The Charlie Pyne Quartet Perform Live Instore This Thursday
13th August, 6:00pm, instore at Yamaha Music London
We're delighted to welcome the brilliant Charlie Pyne Quartet to Yamaha Music London as part of our Summer Sessions.
Jazz singer and double bassist Charlie Pyne has a sultry, smoky voice reminiscent of Corinne Bailey Rae and Madeleine Peyroux. Whether she is performing songs by the Beach Boys or Van Morrison, there’s a palpable sense of old-school jazz class shining through every single note she sings. The perfect way to ease yourself back into the swing of things this summer.
No need to book - just turn up on the night!
Charlie Pyne
Charlie Pyne is a bassist and vocalist comfortable in many styles and situations. Having graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2009, specialising in jazz double bass, she spends much of her time developing her own musical identity, moving in several exciting directions simultaneously, as well as polishing her teaching methods to pass on her knowledge to others.
She performs regularly with her own band, the Charlie Pyne Quintet, playing jazz standards and pop classics with her own big-band inspired twists. She also performs with the Yazz Ahmed Quintette in both jazz and corporate settings, various big bands in North London including ENJO and the Urban Big Band, and the well-established function band Pink Champagne.
Charlie also deps with a number of bands including The Milkshakers (1950s rock n roll), Blue Topaz (pop and classical string trio), Tuxedo Class (function band).
Charlie has also had experience playing various kinds of Latin American music, and whilst still at Guildhall, played with the up-and-coming Latin band ‘The Zands Collective’, as well as for the international Cuban Violinist Omar Puente in a project at Trinity College of Music.
In September 2009 Charlie started her own cabaret act, ‘Strawberry and Cream’, with a double bass playing opera singer called Cat Rogers. As a two double bass, two female vocal duo who play a mixture of 40’s classics and 80’s pop, the duo have so far been very successful and played at a number of variety nights and fund raisers in Central London, including Bright Club at the Bloomsbury Theatre, The Heart & Lung Unit and Scaledown, and at the Green Man Festival.
For Strawberry and Cream, Charlie does much of the arranging work, scoring the duo’s repertoire for double basses, vocals and occasional ukelele.
After being involved with some contemporary classical music in collaboration with the London Contemporary Dance School and at the Guildhall, Charlie joined the Workers’ Union Ensemble, a group who work in collaboration with new composers and artists of other disciplines to push the boundaries of the genre. Within this environment she has pushed her own technical boundaries, experimenting with extended techniques and developing a musical personality which compliments the rest of the group.
Charlie’s work in function bands, for private parties, corporate functions, in festivals and on cruise ships, has given her a deep sense of professionalism, which serves her well at all points of her career. At the same time, she has experience in the world of rock music, from the age of fourteen in various bands, but most recently playing bass guitar for Charlotte Hatherley, formerly of Ash. This has given her an insight into an entirely different scene, and knowledge and experience of what is necessary to run small independent shows, from booking venues and sound engineers and the financial side of an even, to the importance of the visual aspect of a performance.
For most of her life, Charlie has had first hand experience of the educational side of music. Headed by Chris Pyne, The Hitchin Music Project is a small family-run organization which leads an 80-piece pop orchestra, a string group, a saxophone ensemble, a vocal group, jazz band and ‘rock school’. Within these groups, Charlie has worked as an assistant, as group leader, and as a mentor in the rock school helping to write original material. She has also written arrangements and her own original material for several of these ensembles. Charlie is also very involved with event organisation for the many concerts, shows and informal evenings these ensembles feature in. Charlie also worked for the Harpenden Musicale summer music programme from 2002 - 2011, arranging pieces, leading bands and choirs, and giving one to one help where needed. Charlie currently teaches for the Hitchin Music Project, the Highfield School in Letchworth, Simon Balle School in Hertford, the Camden Light Orchestra, Funky Strings.
Photos and background image © Copyright Charlie Pyne 2015