the song “Squibb Cakes.“

Q: And I see you creating solo; what size band do you perform with?

My CD release at Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn on Dec. 5, 8 p.m. will be just me with the machines.

Q: How many live gigs have you been doing during the pandemic?

Not many. I do 3-4 a month though and as many virtual ones.

Q: I know you’re Meriden-raised. You live in Brooklyn now?

I live in the East Village of Manhattan for 26 years.

Interview on Nick Di Maria’s Podcast, Mr Millenial’s Revenge Dec 2, 2020

Review of Like the Sun from Jan Hocek at Jazzport.cz Dec 14, 2020

Brian Charette zelektrifikoval i slunce

Americký jazzový varhaník BRIAN CHARETTE, často dlící a hrající také v Praze, vydal 1.prosince ve vlastní režii (prozatím) digitální autorské album „Like the Sun“.

Zcela sám, a nejen s hammondkami; obklopil se také nejrůznějšími syntezátory a dalšími elektronickými klávesami, kytarami i bicím automatem se sekvencerem.

Album vzniklo v prvních dnech newyorského lockdownu a protagonista zpracoval mnoho svých nápadů z minulých let, přičemž reflektoval aktuální situaci – na jedné straně izolaci a nejistoty spojené s pandemií, ovšem bez politického podtextu, na druhé pak hledání a nalezení milované ženy…

Proto jsou na albu chytlavé, rytmicky bohaté skladby, přehledě vystavěné, byť mnohovrstevnaté, s mnohdy až popovými melodiemi. Charettovým záměrem bylo vytvořit z těch všech nástrojů rytmický a harmonický doprovod k sólujícím hammondkám. „Nástroje programuju tak, aby hbitě reagovaly na to, co hraju,“ vyjádřil se v jednom nedávném rozhovoru Charette.

„Moje mašinky se pak chovají nahodile a já na ně dál reaguju pomocí kláves. Úroveň nahodilosti mohu zvolit libovolně, přičemž na bicím automatu mohu nastavit zvuky různých činelů a bubnů. Nebráním se ani používání looperu. Jednotlivé přístroje ovšem ovládám v reálném čase. Největší výzvou je pak současné sledování a ovládání jednotlivých nástrojů. Často mám pocit, že hraju s partou robotů.”

Některé ze třinácti skladeb jsou hravé, analogově, až dřevně naivní, jiné jsou zdramatizovány, aby vyzněly naléhavě. Do té první skupiny patří např. hned úvodní „15 Minutes of Fame“, dále romantická „Honeymoon Phase“, dedikovaná manželce Melanii Scholtz, výtečné jazzové vokalistce; náleží sem též „Three Lights“, zpopovělá „From Like To Love“ a dětsky skotačivě roztančená „Robot Heart“. Mezi dramatičtěji vystavěnými skladbami vévodí cinematická svižnůstka „Time Piece“ s ozvěnami krautrocku, „Like the Sun“ s africkými inspiracemi v rytmu, kraftwerkovskou deklamací slov a syntezátorovou barvou a´la Keith Emerson (mimochodem kterého Charette v mládí zhusta poslouchal), space-rockově ovoněná „Break Tune“ a zfunkovělá „Creole“.

Prostě parádní self-made elektronický jazz!

Lovely review in Dutch magazine, Jazzflits by Eigen Beheer, Dec 21, 2020

Nice review of Like the Sun from Something Else by Preston Frazier Dec 2, 2020

BRIAN CHARETTE – LIKE THE SUN (JAZZ): Repeated listening of Brian Charette’s Like the Sun still left me with a few questions. This New York City-based organist has a long string of professional accolades in the jazz world. Known as a master of the Hammond B3, Charett’s discography is long and distinctive. But Like the Sun is something a little different, as Brian Charette mixes electronica with his organic organ sound. The combination of sounds is melodic and inviting. For instance, the roots of songs like “Time Piece” are electronic, but the musical core engages with both electronic drums and bass Hammond touches. Like the Sun was written in the early days of the lockdown, and highlights a new turn in Charette’s recording career. Would a song like “From Like to Love” have been created by Charette but for the pandemic? I don’t know but I know this project, which all but defies characterization, deserves to be heard.

Great review of Like the Sun in Hungarian magazine, Jazzma by Bence Vas Nov 15, 2020

Lemezpolc kritika:
Charette, Brian - Like the Sun 2020. november 15., Vas Bence

BRIAN CHARETTE (1972. november 15-én született, vagyis ma ünnepli 48. születésnapját!) a modern jazz egyik megkerülhetetlen szereplője. New York jazzéletének kulcsszereplőjeként az orgonistákkal rendszeresen együttműködő előadók közül szinte mindenkivel játszott már, beleértve a jazz legendáit - Lou Donaldson, vagy Houston Person- és olyan népszerű előadókat is, mint Joni Mitchell, Chaka Khan, Paul Simon, vagy Cyndi Lauper.

Legutóbb megjelent albumai közt egyaránt találunk kísérletező, újító szellemiségűt („Kürrent”: „circuit bent organ trio” Ben Monder-rel) és tradicionális hangvételűt („Groovin’ with Big G”: a jazz legenda, George Coleman közreműködésével).

2014-ben a DownBeat kritikusai a „Rising Star” kategóriában első helyre sorolták, míg 2018-ban szintén a kritikusok szavazatai alapján az „orgona” főkategóriában ötödik helyet ért el (Dr. Lonnie Smith, Joey DeFrancesco, Larry Goldings és John Medeski „előzték meg”).

Brian Charette-tel 2019. április 11-én a Budapest Jazz Club színpadán az Organism Trio vendégeként a magyar közönség is találkozhatott.

A „Like the Sun” számomra egy furcsa hangulatú lemez. Kisse talán poszt-apokaliptikus - kreatív, a zenei és technikai eszközöket nyitott módon használó, határ-feszegető anyag. Ugyanakkor a zene születésének körülményei és ugyanezen eszközök egy másik irányú hatása miatt (gépies?, idegen?, robotszerű talán, ahogy Brian is írja…) elgondolkodtató is. Számomra nagy segítséget nyújtottak Brian saját gondolatai a befogadáshoz, ezért elsősorban ezeket próbáltam átültetni magyar nyelvre.

Éppen a nyáron ismertem meg Maria Schneider Data Lords anyagát, melyen hagyományos hangszerekkel a lemezt mintegy kettéválasztva az első részben az online, tech/IT világ jelenségeire reflektál, míg a második részben a természet az ihlető forrás. Brian lemeze számomra az online térbe kényszerített világra reflektál, nagyrészt ennek a világnak a termekéivel, eszközeivel, mégis valamelyest a szempontunkból hagyományosnak nevezhető, live recording utólagos editálás nélküli törekvéseivel.

Én nehezebben tudok azonosulni ezzel a zenei világgal, mivel alapvetően távolabb áll azoktól a zenektől, melyeket rendszeresen és szívesen hallgatok. Ennélfogva kevésbé tudtam a teljes összhatásra koncentrálni, inkább kerestem benne olyan részleteket, melyekből tanulhatok. Így az orgonaszólókra, kíséretekre fókuszáltam és ezek, illetve Brian jegyzetei mentén próbáltam ismerkedni a lemezzel.

Az alábbiak Brian Charette saját jegyzetei nyomán íródtak; saját, néhol szabad fordításban.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW6A6Y-nkzA

“Egyszerre B-3 stiliszta, stílus alakító és tanítvány, komoly jazz tudós és könnyed szórakoztató. Charette egy kiváló szólista, aki egyaránt ismeri a Hammond B3 múltját, tradícióit, továbbá jövőjét: legalább olyan bizonyossággal, mint saját helyét a B3 családfán.“ Ken Micallef DownBeat Magazine

Brian Charette új albuma live solo elektronikus szerzeményekből áll, minimalista, fülbemászó dallamokkal, billentyűk és gombok tekervényes táncával előadva.

Az emlékezetes darabok szofisztikált harmóniákkal és álomszerű hangulattal csomagolva világítótoronyként szolgálnak ezekben a nehéz időkben, akar csak a Nap.

Track Listing: 1) 15 Minutes of Fame 2) Time Piece 3) Slasher 4) Honeymoon Phase 5) Like the Sun 6) Mela’s Cha Cha 7) Three Lights 8) Break Tune 9) From Like to Love 10) Creole 11) Robot Heart 12) 7th St. Busker 13) 57 Chevy

A „Like the Sun” olyan számomra, mint a Kraftwerk találkozása a Harlem juke joint-tal.

Hammond elektronikával és dobgépekkel, melyeket úgy programoztam, hogy provokatív, ösztönző módon reagáljanak a játékomra.

A felvételeket a kijárási korlátozások első hónapjaiban készítettem. 2020. december 1-én jelenik meg.

Saját fülbemászó instrumentális témák, menő beat-ek, megjegyezhető dallamok, jól kitalált akkordok és néhol álomszerű hangulat jellemzi.

A zene szíve, központja a Hammond orgona, mely szerintem egy egészen kivételes helyzet, mivel ritkán hallható ebben a robotszerű kontextusban. Az albumon található darabok egyaránt beszélnek izolációról, elszigeteltségről, csodálatos feleségem újra felfedezéséről és a szörnyű szorongásról, melyet a vírus miatt elvesztett koncertlehetőségeim okoztak.

Megpróbáltam arra használni a bezárkózás időszakát, hogy bizonyos készségeimet továbbfejlesszem: szólóban játszani anélkül, hogy a ritmusszekció érzetét elvesztenénk.

A saját zenémnek, mint szóló elektronikus produkciónak lehetőségét öt éve kezdtem el kutatni.

Amint azt a legtöbb New York-i zenész tudja, majdnem lehetetlen olyan állandó zenekart együtt tartani, amely rendszeresen tud próbálni.

Ez nyilvánvalóan még nehézkesebbé vált az utóbbi hónapokban.

A gyakran sietős recording session-ök miatti frusztrációm okán - melyek után soha sem hallottam a saját zenémet teljes mértékben úgy visszaadni, amint az a fejemben megszólalt; nekiláttam néhány olyan elektronikus hangszert, eszközt beszerezni, melyek ritmikus és akkordikus kíséretet biztosíthatnak mialatt én orgonán és egyéb billentyűs hangszereken játszom.

Ugyanakkor távol akartam maradni a túlzásba vitt és végtelen editálás folyamatától is (ez az elektronikus zenével gyakran együtt jár).

Annak érdekében, hogy ezeket a terveimet megvalósíthassam, az élő hangszeres játékot a real time-ban manipulált gépekkel magas színvonalú random improvizációvá rendeztem el.

Ez felszabadította a kezeimet a konvencionális billentyűs játékmód alól és proaktív ritmusszekcióként működött, mellyel együtt – vagy ellenében improvizálhattam.

A legnagyobb kihívást az jelentette, hogy ne szalasszam el a fontos billentyű leütéseket, vagy program váltásokat, amint a zene haladt előre.

Két szám kivételével – ahol gitár kísér - nem alkalmaztam utólagos rájátszást (overdub).

Az albumon rögzített zene azzal a vággyal jött létre, hogy gyönyörű, emlékezetes dallamokat alkosson intelligens harmóniákkal, melyek csak éppen egy kevéssé bonyolultak.

Nincs nyílt politikai állásfoglalás; megpróbálom követni azt, amit a taoizmus állít: “a mester nem foglal állást”.

Ebből következően a zene felemelő és könnyen befogadható bármilyen ideológiai program nélkül.

Szerettem volna a hallgatónak felajánlani egy relaxáló zenei utazást, mely során elfelejthetik egy időre az élet nehezebb aspektusait.

Folyamatosan próbálom a Hammond orgona hatarait feszegetni azzal, hogy nem szokványos környezetbe helyezem.

Like the Sun Track Notes: (válogatás szintén Brian jegyzetei közül, saját kommentek dőlt betűvel)

1.)    15 Minutes of Fame

Ez volt az utolsó darab, amit írtam és rögzítettem. Ben Wedel-t hallgattam a Facebook-on, amint valamelyik standard-et játszotta 5/8-adban és nem tudtam kiverni a fejemből a clave-t. Synth bells (szintetikus harangok, csengők) adjak a moll harmóniai hátteret a darabnak. Ezek egy square wave (négyszög jel) modulátoron keresztülvezetve adnak némi hangnemen kívüli könnyed megtévesztést.

Sima blues dallam szól analóg szintetizátorral. (…) Úgy emlékszem, hogy az orgonaszólót rendkívül nehéz volt a basszus témával együtt játszani. (…)

Ez a “kis” orgona szóló a basszussal önmagában megérné, hogy leírjuk és tananyagként használjuk a két kéz függetlenítésére.

8.)   Break Tune

Eredetileg egy duo jam a kiváló dobos/mágus Jo Jo Mayer-rel. A dallam polysynth-szel szól, ami egy egész akkordot játszik egy hangra és a dob break-ben német barátok beszélnek arról, hogy milyen szép ez az este. A chorus teljes mértékben templomi orgona egy kis Mo Betta Blues utalással (…)

Az eredeti studio / video session nagy kedvencem – a témák ebben a megközelítésben is erősek, jól működnek, bár azért a gépeknél jobb húzása van Jo Jo Mayer dobolásának és Brian basszusának: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHsXAReP8JI

3 album review by George Grella in NYC Jazz Record, Dec 1, 2020

Nice review of Like the Sun from Brittany Polito, Nov 1, 2020

Album Preview: 'Like The Sun' by Brian Charette

By Brittany Polito iBerkshires Staff

Brian Charette, a New York City and occasional Berkshires performer, is releasing his newest album, "Like The Sun," that incorporates electronica elements into traditional jazz. "This is the most accurate representation of the music that I hear in my head," the organist and keyboardist said recently. He describes this album's genre as electronica in simple terms, but sometimes refers to it as "intergalactic yacht rock meets Kraftwerk, meets Harlem juke joint."

He hopes bringing his electronic influences into the jazz world will appeal to both a traditional jazz audience as well as a younger audience. Charette wants this album to be enjoyed by people of all ages and origins: "The main message is everyone can come to this party." The album also aims to make jazz accessible to everyone, because those not educated in music tend to feel intimated by jazz, he said. "I'm trying to make it a little something for everyone and I'm trying to stretch the jazz listeners to come to my electronics and more unusual treatments," Charette said.

Currently Charette lives in the East Village, where he has been since 1994. He grew up in the Hartford, Conn., music scene and played piano. Being halfway between Boston and New York, he would wind up on gigs with jazz luminaries such as Lou Donaldson and Houston Person. Upon moving to New York, he converted from the traditional piano to an electric portable organ called the Hammond XB2. Charette was the DownBeat Critic's Poll Rising Star of 2014 for organ and Hot House Magazine's Best Organist in New York in 2015.

About 15 years ago, he started his own music group and created several albums with Denmark label SteepleChase Records. Charette has also played piano and organ on hundreds of other musician's records. Charette had been working on performances for "Like The Sun" two years prior, but did most of the recordings in April during the height of the pandemic. The entire album took about two days to record because of the amount of rehearsal Charette put in beforehand. With this album, he also wants to express unity. "We are all on the same team" in the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. And being a resident of New York City, the isolation of lockdown influenced the feeling of this album. Other inspirations behind "Like The Sun's" songs include Charette's time in New Orleans and meeting his wife.

Charette explains that what sets this album apart from traditional electronic music is that it was performed live in his personal studio. While electronic music typically is recorded in separate parts and then mixed together, "Like The Sun" is a multitrack recording with no editing. He created the album by playing one or two keyboards while manipulating the other machines to play their parts simultaneously. "I think this unusual for electronic music, which is usually very manipulated in the mixing and production stage," he said.

Charette is influenced by music from the '70s. In his younger days, he listened to the Beegees and progressive rock bands such as Yes. This is where his interest in synthesizers comes from. "The music sounds very optimistic, this is why the title of the album is 'Like The Sun,'" he said. "I feel like the melodies and the harmony are very suggestive of the music in the '70s that I grew up with." Charette currently works full time as a piano and organ teacher. He teaches all levels of pianists, group classes, and music production. He also teaches part time at New School and the 92nd Street YMCA in New York. Charette has students from around the world whom he teaches over Zoom. Before COVID-19, he played gigs all over the world, including a number of performances in the Berkshires.

A CD release stream of "Like The Sun" will take place digitally on Saturday, Dec. 5, 8 p.m. on Soapboxgallery.org. After it's release, "Like The Sun" will be available on most music streaming services.

Charette's single "Break Tune" is available on Spotify. For updates, visit @pinchbrian on Instagram.

Great review of Like the Sun in Jazz.sk by Peter Korman Nov 20, 2020

Charettovým cieľom bolo vytvoriť hudbu s peknými a zapamätovateľnými melódiami, inteligentnou harmóniou a poskytnúť tak poslucháčovi možnosť zabudnúť na ťažkosti dnešného sveta. Takisto chcel posunúť hranice svojho nástroja ešte ďalej práve postavením Hammond organu do nového elektronického kontextu. Popri tom všetkom však stále viac či menej ostáva zachovaný jazzový element, ktorý tak elektornickému zvuku dodáva ľudskosť a teplo. 

Album Like the Sun vychádza 1.decembra 2020 a bude dostupný na Charettovej webovej stránke a stremovacích platformách. 

Web: https://www.briancharette.com/likethesun

Autor: Peter Korman, tlačová správa

Foto: Simon Yu

George Grella's review of Like the Sun in Flat Circles, Sept 15, 2020

…..All is not lost, though! Some people are still doing some things, good things. This week I banged out 1600 words for the Brooklyn Rail on how people are making music from their homes, good music, fascinating music, music that carves out a lovely, expansive space within the tight limits of life in America this ghastly fall (there are some interesting collaborative processes going on as well).

Take this guy:

Let’s all try to enjoy life like Brian Charette. For those not familiar, he’s an exceptional keyboardist and the leading organist in contemporary jazz. Don’t take my word for it, take his:

That’s just a great album.

He does plenty of experimenting too, always with the feeling of, this is what he’s curious about (he has a refreshing no-fucks-to-give attitude about what he wants to do as a musician vis-a-vis the hidebound rules of jazz culture, what you’re supposed to play, how you’re supposed to “pay dues,” all that crap). He’s made a new record, Like The Sun, which he’s releasing December 1, all solo playing with and against his electronics, all live in that there’s no post-take editing, just mixing. It’s got a new and old sound, hip hop rhythms here, some ideas borrowed from Joe Zawinul’s great solo keyboard album, Dialects, there. I recommend a lot of synthesizer music that is heavily sequenced, here’s a case where on top of that someone is playing some hip, wicked shit.

He told me via email, “My Hammond is joined by a robot band this time! It's yacht rock meets Kraftwerk meets Harlem juke joint.” As groovy and lighthearted that comes across, he explains in his publicity materials that the music making was a way of both appreciating the good things in life, like his marriage, as well as working through the anxiety of seeing all his gigs evaporate. I hear you man. (He also pointed me to his Facebook—yeah I know I know—page, where he has good videos, including a recent, funky performance video with guitarist Oz Noy and drummer Aaron Comess, masked.)

Again, out December 1. A real ear-cleaner and highly recommended.

Beyond Borderline picked as one of NYC Jazz Record’s favorite solo recordings of 2019

Jazz Station picks Beyond Borderline as one of the top solo albums of 2019

Organ:

1. Ricky Peterson (“Drop Shot” w/ WDR Big Band Cologne - )

2. Joey DeFrancesco (“In The Key of the Universe” – Mack Avenue)

3. Brian Charette (“Groovin’ With Big G” – SteepleChase)

4. Gerard Gibbs (“Live From Newport Jazz” w/ James Carter – Blue Note)

LA Jazz Scene review of Beyond Borderline by Scott Yanow

Listening to Brian Charette romp through the uptempo blues “Yolk,” the first number on this set, it is surprising to realize that there have been so few albums of unaccompanied organ solos. When an organist is able to play swinging basslines with his or her feet, they have the potential of playing the organ as a one-man band. Even Charette has only recorded in this format once before, six years ago for a CD called Borderline. Since that time he has worked in a variety of settings and continued stretching the jazz organ tradition in different ways, but had not played solo again until this spontaneous record session.

Charette recorded the nearly 63-minutes of music on Beyond Borderline in around 70 minutes. All of the dozen songs (ten originals plus versions of Billy Strayhorn’s “Chelsea Bridge” and Duke Ellington’s “Prelude To A Kiss”) were just played one time apiece, yet the results sound well-rehearsed and virtually flawless. Charette sticks a bit closer to the tradition in this format than he does with combos but still throws in occasional surprises and displays his own voice. While many of his originals had previously been recorded, these versions are different and often superior to the earlier recordings.

Whether it is the hints of “Mission Impossible” on “Wish List” (which is also in 5/4 time), the oddly episodic “Girls,” or the racehorse tempo of “Public Transportation,” Brian Charette is heard at the top of his game. Beyond Borderline, which is highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the jazz organ, is available from www.statesidemusic.com.

Great Review of Beyond Borderline by Richard Kamins on Step Tempest

Interview on Jason Crane’s The Jazz Session

https://www.thejazzsession.com/2020/01/15/the-jazz-session-505-brian-charette/?fbclid=IwAR0v1rDGuxA9RPHvnwqmlem1JMSIChnxabULhbFiaU2hfxuaNR3-KnPbFUU

Review of Beyond Borderline by Jeff Krow in Audiophile Audition

Brian Charette is a Hammond B3 organist, who enjoys pushing the envelope a bit. He can groove with the best of them, as evidenced by his selection, back in 2014, as Downbeat Magazine’s Rising Star on organ in their poll. However, he digs going out of the typical comfort range that the public ects from a Hammond B3 organ.

His 2013 Steeplechase CD, Borderline, was done as a solo project. Seven years later, he revisits this concept, this time using mostly his own compositions that he had explored in group settings in his career. The groove remains, but new tonal colors are added. The bass pedals provide arock solid formation for experimentation to occur.

The opener, “Yolk” is bass heavy and would be at home in an arena setting. It hums with vibrancy. “Wish List” would be a hit in a haunted house at Halloween. It ticks with menace. The classic “Chelsea Bridge” from Ellington/Strayhorn is given a respectful reading, and is a sumptuous ballad.

“Girls” changes directions a few times and would reward a “repeat” button on your CD player.”Hungarian Bolero” is not a tune you’d find on a typical Hammond B3 led issue. Replete with dark menace, think Bela Lugosi plotting revenge in a dark laboratory, and you’d be halfway there.

“Silicone Doll” is a droll comment on Billy Strayhorn channeling Oliver Messiaen, the French composer/organist, noted for his rhythmically complex compositions.

Two relatively new Charette tracks follow- “Aligned Arpeggio” and “Herman Ernst III.” The former is contemplative, while the latter, written to honor the New Orleans drummer, swings like mad. The closing track, “Public Transportation,” has a bebop vibe, with an added scoop of edginess.

Beyond Borderline will appeal both to Hammond B3 freaks, as well as those that appreciate moving beyond standard Hammond B3 fare. Hipsters and groovers unite…

Review of Beyond Borderline by Delarue in New York Music Daily

Brian Charette Takes Organ Jazz to Edgy, Entertaining New Places

As Brian Charette tells it, his first solo organ record was a hit with his colleagues at baseball stadiums. Which makes sense. If an organist is a serious team player, he or she (thinking of Eddie Layton and Jane Jarvis here) can influence the outcome of a game. But first they have to engage a screaming mob, and be heard over them (unless it’s the Mets and there’s nobody there). Charette can’t resist an opportunity to entertain, although his sense of humor usually comes out in jousting with bandmates and making deadpan insider jokes rather than outright buffoonery. His follow-up solo album, Beyond Borderline – streaming at youtube – doesn’t seem to have any baseball subtext: it’s an endless supply of WTF moments interspersed among just about every possible style that might fit what Charette obviously sees as the very broad category of jazz organ. His next gig is not as a bandleader, but a relatively rare one as a sideman with hard-hitting saxophonist Mike DiRubbo‘s quartet at 10:30 PM this Friday and Saturday night, Jan 3 and 4 at Smalls.

The new album is a mix of solo versions of originals along with a couple of organ arrangements of Ellington tunes. Charette opens it with Yellow Car, a briskly strolling Jimmy Smith-style blues spiced with sly jabs and blips. He really cuts loose with his signature unpredictability in Wish List, a punchy, rhythmically shifting mashup of creepy Messiaen and jaunty Booker T. Jones (don’t laugh, it actually works). The first of the Ellington tunes, Chelsea Bridge gets reinvented with a triumphantly crescendoing resonance. The other one, Prelude to a Kiss validates Charette’s decision to go for grandeur.

The rest of the originals begins with Girls, a straight-up, catchy swing tune with a disquietingly atmospheric interlude midway through. The dark blues and latin influences really come to the forefront in Good Tipper – the title track of his 2014 album – Charette walking and strutting the bass with his lefthand beneath the mighty chords and spacious riffs of his right.

His solo take of one of his creepiest and best numbers, Hungarian Bolero, is even more minimalistically menacing as he fades the volume back and forth: it’s a little early in the year to be talking about best songs of the year, but this is one of them.

Silicone Doll is an organ arrangement of Satin Doll: Charette speeds it up a little. By the time you hit 5th of Rye, you may find yourself wondering, who needs bass and drums? His love of dub reggae and penchant for wry quotes come through in Aligned Arpeggio. Herman Enest III, a shout-out to Dr. John’s longtime drummer better known as Roscoe, has a recurring riff nicked from Joni Mitchell (or did she steal it from the Night Tripper?)

Charette winds up the album with Public Transportation, a bubbly, lickety-split tune that obviously  refers to some city other than New York, where the subway and buses actually run. As organ jazz records go, this is vastly more purposeful, original and less outright funky than what’s usually found in that demimonde.

Review of Beyond Borderline by Derek Taylor at Dusted

Organist Brian Charette quietly set precedence nine-years ago when he recorded an entire solo album on Hammond B-3. Despite the impressively measurable feat, the disc didn’t generate commensurate waves in the jazz press. The relative silence was as much the result of relatively few amongst the cognoscenti hearing the work, as it was the tenacious biases against the instrument being a viable extended solo vehicle which have endured. 

The Hammond has a lot of baggage, much of it gained during its heyday as a conveyance for the advancement populist soul-jazz. Boosters of bop, free and other intellectually oriented outposts of the genre sometimes dismissed the B-3 as an ambassador of bombast and blues simplicity. Charette’s never really concerned himself with such meta-mired posturing or handwringing. He’s about the music and Beyond Borderline marks his second salvo with the aim of breaking through to a broader audience with the manifold pleasures a B-3 sans accompaniment can proffer.

Charette’s earlier effort had the distinction of shaping Madonna’s “Borderline” and the Hall & Oates staple “Sara Smile” into credible jazz creations. Here, the cant calibrates toward originals with only a warmly-whirring after-hours take on Billy Strayhorn’s evergreen “Chelsea Bridge” and a lush, perfume-scented rendering of Duke Ellington’s “Prelude to a Kiss” falling outside the personally minted purview. “Yolk” percolates on the plush combination of chugging bassline and a syncopated righthand improvisation while “Girls” works like an interlocking suite of laidback patterns across its relatively expansive six-and-a-half minutes. 

Track titles relay Charette’s subtle and varied sense of humor. “Good Tipper” embodies both optimism and generosity through the way in which chordal variations are stacked onto a brisk tempo and not-a-second-wasted duration. “Silicone Doll” riffs on another Strayhorn standard spun from satin from a chromatic standpoint. “Hungarian Bolero” and “Aligned Arpeggio” wed comedy to musical specifics, the first coming on like some haunted Zamboni soundtrack while the second uses the titular progression for luminous ballad purposes that sound almost fugue-like before veering unexpectedly into dub. A complex assemblage of switches, pedals, keys, and motors, the B-3 was always destined for more than stereotypes and derision. Charette proves this to be true and here’s hoping folks are paying attention this time around.

Derek Taylor

Interview on Pete Fallico’s Doodlin Lounge

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/doodlinlounge/episodes/2019-12-05T10_16_15-08_00

Interview in Hungary’s JazzMa magazine with Bence Vas

Exkluzív interjú a csütörtökön az Organism Trio vendégeként a Budapest Jazz Clubban koncertező Brian Charette-tel

Have you ever been to Budapest (or other places in Hungary)? If yes: what were your impressions? No: what would you like to see/hear/try?

I've visited Budapest only once before and have never played in Hungary. I thought the city was very beautiful and that the architecture was very different from everywhere else in Europe that I have been. I've been reading about the amazing gardens in the middle of buildings and hope I get to see a few. I would also love to see the Chain Bridge and Fisherman's Bastion.

Do you have already any experience with the Hungarian music scene or connections with Hungarian musicians? I already know that you played with the excellent trumpeter, composer, bandleader, Kornél Fekete-Kovács in Prague …(?)

Yes, Kornél and I were both teachers at The Czech Jazz Workshop in Prague. I was so impressed with his trumpet playing and love his arrangements. I invited him to the concert and hope he will play with us.

What are your next projects, upcoming tours and recordings? Which direction will you take? - I mean, more traditional than the previous album with George Coleman, or something more experimental – like the Kürrent project?

I just finished writing some big band music for the Jazz Dock Orchestra in Prague. We start rehearsing the day I get back from Budapest. The concert is on the 15th of April and I'm very excited. I also love electronic music. I have a duo with my wife, Melanie, who is a South African singer. I play synths and drum machines and Melanie loops her voice in many different languages including Xhosa which is an ancient South African language with clicks.

What is the plan for the concert at Budapest Jazz Club with the Organism Trio? What would you like to play? What is your preference if you’re playing with local musicians without many opportunities to organize rehearsals? Do you have your own ’easy-to-play’ compositions or do you prefer the good old jazz standards?

I have many tunes and we will play some of at the concert. I also know many standards. The guys in Organism have my music and I will let them pick which pieces we play.

What is your next stop after Budapest? (I’m sure that there will be something interesting in Prague, please share some details.)

Yes. I will go back to Prague to record a piano trio recording and have the premier of the Big Band music with the Jazz Dock Orchestra

Will you teach piano again at the upcoming Czech Jazz Workshop in Prague? Do you enjoy teaching? Is this workshop for music students only or is it available to anyone without any experience in music? (I already know that the answer is ’both’, however which group of participants do you enjoy teaching the most? With or without musical backgrounds?)

Yes I will. And I hope to for many years to come. I love teaching and think it is the responsibility of artists to pass down what they know to keep inspiring people. The workshop is for all people and I sometimes find the people who progress the most are the beginners.

Do you have your favorite Hammond model? Or production year?

I love A100s because they tend to be in better shape than many B3s and are smaller and lighter. I'm not particular about the year

I always receive the following question during interviews: why did you choose the Hammond organ, especially? Now, it’s your turn to reply J

I started playing organ quite by accident. I had just moved to NYC and was starving trying to find piano gigs. I bought a portable Hammond keyboard called the Hammond XB-2 for a group I was playing with. The day the instrument arrived, I got a call to play at a club right on my street. It went well and I started playing at the club 3 times a week. The rest was history :)

Interview on Steve Walsh’s Loud Noise Podcast

https://www.stevewalshmusic.com/loudnoise/2018/12/27/001-vince-clarke-depeche-mode-yazoo-erasure

2019 Downbeat Critic’s Poll

Review of Groovin’ with Big G in Fall 2018 JAZZIZ

Review of Groovin with Big G in Jazz Times

https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/brian-charette-george-coleman-groovin-with-big-g/

Downbeat Feature by Bill Milkowski

Interview on Pete Fallico’s Organ Show, The Doodlin Lounge

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/doodlinlounge/episodes/2019-12-05T10_16_15-08_00

Interview in the Cleveland, The Plain Dealer by Chuck Yarborough

2018 DownBeat Critic's Poll....#5 and climbing!

Brian Charette and George Coleman on WBGO's The Checkout

It’s always a special occasion when artists visit and perform in our studios here in Newark. Every now and then jazz royalty even comes through. Organist Brian Charette brought one of those legends with him when he stopped by to promote his new album, Groovin’ With Big G.

“Big G” is saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master George Coleman. His jazz legacy was forever secured by his classic performances with Miles Davis (Seven Steps To Heaven, Four) and Herbie Hancock (Maiden Voyage). With Charette leading on the Hammond B-3, Jersey City’s Vic Juris on guitar and George Coleman, Jr. on drums, it’s a seamless quartet. The players know each other very well and play like it.

On Monday night they’ll play two sets at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York. If you can’t be there, get a copy of Groovin’ With Big G. With eight standards, including Hancock’s “Voyage,” and an original, “Father And Son,” by Charette, it’s an album that will make you smile from start to finish. 

Here is a link to the whole interview:

http://wbgo.org/post/organist-brian-charette-brings-legend-saxophonist-george-coleman-wbgo

Here is a video of “Father And Son,” in the WBGO performance studio.

JAZZed feature article by Dan Bilawalsky

Great Review by Phil Freeman and NYC Jazz Record

Great Review of Groovin with Big G from Dan Bilawsky and All About Jazz

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/groovin-with-big-g-brian-charette-steeplechase-records-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php

Groovin' With Big G was destined to come about. When a young Brian Charette was cutting his teeth on jazz piano gigs in his home state of Connecticut in the early '90s, he wound up working dates with drummer George Coleman Jr. The two struck up a friendship, and Coleman's encouragement helped Charette make the leap to New York a few years later. Coleman even let the budding pianist crash in his rehearsal studio for a spell.

Some time later, after transitioning into the world of jazz organ and going all in with the purchase of a Hammond B3, Charette's instrument took residence in that very same studio. There, this pair was free to practice and jam to its heart's content. On one particularly memorable occasion in said spot, the drummer's famed father—George Coleman, Sr., the Memphis Mafia tenor titan known for his unflagging attitude and virtuosity—dropped in to play with them. Whether they knew it or not at the time, the seeds for this album were planted at that very point.

Fast-forward more than two decades and we come to the moment when those aforementioned seeds began to sprout. The younger Coleman called Charette to see if he could join the elder in a gig in the saxophonist's hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. That fruitful collaboration, ultimately, led to this one.

A wonderfully limber outing wedding the Colemans with Charette and ace guitarist Vic Juris, Groovin' With Big G maintains the jam session vibe that these men are so accustomed to. The tunes, save for a soulful "Father And Son" credited to Charette and shaped by this foursome, are all jazz warhorses. But this crew doesn't view these standards with a sense of "been there, done that" apathy. Instead, these musicians make a few tweaks here and there, saddle up, and enjoy seeing where the ride takes them. A comfortably swinging "Stella By Starlight" sets things in motion and leads to a light-as-air "Body And Soul," a performance modified with a waltzing gait ; a streamlined trip through Tadd Dameron's "On A Misty Night" ends with an arrival at Lou Donaldson's "Alligator Boogaloo," where some zany Charette-isms lighten up the outro; and the closing triptych—a low-temperature "Autumn Leaves" enlivened by a vamping send-off, an appropriately tender "Never Let Me Go," and a quick jaunt through "Tenor Madness"—offers all parties some room to shine in various lights. As if we need a reminder about the saxophone-wielding Coleman's stature, Charette also includes a take on Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" as the centerpiece. It nods to Coleman's work on the original while inhabiting its own dreamy space.

There's such a natural fit from musician to musician and band to song here, and that shouldn't come as a real surprise. These men are in their element when digging into chestnuts like these, and this quartet is top-shelf all the way. The chance to hear Brian Charette grooving with George Coleman, Sr. and company is simply priceless.

Track Listing: Stella By Starlight; Body And Soul; On A Misty Night; Alligator Boogaloo; Maiden Voyage; Father And Son; Autumn Leaves; Never Let Me Go; Tenor Madness.

Personnel: Brian Charette: Hammond B3 organ; George Coleman: tenor saxophone; Vic Juris: guitar; George Coleman Jr.: drums.

Downbeat Review of Kürrent

http://www.downbeat.com/digitaledition/2017/DB1709/single_page_view/68.html

Instructional Feature in Jazz Times

Great review of Kürrent in Huffington Post

Review of Kürrent in NYC's Hot House Magazine by Seton Hawkins

http://hothousejazz.com/blog/brian-charette

Hartford Courant Story on Sept 2 show at The Side Door by John Adamian

http://www.courant.com/entertainment/music/hc-brian-charettes-kurrent-side-door-20170830-story.html

New Haven Register story about Kürrent's Firehouse 12 gig by Joe Amarante

http://www.nhregister.com/entertainment/article/Brian-Charette-Meriden-raised-jazzman-brings-12241943.php?cmpid=email-tablet

Interview by Jann Nyffeler of Bop Shop Records, Rochester

NYC Jazz Record review of Kürrent by Ken Dryden

A Blog Supreme - All Jazz Radio’s review of Kürrent

2017 Downbeat Critic's Poll: Organ

Cover Story for Kulturní Magazín from Frÿdek Místek, Czech Republic

Review of Kürrent by Philip Freeman in Stereogum

Brian Charette, Kürrent

Organist Brian Charette is a sharp, witty player who blurs the lines between funky soul jazz, jam-band rock, and avant-garde weirdness. His latest album — recorded with guitarist Ben Monder and drummer Jordan Young — combines the expected sounds of the organ trio with intricate jazz-fusion melodies, squiggly ’70s synths, and bent samples. It’s got all the groove of his other work, but Monder is the kind of guitarist who’s happier shredding or tearing into a big riff than chopping out single chords. Charette meets him in the middle, sounding amazingly Larry Young-like at times as the guitarist gets his Mahavishnu on. Jordan Young is the perfect drummer for an ensemble this fleet-footed and multifaceted; he can hack and slash as easily as he can set up a subtle, ticking groove.

Feature Artist Profile Article in November NYC Jazz Record

Review of new album in Downbeat

http://downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=news&subsect=news_detail&nid=3283

Brian Charette
Once & Future
Posi-Tone
★ ★ ★ ½

In every jazz lover’s mind there exists the perfect Hammond B-3 organ player. Whether that ultimate B-3 technician is Jimmy Smith, Charles Earland, Larry Young or Shirley Scott, certain defining parameters exist, regardless of the individual player.

But when it comes to Hammond B-3 mastery, Brian Charette wrote the book. Literally. His 101 Hammond B3 Tips (Hal Leonard) covers, among other topics, “funky scales and modes,” “creative chord voicings” and “cool drawbar settings.” Even more proof of his proficiency is heard on Once & Future, where Charette gives a master class in the many styles of B-3 playing, joined by guitarist Will Bernard and drummer Steve Fidyk.

Performing covers and original material, Charette’s B-3 touch is decidedly light, buoyant and playful. He brings his style to bear on hardcore grits ‘n’ gravy groovers by the acknowledged masters of the genre, as well as fare that puts me in mind of a cocktail party circa 1963. In that way, Once & Future acts as a calling card of sorts, a sampler of the many styles Charette and trio can bring to your next social function. Thankfully, there’s plenty of steam and smoke to balance the lighter punch bowl offerings.

The album kicks off with Fats Waller’s “Jitterbug Waltz,” delivered in groove-a-licious waltz-time goodness. Bubbly, swinging and steaming are apt descriptions here. The pace continues with Larry Young’s “Tyrone” (from 1965’s Into Somethin’), Bernard and Fidyk ramping up the temperature with able solos and fatback groove.

Charette’s sparkling “Latin From Manhattan” brings to mind Walter Wanderley as easily as it does Donald Fagen’s “Walk Between The Raindrops.” The trio knocks back Freddie Roach’s “Da Bug,” paints a dutiful rendition of “At Last” and stomps hard on Jack McDuff’s “Hot Barbeque.”

Other highlights include a beautiful, if jocular, version of Bud Powell’s “Dance Of The Infidels,” a note-perfect “Zoltan” as it appeared on Young’s 1966 masterpiece, Unity, and a cover of Wes Montgomery’s “Road Song.”

Both B-3 stylist and student, serious jazz scholar and glitzy entertainer, Charette is a burning soloist who understands the tradition of the Hammond B-3 as well its future—just as cerainly as he understands his place in that lineage.

—Ken Micallef

Review of Smalls show by New York Music Daily

https://newyorkmusicdaily.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/briansmalls

Thrills and Subtlety and Paradigm Shifts with the Brian Charette Trio

by delarue

What’s the likelihood of seeing an organ jazz trio with piano and drums? About as common as seeing three jazz wits as great as bandleader and organist Brian Charette with his new trio including Henry Hey on piano and Jochen Rueckert on drums all on the same stage. Their humor wasn’t broad, some of it was very subtle, some of it very “inside.” And it ran the ganut, with rhythmic and harmonic jousting and the occasional elbow flying as they went into the paint. It’s impossible to imagine any band in New York having as much fun onstage as these three guys had Tuesday night at Smalls.

After years of being championed by this blog and its predecessor, Charette is finally getting well-deserved props from the mainstream jazz media. Organ jazz tends to get stereotyped as gutbucket, toe-tapping music, and a lot of it is – and is supposed to be. But Charette is pushing the envelope as far as anyone has with the style, as this unorthodox lineup attests. Rather than using pedals, the bandleader tirelessly walked the bass with his lefthand while conjuring up a continent worth of rivers of sound, some of them turbulent, some of them bubbly and a couple of them deep and menacing, with his right.

Hey, the longtime David Bowie collaborator, distinguished himself with his imaginative, minimalisticaly insistent lefthand attack while augmenting and spiraling off the bandleader’s kaleidoscopic tangents in the upper registers. Rueckert was the evening’s main instigator, playfully nudging or jabbing the shuffles and struts – and a couple of unexpected waltzes – into the fast lane, or off onto a siding at breakneck speed. Charette arranged an artfully dynamic setlist, as if to say, “Let’s get the complicated stuff out of the way and then do the party stuff after the break when everybody’s all liquored up.” Worked like a charm.

They opened with Time Changes, a wry over-the-shoulder shout back to Dave Brubeck. Rueckert gave the song a floating swing that enabled his own sly shenanigans as much as it smoothed the landing for Charette’s tongue-in-cheek metric mess-around. You might not expect to ever hear organ versions of Tad’s Delight, or Bud Powell’s Dance of the Infidels,as organ jazz  or an absolutely rapturous and unexpectedly plaintive take of Larry Young’s Paris Eyes, but that’s Charette. The highlight of the first set was his original, Conquistador, which he explained away as a Spanish-Hungarian hybrid, turning up the smoke on his roto speaker for its rather grim Magyar harmonies.

Ironically, the best song of the night – and Charette’s compositions are songs in the purest sense of the word – happened to be the only moment in more than two hours of music where he lost the crowd. At that point, it was almost one in the morning and all the college kids and a smattering of tourists were full of booze and primed for a party anthem or two. So when Charette brought the eerie cascades of Hungarian Major down for thirty seconds or so – you know, suspense, and dynamics – the kids weren’t with it. But he got them back with the lone Jimmy Smith number of the evening, a pouncing, sprightly take of The Cat. There was also a funky, funny homage to Fred Wesley of the JB’s, and a take of the first jazz tune Charette ever wrote, a look back on a time when the Bach he’d begun with was still front and center in his fingers. Which isn’t to say that it ever left, testament to this guy’s originality and fearlessness in mashing up sounds from jazz, classical, funk and even some deep roots reggae. Charette’s next New York gig as a leader is on New Year’s Day, 2017 at half past noon – yikes – at Jules Bistro on St. Mark’s Place. Then on Jan 11 at 7 PM he’s at Smoke uptown leading a killer trio with guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Ari Hoenig.

Interview with Hammond U.S.A at LA NAMM show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSJsobHGqGw

2016 Downbeat Critic's Poll for organ. 4th Place!

Review of brand new album June 2016 Once and Future on Step Tempest

Organist Brian Charette (also quite a fine pianist) has a new album whose concept came during a break at a recording session where he found a copy of his book "101 Hammond B-3 Tips" resting atop the studio's organ. Looking back through the instructional guide where he had written about the "giants of the Hammond Organ", Charette decided his next album would include works by many of this giants as well as nods to the new "Lions" of the instrument.

"Once & Future" is his fourth Trio CD for Posi-Tone and features guitarist Will Bernard and drummer Steve Fidyk.  Out of the 14 tracks, three are originals, one is a standard ("At Last" from the pens of Mack Gordon and Harry Warren), and the rest come from either organists or jazz greats - there's even a mighty funky version of James Brown's "Ain't It Funky Now" which would sound out of place on an album by The Meters.  There's the hard-edged funk of Larry Young's "Tyrone" that he recorded on his debut for Blue Note "Into Something".  A little more of "swing-funk" is heard of "Hot Barbecue" which Jack McDuff recorded in 1965.  Fidyk's cymbal work is pretty impressive as is Bernard's chunky riffs and sparkling solo.  The legendary Jimmy Smith wrote "Mellow Mood" for his collaboration with guitarist Wes Montgomery who contributed "Road Song" to their project.  Charette and company play the tunes back-to-back; the former has a bit of a mysterious sound in the opening that flows throughout the organ solo while the latter is a medium-tempo groove with a pleasant melody and excellent solos from Charette and Bernard (this is his second recording with the organist's trio).

There are a pair of splendid cuts back-to-back in Bud Powell's "Dance of the Infidels" and Woody Shaw's "Zoltan" (as recorded by Larry Young in 1966). Both tracks swing with delight, the former jumping atop the excellent bass lines of Charette while the latter retains the marching band introduction from the original before Fidyk's fine cymbals sets the pace for the organ and guitar.

The leader's three contributions include's the program's closing track, the blues-soaked shuffle "Blues For 96."  The sounds the organist gets from his various drawbar settings changes from track to track as well as during the song.  What stands out is that not only does each song have its own personality but also that Charette, Bernard, and Fidyk never lose their focus or push the proceedings but let each song unfold organically. And, they are having fun.

"Once & Future" is a pleasure to sit down and listen to.  Everyone plays well, the program is smartly chosen, and, with a little digging, you discover organists you have never heard (for instance, Freddie Roach and Leon Spencer).  Hats off to Brian Charette for another fine disk.  Now, see if you can convince producer Marc Free to record your Sextette!

Derek Taylor's Dusted review of Once and Future

http://dustedmagazine.tumblr.com/post/144462490028/brian-charette-once-future-positone

Organ aficionados dismiss Brian Charette at their own disservice. With a Positone label contract in his pocket he’s stepped up his fecundity over the past year and turned out a string of albums that refuse to cow to critics that consider the instrument gauche or played out. Lesser hands accorded such liberal access to the avenues of album production would likely risk a tapering in quality to keep up. Charette’s kept his success record clean, balancing creative ideational execution with a conspicuous mindfulness aimed at fun.

The catalyst for Once & Future is at once unexpectedly self-referential and more broadly historical. At an earlier session Charette happened upon a copy of his own book 101 Hammond B3 Tips on the studio instrument and consequently started pondering the pantheon of players influential to his development. Fourteen pieces pay homage to these eclectic electric forefathers with three coming from Charette’s own design. Guitarist Will Bernard and drummer Steve Fidyk both show themselves game at exploring the guiding conceit of the date to the hilt.

The program starts orthodoxly enough with Fats Waller and the nascent organ inroad “Jitterbug Waltz” lathered here with a heaping helping of swollen, suspirating pedal sustain.  Initial predictability gets upended as Charette vaults to the other end of the stylistic organ spectrum with Larry Young’s “Tyrone”, juggling interlocking Latin and funk components while deferring to Bernard for first solo honors. Barely a quarter century separates the two compositions, but each is of seismic importance in measuring the evolution of the instrument’s importance in jazz.

Charette’s “Latin from Manhattan” intentionally matches the formidable kitsch quotient of its title with a syrupy string of fills and a light samba beat. Bernard and Fidyk recline into their roles amiably unperturbed by the lounge-scented surroundings. Freddie Roach’s “Da Bug” works over a rolling call-and-response boogaloo rhythm while Jack McDuff’s “Hot Barbecue”, a Harlem club staple from the Hammond Sixties heyday, gets its well-deserved due with declamatory titular band refrain intact.

Back-to-back burning renditions of Bud Powell’s “Dance of the Infidels” and Woody Shaw’s “Zoltan” signal another course change to more modern fare. Charette flips a switch and hits the angular, staggered theme of the former with a tumescent knife-edged tone that almost eclipses Bernard’s careful comping. The latter tune gives Fidyk the chance to share his press roll and cymbal accent expertise in tandem with the leader’s aggressive tonal swells and spirals. James Brown, Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery comprise the album’s compositional final stretch alongside a few more originals. Charette’s win column remains uncompromised throughout.

Derek Taylor

Great Review of Alphabet City in Downbeat

http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/conservatory/faculty/Jazz/norris/NorrisDownBeatReview.pdf

An in-demand organist on the New York scene, Charette pushes the envelope in a few unconventional directions on his ninth release as a leader. Joined by guitarist Will Bernard and drummer Rudy Royston, the versa-tile crew incorporates James Brown-inspired funk (“They Left Fred Out”), unabashed fusion (the aptly named “Not A Purist”) and Eastern European folk elements (“Hungarian Major”) into the eclectic mix. “Sharpie Moustache” is a minor blues that falls somewhere between The Meters and BookerT & The MG’s while the rock-ish “Disco Nap” turns Royston loose at the tag. “Avenue A” is a gentle ode to Charette’s beloved East Village neighbor-hood and “Split Black” offers Bernard a chance to stretch out on a distortion-laced solo. And while the closer, “The Vague Reply,” is perhaps the most conventional B-3 number here, it is clear that Charette wants to take the organ out of the jazz lounge and test-drive it down some very different roads with this ambitious release. -Bill Milkowski

Review of Alphabet City in Jazz Times

http://jazztimes.com/articles/169039-alphabet-city-brian-charette

Review of Alphabet City in Ottawa Citizen by Peter Hum

http://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/music/jazzblog/more-organ-jazz-blowouts

New York organist Brian Charettehas been a tear recording recently — Alphabet City is his third album as a leader on Posi-Tone in about a year and a half. The all-originals disc features him with guitarist Will Bernard and the ubiquitous drummer Rudy Royston, who seems to be on about one in five discs that I receive these days, and with good reason. Charette, by the way, is touring in support of Alphabet City, and hitting the Rex Jazz and Blues Bar in Toronto tonight (Oct. 14) and Thursday, joined by drummer Jordan Young and guitarist Ted Quinlan. Most of Charette’s dozen concise tunes on the new CD falls into several categories. The bracing Larry Young-esque opener, East Village, its more relaxed companion piece West Village and Detours are assured swingers. So is the disc’s closer, The Vague Reply, an edgy minor blues. Charette, Bernard and Royston also have lots of time for funkier, riff-based tunes such as They Left Fred Out, a shoutout to James Brown trombonist Fred Wesley.
Sharpie Moustache is slower and earthier, with a bridge that opens into bright country-tinged twanging. Disco Nap begins in a mellow frame of mind but grows more agitated. The catchy Avenue A has a nice open, upbeat feel to it. Furthest in left field are several outward-bound tunes that feature Charette adding sonic quirks with circuit bent synthesizer as part of his rig. Take for example, the odd-meter, ostinato-driven Split Black; With its raucous distorted guitar, synth effects and early prog-rock vibe, Not A Purist lives up to its name. Hungarian Major explores an exotic scale within a broad soundscape. That leaves the plaintive, waltzing White Lies as the album’s closest thing to a vulnerable ballad. Throughout, Charette, Bernard and Royston display plenty of depth and versatility in making the most of the material and making it come alive.

Review of Alphabet City by George Colligan on Jazz Truth

http://jazztruth.blogspot.com/2015/09/alphabet-city-brian-charettes.html

"Alphabet City:" Brian Charette's Triumphant New Album

Hammond B-3 organ is kind of a thing unto itself. It's not just an instrument, it's a lifestyle. You could take that literally when you consider that, whether you play a "clonewheel" ( meaning a digital keyboard which is designed to emulate the B-3 sound) or an actual B-3, C-3, or what have you Hammond organ, you need at the very minimum a car, or maybe a van, a storage space, and perhaps 3 friends to help you carry the organ into the club( hopefully not up the stairs!). Don't forget about the Leslie speaker! I have always considered myself a dabbler in the B-3 lifestyle( I've recorded and toured as an "organist" but I'm not anyone's first call...also didn't have three friends to help with the lifting....ha ha). It seems as though older generations delineate clearly who is a pianist and who is an organist( meaning you won't see McCoy Tyner playing organ, or Jimmy Smith playing piano....not that I'm aware of....at least not frequently.....). Among the younger generation, you have the dyed in the wool organists like Joey DeFrancesco, Cory Henry, Pat Bianchi, Jared Gold, and then you have the guys who went from piano to organ, like Larry Goldings, Gary Versace, Mike LeDonne (and I guess yours truly.....come on Downbeat give me a chance......).

Then you have Brian Charette. After reading Charette's bio, I see that he has a classical piano background. I am familiar with some of his writing in Keyboard magazine on the harmonic techniques of Olivier Messian.  Charette could be put in the latter category of pianists turned organists; however, after listening to his latest release on Positone, " Alphabet City," he has convinced me that organ is his true calling. He's so convincing on the instrument; the bass lines, the groove/hookup with drumming wiz Rudy Royston, the fluidity of his right hand, the cool drawbar settings he uses for "comping" for guitarist Will Bernard's solos- all of these things for me put him in the solid " organist's organist" category.

"Alphabet City" has something for every jazz fan: clever, brainy up tempo burners( "East Village"), funky jams( "They Left Fred Out"), medium tempo groovers( "West Village"), psychedelic fusion experiences( "Not A Purist"), soulful second line sermons( "Sharpie Moustache"), music for driving on the highway( "Disco Nap"), music for haunted houses("Hungarian Minor"), music for 70's TV shows("Avenue A"), and so much more. This is not " Back At The Chicken Shack" by any means, and yet Charette, even with the weird sounding smattering of synths and variety of moods, convinces me that the Hammond B-3 is his voice, and he's taking it out of the box and bringing it into the 21st century. Essentially, Brian Charette's "Alphabet City" is the type ofrecord I wish I could make!

Catch Brian Charette at the Jazz Standard on October 13.

In depth interview in Czech magazine Harmonie

Review of Alphabet City in Dusted Magazine

http://dustedmagazine.tumblr.com/post/119617105969/brian-charette-alphabet-city-positone

The East Village neighborhood of Brian Charette’s residence, Alphabet City is also the organist’s ninth album as a leader and his second of 2015. Signing with the Positone label last year has certainly upped his recorded output, but one of the potential dangers with rampant fecundity is a nosedive in quality. Charette hedges his bet on that score by sticking to a winsome trio formula with guitarist Will Bernard and drummer Rudy Royston joining him in the realization of a dozen originals.

The format may be a familiar one, but Charette invests his compositions with plenty of personal flair and meaning from the opening bebop sprint of “East Village” where his whirring fills work as rocket fuel for Bernard’s fleet single note solo. “They Left Fred Out” works as a playful musical indictment of the omission of Mr. Wesley from the narrative arc of a recent James Brown biopic. Royston resides easily in the pocket with tight snare syncopations and Bernard once again takes the spotlight bolstered by some feverish comping from the leader.

“Sharpie Moustache”, a funky instrumental ode to one of Charette’s favorite cocktails, and the laidback “Disco Nap” supply more comedic fodder in their titles and ebullient delivery. “Not a Purist” brings in a strong British prog sensibility with Charette officiating over a bank of circuit bent synthesizers for a breakneck A-section. Bernard gladly takes the bait, dialing up his amplification and distortion for a solo that feeds into a kaleidoscopic finish. “Hungarian Major” switches gears and flips switches once again, exploring the intricacies of an Eastern European scale for an outcome that’s part zamboni, part planetarium head trip.

Constrained to jukebox-sized proportions for the most part, the pieces aren’t verbose enough to outlast their welcome. “Detours” is the lengthiest at just over five minutes and its concentrated blend of off-kilter chords and diagonal rhythm changes from Latin to shuffle serve as just the sort of varied playing field Charette thrives on. Bernard’s brittle, rock-inflected picking cuts through another electronics-augmented assault by the leader on “Split Back” while “White Lies” and “The Vague Reply” align as two sides of an ideational coin in exploring the confluence of Lydian harmony and the blues. In Charette’s playbook the selection of source material is always an equal opportunity venture.

Derek Taylor

Winner 2014 Downbeat Critic's Poll "Rising Star:Organ"

http://www.downbeat.com/digitaledition/2014/DB1408/single_page_view/65.html

4th Place 2015 Downbeat Critic's Pool climbing from Winner: Rising Star Last Year

Great Double review of both new records from DownBeat

http://downbeat.com/digitaledition/2014/DB1407/single_page_view/67.html

Cheeky Jazzwise review from the Sextette's London Show

http://www.jazzwisemagazine.com/the-write-stuff/13140-brian-charette-organ-sextette-pizza-express-london

Brian Charette Organ Sextette – Pizza Express, London

“I’m gonna get myself a cocktail,” Brian Charette decides as show-time looms. With a borrowed Hammond B3 and high-class local stand-ins for his New York Organ “Sextette”, Charette is relaxed and interested in the prospect of these strangers playing his music.

His six acclaimed albums are influenced by Larry Young at least as much as the inevitable Jimmy Smith. More even than that, he’s an Anglophile prog-rocker at heart, idolising Keith Emerson, and was pretty much drummed out of the sometimes stiflingly doctrinaire New York scene for several years for playing rock. His music tonight doesn’t raise the soulful steam his instrument usually suggests. Its boredom with bop or soul-jazz verities leads to less well-mapped territory; even so, there’s a feeling that he’s boxing himself in for the jazz circuit’s sake, and not letting rip with all he has.

Gareth Lockrane (flute), Sammy Mayne (alto sax), Osian Roberts (tenor sax), James Allsopp (bass clarinet) and Matt Fishwick (drums) are Charette’s enviable pick-up band. It’s the clarinet that gives this line-up its edge, finding sinuous melancholy on ‘Computer God’, as the alto completes a pensive ascent. Allsopp suggests the urban romance of ‘40s New York, too, before the sax was fully king.

‘Fugue for Kathleen Anne/The Ex-Girlfriend Variations’ (exes are, Charette confesses, a theme) begins sounding like mediaeval court music on the Hammond, then becomes smooth, churchy funk, surging forward as Charette pours it on for the climax. The B3’s versatility, evoking both 1960s futurism and Anglican classicism, is fully explored.

‘Risk’ begins as a tiptoe down the stairs that becomes a drunken tumble, before Charette settles into a sort of smooth staccato, then strikes a more jarring beat with drummer Fishwick. ‘Prayer for an Agnostic’ includes a comfortingly mournful alto solo, and more introspective tenor work. Charette again shows church chops, though he hasn’t darkened the door of one for years, and finishes faintly recalling The Band’s Americana organ genius, Garth Hudson.

Lockrane plays the funkiest, hardest-blowing flute I’ve heard in a while on ‘The Question That Drives Us’, as Charette calls and conducts from his stool. ‘Cherokee’ and Gershwin’s ‘A Foggy Day’ (“the most traditional tune in our book”) offer more familiar ground, perhaps reluctantly, but Charette’s breathy club organ on the latter leads his ad hoc band into sleek, cruising union by its end.

It would take a greater mind than mine to explain Messiaen’s harmonic ideas, as apparently explored in ‘French Birds’, but as white-shirted altoist Mayne leans back to play bop and Charette helps Fishwick start to really hammer it, it all works.

Charette accurately announces ‘The Elvira Pacifier’ as “our reggae tune…with a disco ending.” Its melodic optimism rises in volume and speed, in a decent climax. The atmosphere stays low-key, as if nothing crucial is at stake. But some worthwhile ideas achieved by disparate musicians linger in the mind.

– Nick Hasted

Jazz Times Review of Square One and The Question That Drives Us

http://jazztimes.com/articles/135420-square-one-brian-charette

Hammond organ master Brian Charette leads a spirited, driving trio on Square One, his relatively straight-ahead and winning debut on the American label Posi-Tone. The Question That Drives Us, on the Danish label SteepleChase, features a Charette sextet of unusual voicings on a more complex and worldly outing. Each CD reflects different facets of Charette, a restless composer, arranger and sonic colorist who leverages the B-3’s musical palette with zest and aplomb.

Not that the music Charette plays on Square One is simple-minded, but it is compact and purposeful, deployed for maximum drama. In fact, it ranges wide and goes deep, from the neo-soul-jazz of “Aaight!” to the melodic, shimmering ballad “True Love” and the sharp, witty “Things You Don’t Mean,” a hypnotically rhythmic track with a sci-fi flair that sets up the free, gnarly finale, “Ten Bars for Eddie Harris.” Sparked by the guitar of Yotam Silberstein, who is as much of a sonic adventurer as Charette, and Mark Ferber, whose knowing drumming spans second-line and electronica-informed rhythms, Square One blends originals with a sharp, boppish take on Joe Henderson’s “If” and a spare, respectful rendition of “Ease Back,” a 1969 Meters tune that never loses its pop and snap. Charette’s band, no matter the format, has fun. While this is serious music-making by instrumentalists who know their way around all kinds of styles, it’s music to be enjoyed and even danced to rather than studied.

If Square One is tight and fierce, The Question is easily as disciplined but perhaps more conversational. Bracketed by the slouchy, clever “Blazinec” (note how the tune deconstructs then gets itself back together) and a take on Charlie Parker’s “Moose the Mooche” that affirms Charette’s bop bona fides, The Question features Itai Kriss on flute, Mike DiRubbo on alto saxophone, Joel Frahm on tenor saxophone, John Ellis on bass clarinet, Charette on B-3 and Jochen Rueckert on drums.

The title tune is a kind of round. “Answer Me” is a funny, funky tune built around the notion of dialogue, the calls shifting slightly to evoke slightly shifting responses. “Svichkova,” like “Blazenic,” seems a kind of character study, Charette’s B-3 serving as the narrator of the story. “5th Base” is a cinematic neighborhood prowl; Rueckert’s ride cymbal ushers in a smoky Ellis bass clarinet turn.

There isn’t a weak tune on this album, which ends upbeat with three accelerating tracks: the bubbly “Denge Merenge,” the smooth, creamy “I Came So Far to See You” and the Parker classic. No matter the style on the SteepleChase disc, its cuts bristle with cleverness and personality. Charette has assembled a sextet equal to any task he sets, a group that can raise the roof while it blows your mind. Subtly.

Peter Hum interview from Ottawa Citizen

http://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/music/the-brian-charette-interview

About six years ago, on the other side of the world, Brian Charette came to the decision that has transformed him into a self-described “driven” man.

“I was in a hotel in Tokyo for three days. I was 36 years old, and I had just broken up with a girl. And I’m like that’s it, I’m going to be a great Hammond organist in jazz,” he recalls.

It’s not as if Charette would be starting from scratch. The New Yorker, now 41, had been gigging on organ since he was 20, and before that he was a precociously talented pianist.

But since his Tokyo epiphany, Charette, who in the next week will play gigs with his trio in Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal and Les Brasseurs du Temps in Hull, has worked hard to raise his game artistically and career-wise.

Charette recalls that he first immersed himself in music and the piano when he was all of three years old.

“My mother played piano, we had a piano in my house  in Meriden, Connecticut. On the piano was a green book of American folk songs. One of the first things that I did when I was able to do things, I would walk down to the piano, I would open the book to a two page song called The Great Wall Of China. It had a picture of the Great Wall Of China on top and I would just sit there for hours and play the piano, staring at this picture.”

“I had a piano teacher until I was about 12 and I wasn’t super into playing the piano and I quit and I started playing guitar.”

But a few years later, Charette returned to playing piano in his high school’s jazz band. And before too long, he was playing all kinds of gigs.

“When I was about 15 I started to play a lot of gigs with bands. I went on some auditions. I don’t remember how it all began really. I started to play music a lot. When I was 16 I was already working four or five nights a week. They were all different kinds of things … I played in a bunch of tribute bands … When I was a kid growing up, Hartford was an amazing scene for music. Brad Mehldau was from there. Joel Frahm was from there … all of these guys that went on to be huge jazz stars.

“I started to play lots of great gigs, I actually became friendly with a booking agent who would put me on gigs with Lou Donaldson and Houston Person, the Blues Brothers, lots of big acts that would come through town. I almost played with more people like that when I was 17 than I do now.”

What made music such a fun and engrossing pursuit?

“It was very empowering. I was kind of a heavy kid, I actually had hearing problems for the first part of my life, when I started playing music it made me feel pretty powerful. I got some nice girlfriends … very primitive stuff, you know.

“It made me feel like I realized my purpose. I knew then that I knew I was going to this. There was never a question of oh what will I do. I knew then that that was it.”

Charette speaks of these gigs matter-of-factly. He says that jazz basically came quickly to him, but he isn’t one to boast.

“I don’t think I was that good. I got quickly got the system of the piano for jazz. I think I progressed a very far way in a short a mount of time and then it took me a long time to get the last little bit.

“I was kind of 40 years old when I was 15. I feel like my personality has changed a lot. But the playing, my approach, that has been in place for a long time … I don’t sound a lot different than I sound now. Maybe I play a little less now. I play some strange harmonic systems.

“My approach is not mystical. It’s all science. It’s all shapes and patterns. The only real thing I can do is notice patterns. I’m not super-smart or super-talented. I just see patterns and I work hard.”

While Charette attended the University of Connecticut for classical music, he has also taken lessons from two of jazz’s foremost teachers.

“I had two guru teachers who totally changed my life. Kenny Werner was one. I actually studied very little with him.

“Then Charlie Banacos, I studied with him a lot. He is where a lot of my ammunition came from. He was a genius guy. He basically showed me all the modern jazz stuff.  What Michael Brecker was doing, what George Garzone was doing, what Chick Corea was doing, That really demystified that stuff for me.

“The system of music to me is so simple,” Charette says. “It’s so small. And it does the same thing all the time. It follows the rules. It’s my favourite thing about it, almost even more than the music, is that it’s a system that works.”

Soon after graduating from university in the mid-1990s, Charette moved to New York City, into the East Village apartment where he still lives. “I was still only playing piano and kind of starving,” Charette remembers. “I think I  was a telemarketer for Carnegie Hall.

“And then I bought a Hammond organ rig, a small one … a Hammond XB 2 … I remember unpacking it in my kitchen. And I got called for an organ gig that night.

“I just started to get called to play organ. There were not a lot of organists at all.  There’s still not a lot. If you’re in New York City and you play organ, you’re going to get called for a lot of gigs.”

“I kind of stopped playing organ for a while around 2000 … I was doing beats for rappers and stuff like this. I also went back to playing guitar a lot. On my first album, in 2001, I actually played guitar, not organ.

“I didn’t think of anything back then. I was actually not a very driven person then. I am a very driven person now. I was very different in that time of my life than I am now.

“But then about six or seven years ago, I became really interested in Hammond organ to the exclusion of all the other things that I’d been involved with.”

In other words, the decision in Tokyo was made.

“I started making a list of the things I needed to do to get to a better place in my career than I was. I needed a record deal, I needed all of these things, and I just systematically went about checking off the list.

“That was the first time that I really started to apply myself full to this.

“I had an album, that first one. Then I kind of did nothing until when I was 36, when I had my first Steeplechase record. That’s when I started to try to tour playing with my groups and play gigs in New York City in better rooms.”

Artistic development was also part of Charette’s plan.

“The first thing I did was I started to get really into Bach. I became able to play Well-Tempered Clavier. I basically learned all of Book 1. I took a few years to really assimilate all that stuff.

“I also worked on this strange harmonic system from the French composer named Olivier Messiaen.

“I started to study materials by Ari Hoenig, this drummer who’s amazing with polyrhythms. We played a lot. I’ve known him for 20 years. I work from his books, which are excellent. He also has great videos. He’s a brilliant mathematician. He’s a genius.

“To me, he and this drummer, Jochen Ruckert, and Danny Weiss, these three guys for time, to me, it’s like an endless study, those three guys.

“These three things around this time I started to get pretty deeply in.”

Charette calls his 2012 album Music For Organ Sextette “my first really worthwhile artistic statement.

“I feel like I did not really arrive on my previous efforts. My intention became very focused around that point. I was starting to get a real clear idea of what I wanted to do.”

“I’m kind of an unusual organist,” he elaborates. “I play really crazy shit. I’m not really a traditionalist.  I was actually resistant to being that way. A lot of times when you’re hired to play organ, people want a very specific thing.

“For a while was losing lots of gigs. People were just like Brian, you’re too out. I tried to mute it for a long time. But I think with that sextet record, I started to say this is the way I want to play my music. That was a big step for me.

Earlier this year, Charette has seen two CDs under his name released. A second sextet album, The Question That Drives Us, came out on Steeplechase, and an organ trio album called Square One was released on Posi-Tone.

“I play more traditionally on the trio disc. But still I have this circuit bent synthesizer. I don’t know any organ trio records that have something crazy like that. It has solder wired in the back of it so it interrupts the circuits. The thing misfires and makes crazy electronic glitch noises.

“The big goal for me now is to get into the bigger festivals,” Charette says. “The dream is to play at Newport. I have a dream to play the Hartford Jazz Festival because that’s where I’m from. I just want to see how far I can go.

“My dream is to just wake up, think about music or exercise and have everything taken care of for me, and just go some place and play a concert and go to sleep. I’m a ways from there.

“I’m working a lot at making all of these things happen. It’s really do-it-yourself now. Everything that’s happened to me has come from me at this point. Marc Free (at Posi-tone) does great radio and press campaigns. I’ve hired people to do things. There’s some good publicists. I work with Matt Merewitz sometimes.

“I feel like it’s been a long road for me. I wish I would have been in this place 10 years ago. But better now than never.

What does it mean for Charette to come up and play a handful dates in Canada?

“I love it. I love being in Canada. It’s like the United States with no guns. It’s very beautiful, I like the clubs there.  I love to play at the Rex too in Toronto.

And I’m half-French Canadian, so I would come up to Quebec as a kid and go to the Chateau Frontenac, so I have very fond memories of being there as a child.

“I was super into the scene in Ottawa (at the jazz festival) when we were there. I love to travel around and play gigs.

“I have to tell you, a lot of times I‘ll do concerts and tours and I won’t make a lot of money at all. But by being out there and being visible, other people hire me. It all works out in the end.

Take Five interview from All About Jazz

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/take-five-with-brian-charette-brian-charette-by-brian-charette.php#.U4RFki8YZdg

Meet Brian Charette:
Grammy-nominated organist/pianist, Brian Charette, has established himself as a leading voice in modern jazz. Besides being a critically acclaimed composer and bandleader, he has worked with many notable artists such as Joni Mitchell, Chaka Khan, Lou Donaldson and countless others.

Charette is a Hammond endorsed, SteepleChase and Posi-Tone recording artist. In 2013, Charette released Borderline(Steeplechase), his sixth as a leader and was rated with 3 ½ stars in Downbeat. His recordings have been dubbed as "Reliably burning" by Jazz Times and he has been called a "Master of space and time" by WGBO. In the Spring 2014, Charette will release The Question That Drives Us and Square One for SteepleChase and Posi- Tone respectively.

This year, Charette has been playing very successful engagements in NYC, Los Angeles, Detroit, Cleveland, New Orleans, Spain, Indonesia, Czech Republic and Germany. He also just placed 2nd in the 2013 Downbeat Critic's Poll for "Rising Star: Organ" for the second year in a row.

Mr. Charette is an active educator. In addition to writing for Keyboard Magazine, Downbeat, and Muzikus, he teaches master classes all over the world, and is on the faculty of the Czech Summer Jazz Workshop at Jezek Conservatory in Prague. He also has a new Hammond Organ instructional video on mymusicmasterclass.com and is featured prominently on two new Mel Bay instructional DVDs by Rodney Jones and Sheryl Bailey.

Outside of music, Brian is passionate about chess and White Crane kung fu, which he holds a black sash.

Instrument(s):
Piano and organ.

Teachers and/or influences?
Kenny Werner and Charlie Banacos.

I knew I wanted to be a musician when...
I was three and would wander down to the piano, open a book called Folk Songs to a two page song called, "The Great Wall." I would stare at the animated picture of the Great Wall of China with people walking, merchants selling, and a horse drawn ambulance while improvising for hours.

Your sound and approach to music:
I play jazz but I would have to say I'm more of a rocker in my approach. I can be very angular and aggressive in the way I play. I try to balance this with extensive use of space and compositional devices. The solos in my groups are often very short and the motives of the pieces can be very minimal and trance inducing.

Your teaching approach:
I try to show students how to spend time practicing only things they are weak in. After they identify the problem, I tell them to only focus their practice on one weak area at a time until they really internalize the concept they are working on. For example, I had one student practice only in the key of Ab minor for a month. At the end of the month, the student always sounded amazing when we got to an Ab chord change and before had always stumbled over the chord.

Your dream band:
I already have two dream bands with the trio and sextet. I do have a fantasy of playing piano duos with Chick Corea. I would also very much like to play with Roy Haynes.

Road story: Your best or worst experience:
One time, 20 years ago, I was playing in Brussels. The King of Belgium had just died a few days before. We were playing in a very big festival with about 8,000 people. There were huge video screens on the side of the stage. The singer picked up a picture of the king that had just died from a cigarette machine backstage and held it up to the audience. There was a camera on him and all the people started to cheer. The road manager on the side of the stage started to wave his arms furiously to put the picture down. The singer gave the road manager the bird and told him to relax. Unfortunately, one of the cameras was on him, and all 8,000 Belgians saw was a big middle finger in front of the picture of their beloved king. They threw rocks and beer at us for an hour. We made the news and left very quickly the morning after the show never to return.

Favorite venue:
My favorite place to play is Small's in NYC. It has the best vibe of any jazz place I have ever been. I also feel so supported by Spike Wilner and the whole gang at Smalls.

Your favorite recording in your discography and why?
My favorite recording is definitely my new Posi-Tone record Square One. I feel like this is best sounding and looking recording I've ever made. I've been friends with Marc and Nick at Posi-tone for quite a while. We planned this record for about two years and the musicians, photographer, and graphic designer were very thoughtfully chosen. Yotam Silberstein and Mark Ferber are great friends and play my music like they wrote it themselves. I also love the sound of the organ in Michael Brorby's studio. Nick is amazing at mixing, and Marc is great with producing, radio and press. I feel like we make a great team and I have very high hopes for the future with Posi-tone.

In depth review in Jazz Inside Magazine

part one: http://m.uploadedit.com/b034/1399282430543.pdf

part two: http://m.uploadedit.com/b034/1399282686405.pdf

Downbeat Feature Article Jan 2014

Downbeat Sextette Review

2013 Downbeat Critic's Poll 2nd place "Rising Star: Organ"

July Smoke concert picked by Village Voice as one of the month's best concerts

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2013/07/best_jazz_shows_july.php

Brian Charette Organ Sextette
Brian Charette has the Hammond organ tradition in his blood, covering every base from unaccompanied to classic trio to the advanced four-horn unit he calls the Sextette. At Smoke on July 10, he'll draw from the 2012 disc Music for Organ Sextette and get deep into things with Itai Kriss on flute, Mike DiRubbo on alto, Kenny Brooks on tenor, Norbert Stachel on bass clarinet and the amazing Jochen Rueckert on drums.

Review of the Sextette in the Prague Post

http://www.praguepost.cz/night-and-day/stage/14947-preview-brian-charette-organ-sextette.html

Brian Charette, far left, says Prague is a city that respects the arts, including jazz music, and that is why he keeps coming back.

As a jazzman, Brian Charette has backed Joni Mitchell, Chaka Khan and Joe Jackson at Central Park's Summerstage, and proved an accomplished solo Hammond organist on top of that. He has also been nominated for a Grammy, though not at all as a jazzman: His nod came for a comedy album that he participated on in a largely production capacity. In 2003, he worked the levels on the Warner Bros. debut album for comedian Robert Smigel, a writer for Conan O'Brien and Saturday Night Live's "TV Funhouse" bits, not to mention the voice of Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog.

It was indeed on that very Yugoslavian Mountain Hound's Come Poop With Me that Charette and Co. got the near-Grammy recognition by extension. The dog rings up STD hotlines and calls cats the C-word, and sings a bunch with celebrity guests.

"I was not playing very much at the time," Charette writes in an e-mail. "The album was a big hit, but the content is a little profane, lots of swear words and sexual humor, so I'm a little on the fence about how I feel about it."

Charette does feel good, however, about playing his original jazz in Prague: He has done so several times in the past two years. Back in New York City, he has a Czech girlfriend, and, over on this side, he is simply awed by Prague and its cultural investments and rewards.

"I feel like the arts are so respected in this city, especially jazz music," Charette writes. "There is a feeling here like NYC had to me when I first moved there: lots of interesting bands and players and an audience that has great interest in the performances. NYC is so expensive now that most of my artist friends can't even afford to live there anymore. As a result, the crazy types (my favorites) aren't really around as much as they used to be."

He also notes that, for a city its size, Prague has a disproportionate number of jazz venues, and Charette should know this as he has so far played at a handful.

"I just want to say that I love playing music in Prague," Charette writes. "Of all the places I've been, it's my favorite place to be an artist. I feel like the scene for jazz music is especially great here."

Fans can prove Charette and his stagemates right by showing their support at one of three shows through Sunday, Dec. 9.

Interview by Sean O' Connell in LA Weekly

http://www.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2012/01/23/brian-charette-is-one-weird-organist

The last time I was here, I was chased out of my agent's place in West Hollywood with a baseball bat...Long story short, out comes the bat and I had to pack up my things in Trader Joe's bags and split. Halfway down the strip to my friend Samsonic's house, I passed a few other LA bums with their stuff in bags just like me. We looked each other up and down for a moment, then kept walking. I'm hoping this [L.A.] outing has a little less drama. -Brian Chrette's email pitch to LA Weekly

"Feel it," says the New York-based organist Charette, offering his pinky finger. "It's fused." We are standing at the bar of a small French bistro in Manhattan, having just met five minutes prior. His pinky finger is fixed into a permanent crook due to an amp falling on it ten years ago. "I can't play classical anymore" says Charette examining his damaged digit. "But I can still play jazz!"

Charette is the consummate road-warrior, and he has the scars to prove it. His pulpy organ sound has backed such disparate artists as soul-jazz legend Lou Donaldson and scarf-draped dandy Rufus Wainwright. This Tuesday Charette plays the first of three gigs in Los Angeles at the Mint alongside guitarist Greg Erba and drummer Andy Sanesi.

The night before we met, Charette played a gig in Boston. The next day, he was bound for Prague. After Los Angeles comes a couple of weeks in Southeast Asia. This dedication to gigging, although not much for his social life, has brought him before a lot of crowds. "I play about 330 gigs a year. In New York in the '90s, I'd play ten or eleven gigs a week!" He adds wistfully: "Those days are long gone."

To make up for it Charette has taken to what many stability-craving musicians do: he's teaching. "I just started writing these master class articles for Keyboard magazine. They're a lot of fun and the response has been great." Tackling subjects like orchestration and chord voicings, Charette has found a forum for his techniques, and he offers private lessons via Skype.

Charette has a controlled sound on the organ, taking a classic approach to both technique and instrumentation with his bands. His nimble lines follow in the footsteps of B3 masters like Jimmy Smith and Dr. Lonnie Smith. His patience and deliberation led WBGO tastemaker Josh Jackson to declare Charette a "master of space and time."

But Charette isn't just master of musical battles. As his website kungfugue.com attests, Charette could probably beat the shit out of you too; after all, he holds a "black sash" in White Crane kung fu, whatever that is. After ten years of study with a few less-than-stable mentors, Charette could probably do some damage, crooked pinky and all. He is even embarking on a project to bring his passions together, incorporating kung fu into his music like modern dance.

For now, Charette is focused on playing as many gigs as it takes to pay the rent. Despite being warmly embraced by the people of the Czech Republic finding an audience in sunnier domestic climates has proven difficult. "I have put more time into booking Los Angeles than anywhere else," says Charette. "I've made three trips to L.A. in the last year and a half. What's interesting is the crowd but I love it in L.A. I especially like walking there."

Weird!

Plain Dealer Interview by Chuck Yarborough

http://www.cleveland.com/popmusic/index.ssf/2013/05/jazz_organist_brian_charette_p.html

Eating is one of those hard habits to break. It starts the minute a kid comes into the world and ends when he leaves it. So in the meantime, you do what you gotta do to keep it up.

"The story is when I moved to New York 20 years ago, I was playing piano and I was starving," said Brian Charette in a Skype call from Prague. "On a whim, I bought a Hammond XB2 and a small 302 speaker."

"That night, I started to get calls to play organ gigs," said Charette, who brings his trio to Nighttown Tuesday night."That week, I went from no gigs to having three or four every night."

You might say it's worked out for him. In addition to continuing that eating habit – in moderation, of course – Charette has parlayed his organ skills into a jazz Grammy nomination and finished second to Mike LeDonne in Downbeat magazine's Rising Star poll on organists. His latest CD, "Music for Organ Sextette," is starting to show up on a lot of best of the year lists, including that of NY Jazz magazine, and this one from Something Else! Reviews:

"Charette had a great idea to shake up the traditional organ combo format by adding four horns to it and offered something unique that succeeded not because of the idea, but because the idea was executed so well," wrote critic S. Victor Aaron.

The B3 – his current organ of choice – is more common in rock circles, but it's not unheard of in jazz. It's just rare, which works to Charette's advantage.

"It is a typical instrument for jazz, but there are few people that really play it," he said. "There are thousands of piano players, but many fewer real organists. That also is why I like the organ."

Oddly enough, Charette hasn't been a lifelong jazz guy. His schooling at the University of Connecticut and the Hartt School of Music in his home state was in classical piano, his first instrument.

"I was not a prodigy. I was in my late 30s before I started to play on the level I needed to play on to be a contender," said Charette, who just turned 40. "It was very difficult for me and I worked very hard at it."

Naturally, there had to be inspiration, and it came from some unusual sources.

"I came to it [his specific organ sound] not through jazz, but just listening to the music of Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Yes," Charette said. "Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman were improvising in those groups. Emerson is the bridge – a rock musician, but versed in jazz and classical. That's when I began to understand about jazz harmonies."

But that thought process has added a different dimension to Charette's style of jazz, which is not so much about precise playing as it is about emotional impact.

"I don't care about mistakes," he said of his bands – he uses different lineups depending on where he's playing. "I don't care if they play the parts exactly right. I want it to have emotional impact and I want it to involve the audience."

He calls his shows almost performance art. Entertaining performance art.

"I don't want to lump jazz into a category, but a lot of jazz is uptight, very controlled," he said. "Nobody is smiling. My aim for this group is to have jazz music everyone can enjoy and tap their feet to.

"I want girls to like it," he said. "It's rare to see girls at some jazz concerts," he said. "I want it to be for everybody." And that is why there are elements of reggae, hard rock and other genres in his music, sort of a jazz-seasoned smorgasbord.

Gee, is anybody else hungry?

Hartford Courant Interview by Mike Hamad

http://www.ctnow.com/entertainment/music/hc-brian-charette-at-the-ninth-note-in-new-haven-0312-20150309,0,4840626.story

If the joyous intersection of jazz, funk, gospel, soul and blues could be expressed by a single sound, you might locate it among the manuals and switches of a Hammond B-3 organ.

In the hands of the right players — Jimmy Smith, Larry Young, Joey DeFrancesco, Barbara Dennerlein and others — the B-3 is a band within a band, slicing through drums and cymbals with melodic lines while laying down its own walking-bass counterpoint. The B-3 comps behind a guitar or saxophone with soul and grit, but without the percussive clatter of a piano. It conjures the church or speakeasy at will, like adjacent properties on the same sidewalk.

For two decades and counting, Brian Charette, who grew up in Meriden, has been one of NYC's busiest organists. Last year, Charette released two albums of organ-trio jazz, "Square One" and "Good Tipper," on Posi-tone Records, within a span of six months.

At Lincoln Center this past weekend, Charette served as musical director for a tribute to guitarist Wes Montgomery, who recorded his most exhilarating work in trios with organist Melvin Rhyne (Charette's primary influence). This Saturday, March 14, Charette returns home with his Mighty Grinders, a trio with guitarist Will Bernard and drummer Eric Kalb, for a gig at the 9th Note in New Haven.

As a teenager, Charette studied classical piano at UConn while picking up jazz from Ellen Rowe, Kenny Werner and Charlie Banacos. He gigged all over the state with the popular band Street Temperature and worked with bassist Paul Brown and saxophonists Houston Person and Lou Donaldson.

"It was really amazing, actually," Charette said. "In some ways, they were the brightest musical moments of my life, and I didn't even play organ yet."

After touring in the Czech Republic, Charette felt the pull of New York City; he moved into the East Village building depicted on the cover of Led Zeppelin's 1975 album "Physical Graffiti," where he still lives. (It's also one of his favorite albums.)

"I had never seen a cockroach before," Charette said. "New York is good, because everyone who comes here has to go through some sort of growth crisis of some kind. You really come up against your weaknesses, and you're surrounded by people who are really brilliant. You have to pull yourself together."

One night, Charette got a call to play organ, for a club gig right on his block. "I couldn't even play the organ at all," he said. Soon, Charette located a studio on the Lower East Side, bought a B-3 and went to work.

"I would practice it all day. I started to play a lot of gigs in Harlem, where you play with a lot of saxophones. It's a very good place to be for the Hammond organ. I cut my teeth up there with some of those acts, and I just started to do it all the time."

Even at clubs like the Blue Note, Charette plays a digital organ. "A lot of times, the B-3 is the worst option, especially if I'm on tour in Europe," he said. "The B-3s are really sketchy sometimes." He works closely with Hammond, who supplied him with the SK1, a one-manual digital organ designed to sound like a B-3.

"It's really incredible… One manual is a slight compromise, because you're used to playing two manuals, but for traveling, two manuals isn't even an option. There's no airline that would take that without charging you much more. Traveling with the instrument: Lufthansa just wrecked one of my keyboards. It's tough to travel. There's no great organ solution for traveling."

Of Charette's two most recent releases, "Good Tipper" is the more traditional collection, with 1960s covers (the Zombies' "Time of the Season" and Glen Campbell's "Wichita Lineman") and a slightly lounge-y vibe. "Square One" is slightly more adventurous; listen to the jagged metric shifts (on "Time Changes"), the occasional slips into bent-circuit electronica ("Things You Don't Mean") and rugged funk workouts (Charette's cover of the Meters' "Ease Back," for example).

Still, Charette suggests, the separation of the material into two distinct albums is a sort of sleight-of-hand.

"We had so much music recorded," he said. "A lot of times we have so much more music than we can fit on the albums, and I actually have a lot of releases for Posi-tone. They come out really quickly. I have another one coming in two months, and they're still playing 'Good Tipper.' I have a lot of material."

Charette's travels still include the Czech Republic, where he once lived for part of the year.

"My girlfriends have all been Czech for many years," Charette said. "I think any American who lives in Prague, that's their story. The girls are bewitching, for sure."