It is undoubtedly from this filiation that Joe Charles Jr. concocted an inspired bass player hazard. Having learned his trade on the job, Joseph found himself very early in New York as a precocious bass player with a halo of unorthodox playing, shaking up so many received ideas.
Between the small circumstantial associations, it already reaches the forget-me-not of the most experienced, deliberately with a “guitaristic” resonance which has distinguished it from the lot. No wonder it was first coveted by the “Tropical Combo” in which sat veterans such as Jack François, the famous footballer and guitarist Fito Léandre and others. In this group which has been a place of passage for so many consummate artists and new musical shoots in NY, especially Brooklyn.
At the next stage, he was spotted by Assade Francoeur’s “Wanga Nègès”, with which he explored other genres of native ambient music. In an approach that puts it in the crosshairs of lovers of fusion and other avenues of conceptual music. At this intersection, Joe Charles embeds himself in the country, in exhilarating excursions with the twin groups: “Zeklè” and “Lakansyèl”, through which he has put his trademark as an inspired bassist to the test. By investing in musical avatars; according to a manifest sensitivity. Thus becoming the one through whom the scandal came. An ancestry that propels him into the famous “Caribbean Sextet”, still applying himself on purpose with an intelligent tact and his multidirectional and impeccable mark.
Like what, JC the avant-garde bassist is never short of arguments, whether the music is jazzy , Latin , pop, contemporary, traditional and others; that he likes to halo with his impermeable tessitura. With which, he comes to spread back to the state in NY, in the so-called New Generation music , with the group “Kajou”, crowned with a hit: Safè mal, and in support, DT Richards, a certain Kino. To thus contribute its part, in an intervention that will snowball in the diaspora; in a course that is however transitory. To then enter the “Tabou Combo” where he comes to take the place of the ejected Dòf Chancy, still continuing to highlight his capacity as a chameleon and column of rhythm and measure, always in improvisation.
In a yet ephemeral collaboration, before setting sail for Florida where he settled as part of his integration into the group “Top Vice”, then the darling of Miami; but also a very attractive ensemble which began as a trio with the legendary guitarist Robert Martino, the keyboardist, then precursors of the electro genre , Charlot Raymonvil and the singer Freddie, and which really boosted new bacchanals in the sunshine state . And in which Joe came to mingle, taking part in the “topmania”of the first half of the 1990s. Before the indicators are cooled for this group and, Joe who goes alone to the constraints of all the associations, reunions as well as the solicitations of which he is the object because of his expertise and an enviable career.
