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ROBERT
CHARLES |
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I started
playing guitar at about 15 years old. After graduating HS I majored
in music at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. I studied mostly
classical theory, which was invaluable, as it taught me the language
of music. I took a few semesters of jazz guitar from a local teacher
in Worcester for college credit and that opened up a world of musical
color for which I was desperate. Prior to that I was strictly a blues
guitarist.
My new
CD is entitled Everything I Say, which is the name of the last
track on the CD and the only song on which I sing. I started the process
of recording this album back in the summer of '06. I was eager to
lay down my new ideas but knew I couldn't afford the studio time,
especially the time involved in getting my solos right. I bought a
Mac and Pro Tools and laid out the structure of all the songs. I then
had some of the best players in Seattle come to my home studio and
lay down their parts. Most of the tracks were recorded in my studio,
but the drum tracks were recorded at the Garey Shelton Studio here
in Seattle, WA.
The first
guitar record that really blew me away was Kooper Session with
Shuggie Otis. Shuggie was only 15 when he made that recording and
he plays his ass off. It gave me a lot of inspiration that I could
become a great guitar player someday. After that it was the early
Johnny Winter albums, especially The Progressive Blues Experiment.
I became a member of the church of Jimi Hendrix and will always regard
him as the most special of all electric guitar players. To me, Jimi
is just as important as Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker and John Coltrane.
Larry Carlton with Steely Dan was the guitar player I had been waiting
for and the solo on “Kid Charlemagne” literally changed
my life. He fused rock and jazz in way that I had never heard before.
I became a huge Danny Gatton in the early '90's, he was truly amazing,
but my all time favorite guitar player is Jeff Beck. He is the most
original and creative player I've ever heard and is always growing
as a musician. He is never stagnant, always breaking new ground. The
greatest!
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From
the opening strains of “Moon River,” you just know that
guitarist Robert Charles means business. Although its only
six cuts deep, there’s plenty of musical meat and muscle at work
on Everything I Say, released on CD in 2009 by Charles on his
own label. Fans of instrumental rock and jazz fusion will love just
about everything about this CD. Although he admits, ‘I like to
believe my vocals are honest, which is good enough,’ Charles
decides on diversification with a closing vocal number, also entitled
“Everything I Say.” Charles might benefit from a bigger
production budget, yet overall there’s not much out of place
on Everything I Say. Recording up in Seattle with a range of
talented backing musicians, on Everything I Say Charles has
found a real musical sweet spot—that point in music where genres
wondrously collide and no one cares if its called jazz, rock or whatever.
As one key writer has noted, if there's any deficiency here at all,
it's that there's only six cuts and by the end of the CD you wish
there were another six tracks to go! Even so, if you enjoy electric
guitar instrumental music in the spirit of giants like Roy Buchanan,
Danny Gatton with a chaser of Steve Cropper and even Dregs founder
Steve Morse, then Robert Charles is your man. 