It is a long drive, but well worth it for us, to play for a crowd of vetted, committed music lovers. Janet Kenworthy has made it one of her life’s missions to build a heavenly musical oasis in the middle of North Carolina. Is there an award for people like this? There should be. I don’t think that my band ever feels so appreciated as we do when we play in this quirky little space in Aberdeen NC. Every ounce, every square inch of this place is dedicated to providing a great concert experience for the audience and the band. A shout out right here to David, our sound engineer, who makes us feel and sound great on stage. 
– Charlie's Blog –
The Accidental Accompanist
I spend most of my work days writing and recording music, with some work nights devoted to playing and singing. But with my musical-in-progress, 19: The Musical, I have fallen into the role of music director. And since the show is still in the workshop phase—I and my creative partners, lyricist Jennifer Schwed and playwright Doug Bradshaw, are hashing out the script right now—my piano and I constitute the whole orchestra when we perform. That’s pretty straightforward on the ensemble numbers, but when it comes to the solos, things are more fluid. The singer and I might exchange leading and following roles—often within the span of a measure. It makes me remember how much I love the give-and-take of accompanying, the gentle, unspoken flow of tension and release, crescendo and diminuendo, accelerando and ritard, all communicated with the most subtle of gestures. Soprano Millicent Scarlett plays the crusading journalist Ida B. Wells, and she has two solo songs where we are so in sync that it sometimes feels like we are breathing each other’s breaths. In the rest of life, I rarely find it satisfying to completely subsume myself in another’s effort. Ego too often gets in the way. But when accompanying a singer, the melding of mind and purpose is the perfect outcome. Ego dissolves and only music remains.
Saving the Everglades
I just finished scoring a presentation film for the Everglades Foundation that taught me a lesson in the value of leverage. This foundation is working to solve an environmental catastrophe: Florida’s Everglades are being destroyed by algae, fed by the run-off from fertilizers flowing into the watershed. It is a far larger problem than this tiny foundation could ever hope to fix using known methods—the cost would run into the billions of dollars. So instead, they offered a $10 million prize called The Water Prize to anyone who could find an innovative and affordable alternate solution. Groups of scientists from all over the world began approaching the problem from many angles. And the amazing thing is, I really think that it is going to work! This little film only covers the beginning of this process, but there is more. I was proud to contribute a few hopeful musical themes to this effort. I can’t wait to see how it ends.
The Lure of Small-Town Theaters
On Saturday April 6, my doughty jazz band,Chaise Lounge, will head out to Washington, Virginia, a tiny town with a population of 127 at last count. Despite its size, this village in Virginia’s horse country has a wonderful music venue: The Little Washington Theatre. Somehow the theater’s owner, Nancy Raines, always manages to attract a discerning, sophisticated audience to fill this gem of a performance space. (Even the children, who get cut-rate tickets, are sophisticated!) For the band, there is a Brigadoon-like quality to playing there, since the crowd tends to outnumber the townsfolk. Where do they come from? Where do they go? If you’re in the region this weekend and up for helping me solve this mystery, come out and see us—and make sure to say hello.
In His Own Words
I have started work on a new documentary about the Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas. It is called Clarence Thomas: In His Own Words. Filmmaker Michael Pack got an unprecedented chance to interview the laconic justice for 30 hours, and at this point I can say that I have heard Thomas speak more than almost anyone else in America. The film is still in its early stages, but I have ready written themes for much of it. Without giving anything away, I can say that Thomas’s origin story from Pinpoint, Georgia, is an amazing picture of racism and poverty in mid-century America.
Working with Dancers
As 19: The Musical, my musical-in-progress about the 19th (women’s suffrage) Amendment, takes shape, the collaborative part of the process becomes more and more important. Choreographers Danielle Marquis and Angela Norris, along with dance captain Kristen Briscoe, have been adding movement to each song. With the show still under development and the cast still “on book,” the dancing has been a key part of our workshop performances. It gives the audience something visual to follow. Their choreography is a combination of impressionistic emotive statements and precise representations of the story’s action. As the dancers set the dances, the music I have written has necessarily become more codified. I can no longer take the liberties I once took in accompanying the songs on piano. And conversely, the more the music finds its true shape, the more precise the dancers’ movement becomes. It has been a lesson for me in the shape of collaboration. We have a few semi-staged readings coming up, as we prepare this show for completion by next year—the centennial of the Amendment. If you’re in the Washington, DC, area, I hope you can make one of the shows, which are listed below. I’m on piano at every performance, so if you do make it, please come say hello.
The Mother of All Lists
I am a list-maker by nature, so the idea of making a list of New Year’s resolutions is eminently appealing to me. I make one every year, and it is the mother of all my other lists. Of course it includes some of the standard items like “lose weight” and “learn French” (that one has been appearing on my list since 1988). But it also includes some very actionable goals. #6 is “Study modern choral music from England.” I may not put a check mark next to that and call it “done,” but I am looking forward to the pursuit. And I see that #22 this year is “make better lists.” So meta. I hope your list this year includes many achievable goals, and a few that really stretch you artistically.
Chaise Lounge at the National Cathedral
My jazz band, Chaise Lounge, played an amazing gig recently. The word “gig” does not quite describe the experience of playing a concert at Washington DC’s National Cathedral. The enormous, reverberant space itself is noteworthy. But add to that: playing a concert with the The President’s Own Marine Chamber Orchestra and the National Cathedral choir accompanying us! We performed a medley of wartime favorites: “Over There” for World War I; “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” for World War II, etc. The event was sold out and an utterly fantastic experience, especially since I was given the opportunity to arrange our medley for these crackerjack ensembles. PBS filmed the whole concert for a special that you can watch here. I’d like to give a shout-out to the filmmaker, Joel Westbrook, as well as Col. Jason Fettig, the Marine orchestra’s conductor, and Mike McCarthy, the director of music at the National Cathedral. All of them are fabulous to work with.
Invisible Warriors
Scoring director Gregory Cooke’s new documentary about the role American black women played during World War II, Invisible Warriors, has been an interesting challenge. Plenty of women of color worked on the war effort, but as important as their work was, it wasn’t valued highly enough for many filmmakers to take motion pictures. Luckily, Gregory has found a few vibrant women in their 90s who have great stories about their experiences—and tell them with flair. My job on the film is to find sounds that evoke the determined spirit of the period, and also the extreme racism these patriotic women faced. Stay tuned for this documentary. Gregory has found an unexplored subject that is rich with relevance today.
Four weddings and that's hopefully it
Weddings seem to clump together, don’t they? You can go for years without being invited to one, and then, all of a sudden, you have four or five to attend. It’s been a year like that for me—thank goodness. These are some dark times that we are in, and to see new couples striking boldly out into the unknown together does my heart good. I’m always interested in the music they choose. In France this spring, the wedding party was serenaded by two button accordionists outside city hall. In Malibu in July, the beautiful bride was my middle daughter, who had a looping violinist perform pop tunes. My niece’s wedding in Maine in August featured an amazingly adroit female folk singer. And next month is my nephew’s wedding in Long Beach, where the featured musician will be yours truly. This will be my second wedding playing traditional Appalachian melodies on solo frailing banjo. A trend? Only if we make it one, my friend. I hope all your upcoming events are hopeful ones.