Born: 1952 Primary Instrument: Drums
Drums, vibraphone, frame drums, mbiras, percussion
Born and raised in Sheffield UK, Charlie is a product of the city’s rich improvising tradition. He started playing drums age 11, began playing improvised music in 1969, played both RnB and free- jazz through the 70s, and by 1978 was involved in the nascent “Industrial” scene. He was an early member of ClockDVA and founder of The Box, recording for cult labels Industrial, Fetish and Doublevision, and recorded the first releases on the legendary Go!Discs.
Since the mid '80s he has recorded and toured throughout Europe with regular groups and ad-hoc ensembles. He has received a number of awards for live performance and composition, lectured in Improvisation at Nottingham Trent University, worked with dance groups and poets, and toured the live soundtrack to Teinosuke Kinugasa's 1920's masterpiece “Page of Madness”. He continues to work in all aspects of contemporary creative music.
Since 2007 he has played regularly with altoist Sonny Simmons, toured in a duo with New York trumpet legend Ted Daniel, collaborated with thereminist Beatrix Ward-Fernandez and continues to work with Korean komungo player Eun-Jung Kim. Other recent live work has included Michael Marcus, Rob Brown, Daniel Levin and free-folk collective Hunter Gracchus.
He is one of a handful of musicians to have played both Derek Bailey’s Company Week and Top of the Pops (with Moloko).
