Since 1925 the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has annually offered Fellowships to artists, scholars and scientists in all fields. This year, after considering the recommendations of panels and juries, the Board of Trustees has granted 175 Fellowships from over 3,100 applications.
Guggenheim Fellows are appointed on the basis of impressive achievement in their past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment.
A release from the Foundation has announced that one of this year's Music Composition recipients is Trinidadian Etienne Charles.
Born in Trinidad in 1983, Etienne Charles defies easy musical categorisation and is one of the youngest Guggenheim Fellows in 2015. He has been hailed by New York Times as "an auteur" and by Jazz Times as "A daring improviser who delivers with heart wrenching lyricism."
According to Downbeat Magazine "Charles delivers his ebullient improvisations with the elegance of a world-class ballet dancer." Charles has received critical acclaim for his exciting performances, thrilling compositions and knack for connecting with audiences worldwide.
In 2012 Charles was written into the US Congressional Record for his musical contributions to T&T and the World. In 2013 he was awarded the Caribbean Heritage Trailblazer Award, by the Institute of Caribbean Studies, Washington, DC.
In 2006 he won the National Trumpet Competition Jazz Division in Fairfax, VA and now joins the ranks of fellow T&T artists including Marlon Griffith (2010), Peter Minshall (1982), Earl Lovelace (1980) and Geoffrey Holder (1957) in receipt of the Guggenheim Fellowship.
"I am deeply grateful, humbled and honored to be selected as a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow. It is inspiring to be a new member of this elite group of artists and scholars," states Charles. "This fellowship will enable me to further my research and create a large compositional work depicting the original rituals and traditional characters of Carnival in T&T."
Perhaps more than any other musician of his generation or Eastern Caribbean origin, Charles brings a careful study of myriad rhythms from the French, Spanish, English and Dutch speaking Caribbean to his work. Crucially, as a soloist, he fully understands the New Orleans trumpet tradition (which is readily discernible in his trademark instrumental swagger) and what famed Crescent City Pianist, Jelly Roll Morton so succinctly captured in the now immortal phrase, 'The Spanish Tinge'.
His latest recording, Creole Soul (Culture Shock Music 2013), features original compositions and arrangements of music by Bob Marley, Winsford Devine, Thelonious Monk and Bo Didley.
The album spent three consecutive weeks at Number One on the Jazz Week Chart as well as reaching Number 25 on the Billboard Jazz Charts. Creole Soul was named as the third best Jazz Album of 2013 by Jazz Week.
Previously he released Kaiso (2011), Folklore (2009) and Culture Shock (2006).
In August 2015, Charles will premiere the San Jose Suite, a new work made possible with support from Chamber Music America's 2014 New Jazz Works grant funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. This fall will see the release of his album Creole Christmas, a cross-collaboration highlighting traditional Caribbean holiday folk music, featuring musicians from the United States, Venezuela Macedonia, and T&T.
On November 29, Charles will present music from Creole Christmas at a concert at Queen's Hall, PoS.
Charles is a highly regarded educator and currently serves as assistant professor of Jazz Studies at Michigan State University. He holds a Master's degree from the Juilliard School and a Bachelor's degree from Florida State University.
This year's other fellowship recipients are Darcy James Argue, Matthew Barnson, Richard Carrick, Chihchun Chi-sun Lee, Steve Lehman, George E Lewis, Andreia Pinto-Correia, Sean Shepherd, Rand Steiger, and Amy Williams. Previous award winners in the Music Composition category include George Antheil, Aaron Copland, Alex Mincek, Billy Childs and Vivian Fung.
�2 For further information visit
etiennecharles.com