Sarah Elizabeth Charles: Blank Canvas

The NYC-based singer's brainy, world, jazz and soul styled songs are performed by a quintet plus guests including Christian Scott

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Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on leaving high school, Sarah Elizabeth Charles moved to New York City where she studied at The New School University of Jazz and Contemporary Music. Resident in the city since then, she has built a reputation as singer and composer.

She draws on multiple genres, including world music, new-age soul and contemporary jazz and her music contains occasional subtle echoes of latterday R&B.

Teaming up with pianist Jesse Elder, bassist Burniss Earl Travis and drummer John Davis as Scope, she has worked extensively in the New York area and since 2012 has released the albums Red, Dialogue, Free Of Form and now Blank Canvas. She has also recorded with pianists Jarrett Cherner and Jesse Fischer, these albums being Tone and Resilience respectively.

Aside from her work as a performer, Charles also teaches both privately and through a number of leading institutions, including The New School. Her composing credits include a work commissioned through the Canales Project’s Hear Her Song initiative, which was performed at Washington’s National Gallery.

In her songwriting, Charles takes a clear-eyed look at many of today’s political issues, particularly with regard to race. The lyrics of her songs clearly demonstrate an intellectual approach, a quality that is effectively underscored by the music she has composed.

This is an album that demands and rewards the listener’s careful attention. A guest included in the accompanying personnel is Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, the name by which trumpeter and composer Christian Scott is now known. The unusual instrument he plays here, the Adjuah Bow, his own invention, is an electronic double-sided harp similar to the traditional kora.

Discography
Guest House Intro; Borders; Blank Canvas; Angel Spark; Malba; Freedom Day; Brother; Out Land; Blind Emotions; BE The Solution; The Message (45.38)
Charles (v); Jesse Elder (p, kyb); Jordan Peters (g); Burniss Earl Travis II (b); John Davis (d). Guests: Chief Xian a Tunde Adjuah (Adjuah Bow); Jesse Fischer (p, kyb). Brooklyn, NYC, 2021.
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