Jean-Francois Charles

In November, composer & improviser Carlos Cotallo Solares and I recorded an homage to Jacques Dutronc's hit Les Cactus . This video presents an excerpt from the "live electronics only" track: Electronic Cactus video on youtube Check out here our electric guitar & live electronics duet .

In 1967, French musician Jacques Dutronc was singing in Les Cactus :       The whole world is a cactus       It is impossible to sit down       In life, there are only cacti Composer & improviser Carlos Cotallo Solares and I just released a new cover of this song: enjoy, and beware the cactus! Original Cactus Here is Jacques Dutronc performing Les Cactus in 1967:

Guitarist Steve Grismore is a great musician and educator, with ears wide open. Here is a little Bell Blender we created together recently. All electronic sounds made from Steve's guitar - and voice!

I composed Guitar School for guitarist Steve Grismore , a take-no-prisoners improviser, who immediately accepted my invitation to perform with the Laptop Orchestra at the University of Iowa. This work is my first contribution to the guitar ensemble literature. Enjoy the recording of the world première, which took place on Saturday May 6th, 2017.

BMOP reading my orchestration of Eddie Van Halen's Eruption The electric guitar solo Eruption , by Van Halen , is "considered one of the most influential rock instrumentals of all time" (see linked wikipedia article). This Spring, I had a lot of fun transcribing it into a 2-minute orchestral piece. I bought the CD Van Halen , along with the transcriptions Van Halen Best Of, Volume I (Best of Van Halen) . After analyzing the piece, I wrote the arrangement while paying a special attention to the orchestral playability. That's why I used very different time signatures than the ones in the guitar transcription book aforementioned. An Orchestration Course at Harvard This was my final project for a great orchestration class that I took this spring in the Music Department . Michael Gandolfi , Chair of the composition department at New England Conservatory , was teaching it as a special guest. With five other composers, we were lucky to study with this artist, very experie...