(b. 4 December 1933, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, d. 26 March 1998).

Charles moved to New York in 1945 but his roots are nevertheless Caribbean.  He began
by playing congas in calypso and mambo bands. He taught himself on the drumkit and a year
later (1955) was playing in Harlem with Cecil Taylor and recorded on the pianist's first album.
In 1957 he played at the Newport Jazz Festival with Taylor, Steve Lacy and Buell Neidlinger
and in 1961 performed with Taylor and Archie Shepp in the Living Theatre production of
THE CONNECTION. In 1962 he supplied calypso beats for Sonny Rollins. Unfortunately
the theme of THE CONNECTION (heroin addiction) proved a little too close to home and
Charles dropped out of the music scene for over a decade. He re-emerged as one of the Jazz
Doctors, an ensemble that included Billy Bang and Frank Lowe, in the early '80s. In 1982 he
recorded BANGCEPTION, a delightful duet album, with Bang on violin. Charles's incisive,
regular time is a perfect foil to wildmen like Taylor and Bang, having the imagination and suppleness
to both answer and contain them. Later recordings with Bang's quartet ( VALVE NO. 10) and new
alto saxophonist Rob Brown ( BREATH RHYME) were capped by his own debut as leader on 1991's
QUEEN MARY.