CHARLES DAVIS - FLUTE PLAYER

[ biography ]

A sort of biography and other things

>> chronological life career

I started my musical career with a guitar I bought with my first wages at the age of 17 in the Beatles/Rollings Stones era of the 60s. After a short period of studying classical guitar in Sydney, I started playing jazz, rock and folk in groups after moving to Brighton.

After hearing flute sounds in a rock music context, I was so fascinated that I bought a flute and to my surprise found that I progressed very rapidly and that the instrument was an extension of myself.

Moving to Germany in the 70s I played the flute and later for a short period of time, the saxophone in jazz rock groups. I found that because of the dynamics this to be a frustrating and musically limited experience.

In the 80s I started playing in guitar and piano duos and found that in this framework it worked better for me and my flute. I developed this concept further employing various new percussive playing techniques until I found the most satisfactory formation was the trio with bass and guitar.

Being inspired by the various saxophone groups that appeared in the 70s, I formed int the 90s one of the first jazz groups composed solely of flutes. This ground breaking group required that the various members compose for this unique formation taking into account the different types of flutes.

Later in the 90´s, after a meeting with the bansuri player Joachim Hübner, I renewed my interest in classical north indian music, which I had heard for the first time in the early 60s. I intensified my study in this area and two new groups arose from this interest Ensemble Chanchala and Duo Bubachala.

Short Facts

Attended workshops and master classes of James Newton, Robert Dick and Dieter Bihlmeier. My main musical influences on the flute come from Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Jeremy Steig, Hossein Omoumi, James Newton, Robert Dick and Herbie Mann.
I play a Yamaha flute with a Lafin headjoint, Sanyko alto flute, Eva Kingma bass flute and a Christian Jaeger double bass flute.

My favourite 10 CDs (at the moment) are:

Thimar from Anouar Brahem
Gagarin’s point of view from the Esbjörn Svenssen Trio
Raga Darbari Kanada from Hari Prasad Chaurasia
Unn von Pachora
Charms of the Night Sky from Dave Douglas
Pieces of Africa from the Kronos Quartett
Anta Oumri von Oum Kasoum
Trio from Simply Acoustic Trio
World Trio from Dave Holland
In a Silent Way from Miles Davis

My favourite jazz flute recording is Wayfaring Stranger from Jeremy Steig.

Last but not least, my favourite 5 red and white wines:

Red
Domaine Hautes Aires - Clos de l'Escandil (Minervois)
Domaine Rabasse-Charavin - L'Estèvenas de Théophile (Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages)
Speri -­ Amarone
Guigal ­- Côtes  Rôtie
Domaine Labranche-Laffont - Vieilles Vignes (Madiran)

White
Domaine Rabasse-Charavin - Cuveé D'Estèvenas (Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages)  
Edward Laneyrie -­ Pouilly Fuiseé
Niero Pinchon - Condrieu
La Tosa - Sorriso di Cielo (Malvasia)
Domaine Richaud - Cairanne (Côtes-du-Rhone-Villages)