ETIENNE CHARLES

A high-energy spectacle blending American jazz with the sights and sounds of Trinidadian Carnival. A multicultural celebration of life, freedom, and history

The Anglophone Caribbean is the subject of Etienne Charles’s Carnival: The Sound of a People, by Trinidad-born, Juilliard-trained trumpet player and composer Etienne Charles. Charles was fascinated by Jab Molassie (Molasses Devil), the blue-colored, horned, winged, pitchfork-carrying, fire-breathing carnival characters in Trinidad and Tobago – and the people who become them for Carnival. He went to the village of Paramin on Carnival Monday, to watch them compete – only to dive in and start playing the biscuit tin along with them, getting himself splattered with blue paint. A scholar of Caribbean music and conservator of traditions who also extends the traditions in everything he does, Charles explains Carnival: “It’s music. It’s dance. It’s costume. It’s improvisation. It’s history. It’s social commentary, political commentary. It’s all of that in one word. And the only way to do it in a show is to have as much of it as possible.” This show makes its Jazz at Lincoln Center debut, rescheduled from June of 2020.

You can purchase the 9:30 performances on June 9 and 10 as part of the 9:30 in The Appel Room series – three 9:30 Appel Room shows for $99 (including fees) for any seat in the house while seats are available. Your Appel Room ticket stub can be used for a free cover to that evening’s Dizzy’s Late Night Session

Friday & Saturday: 7:00pm~& 9:30pm