Jean-Francois Charles

Last Sunday, April 27th, the Dudley House Big Band performed a brand new score to The Man With The Movie Camera . The first short feature was The Great Train Robbery , with a new score performed by the Dudley House Improvisation Workshop. The concert took place in Paine Hall, Harvard Music Department . Nicolas Sidoroff - trumpeter, composer, and educator, was invited by Dudley House for this exciting project. Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery (1903) In 1993, I played clarinet in Nicolas's first version of this score (for 5 horns.) Last Sunday, we played a great updated version, with: Clarinet: Jean-François Charles Trumpet: Nicolas Sidoroff Tenor Sax: Michael Heller Baritone Sax: Alan Lenarcic Piano: Nathan Fosse Upright Bass: Nathan Haselby Drums: Ben Stanton It was a real treat to play with such awesome musicians! Dziga Vertov's The Man With The Movie Camera (1929) Dziga Vertov's 1929 masterpiece pulses with a boundless energy, and the virt...

Do you remember Plex for basset-horn and live electronics or the version with alto saxophone and live electronics ? Today, I'm glad to share with you this version for violin and live electronics - hit the play button: The violinist is none other than the amazing Hillary Zipper , a Ph.D. candidate in composition at Harvard University. An incredibly creative composer, she is sensible to the smallest detail inside the softest sound. She has been a Teaching Fellow in Electronic Music with Hans Tutschku for 2 years. Listen to her music on Hillary's "Harvard Group for New Music" page . We recorded this music on January 14th, 2006 in the Harvard Dance Center. I was playing the Live Electronics. You may also listen to and download Plex on last.fm . Picture Victor Ngo , Creative Commons by-nc-nd.

Saturday, April 12, 2008 Dance Lesson 8:30-9:30pm - Dance 9:30-12:30 Dudley House Dining Hall - Harvard Yard The Dudley House Big Band will play for you to dance: Duke Ellington , Glenn Miller , Dizzy Gillespie , and more! Tickets are $10 in advance at the House Office, or $12 at the door. Dance open to Dudley House members and their guests. Make sure you have a look at the awesome pictures that Jonathan took during our February concert.

At this time a week ago, I was playing contrabass clarinet at the Berklee College of Music . I was taking part in the recording session for this soundtrack, composed by David Gonzalez : Contrabass clarinet The music is very different than Carlina acaulis for contrabass clarinet and string quartet , or than Magma for contrabass clarinet, stones, and live electronics . Yes, the contrabass clarinet is a versatile instrument! Professionalism I appreciated Dave's professionalism . And I speak not only musical composition to fit the image, but also communication with the performers and the sound engineer, layout of the parts, schedule, preparation of the session in Digital Performer . He handled these tasks smoothly, and all the musicians enjoyed the session. " Aptitude versus Attitude " says Robert Kraft . I was also glad to play in Berklee's Film Scoring studio. The school has wonderful facilities. There are great studios, and I like how they are designed for both ...