Etienne Charles

Creole Orchestra Featuring René Marie

Culture Shock Music

Having witnessed an invigorating performance from trumpeter and composer Etienne Charles’ septet Creole Soul at the 2023 Exit Zero Spring Jazz Festival, the program on his first big band effort and tenth as a leader, Creole Orchestra, at first puzzled me. Tunes such as “Stompin’ at the Savoy,” “Night Train,” “Centerpiece,” and Joe Henderson’s “Shade of Jade,” don’t smack of Charles’ Caribbean origins in Trinidad and Tobago. That was a first impression. It turns out that those songs, certainly the first three, are indeed part of Charles’ heritage. In the early ‘40s the U.S. leased tracts of land on Trinidad to establish two naval air bases. With these bases came Trinidad’s first radio station and commensurate with those times the prevailing music was big band from the likes of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Duke Ellington. Soon thereafter the native calypso band started incorporating these big band styles into their music and that’s what Charles remembers from his youth.

The other story that plays into the genesis of Charles’ first endeavor as a big band writer and arranger is the impetus of vocalist René Marie who tasked him with arranging for a full set of big band tunes to take on the road. Marie is the featured vocalist on four of the thirteen tracks here and Charles’ Creole Soul bandmates and Caribbean frequent collaborators – drummer Obed Calvaire, bassist Jonathan Michel, pianist/keyboardist Sullivan Fortner, trumpeter Giveton Gelin, saxophonist Godwin Louis, and cuatro maestro Jorge Glenn, all factor into the mix. See full personnel, 22 pieces in all, below. The material is drawn from several different commissions and projects in this generous program of nearly 80 minutes of music.

Let’s take the Marie tracks first. The breathy, sensual “I Wanna Be Evil” is a cover of Eartha Kitt’s theme song that graced the first collaboration of Marie and Charles, from Marie’s 2013 album of the same name. She gets authoritatively bluesy, belting it out on Harry “Sweets” Edison and Jon Hendricks’ “Centerpiece,” punctuated with a terrific solo from Fortner as well as brief turns from Ellis (on tenor), Williams, Charles, and Calvaire. Charles nods to Frank Foster as one of biggest inspirations as an arranger. The orchestra delivers vibrant support on her two originals, going tender on the breezy “Colorado River Song” and returning to her trademark whispering sensuality on “Take My Breath Away,” imbued by Alex Wintz’s stirring guitar solo and Godwin Louis’s soprano.

Charles recorded the opener, “Old School,” on his 2006 debut, Culture Shock. Expanded here in the orchestral arrangement, Charles makes room for numerous soloists as Hogans, Ellis, Tucker, and Fortner step forward along with the leader. While that one carries a vintage sheen per its title, Charles concocts a hip-hop spin on Dr. Freeze’s “Poison,” inviting former student and rapper Brandon Rose and DJ Logic to give it that feel along with solos from five orchestra members.

Caribbean flavor appears via the distinctly reggae tinged “Think Twice” from Monty Alexander, lifted by trumpeter Smith and trombonist Dease. We hear the requisite calypso tune in Charles’ original, “Duende,” originally a small group rendering, that he rearranged for a program of his work commissioned by the Chicago Jazz Ensemble in 2011, which Charles states as the first time he started writing for big band. Solos from Charles, Louis, and Fortner brightened this arrangement. His third original, “Holy City,” though was his first composition specifically written for big band, resulting from a commission from the Charleston Jazz Orchestra. The opening passage features the contrast of Ebersole’s clarinet with Elllis’s bass clarinet, presaging the colorful textures that follow, Hogans on alto and Wintz on guitar especially noteworthy.

The arrangement of Henderson’s “Shade of Jade” moves with a shifting, contrasting sharp and undulating pace compared to Henderson’s more straightforward arrangement on his 1997 Big Band (Verve) where he and Freddie Hubbard were the soloists. Here those honors go to tenorist Thomas and guitarist Wintz. The familiar classics “Stompin’ at the Savoy” and the closing “Night Train” prove that this group can swing with the best of them as several members step forward on both that primarily feature the rhythm section with Fortner and Calvaire’s individual voices on both. Yet. contrasting bass solos, from Michel on the former and Williams on the latter hold perhaps the most intrigue.

Without nary a doubt, Etienne Charles has arrived as an astute big band composer and arranger.

Personnel: Woodwinds – Michael Thomas (lead alto and soprano), Godwin Louis (lead alto and soprano), Brian Hogans (alto), John Ellis (tenor sax and bass clarinet), Seth Ebersole (tenor sax and clarinet), Paul Nedzela (baritone sax and bass clarinet), Gina Izzo (flute on tracks 5, 8, 10) Trumpets – Etienne Charles, Jumaane Smith (lead), Walter Cane, Anthony Stanco, Giveton Gelin (‘Old School”) Trombones – Dion Tucker, Corey Wilcox, Michael Dease, Chris Glassman (bass trombone)  Rhythm Section – Sullivan Fortner (piano, Rhodes), Alex Wintz (guitar), Ben Williams (bass on 2-7, 9, 13), Jonathan Michel (bass on 1, 8, 10-12), Obed Calvaire (drums), Etienne Charles (percussion), Jorge Glenn (cuatro on 1, 8), Pascual Landeau (marac on 1) Special Guests – René Marie (vocals), Brandon Rose (vocals), DJ Logic (turntables)

• Jim Hynes

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