Charles Austin

Saxophonist and multi-reed player Charles Austin Jr. (Miami, c. 1930 – January 2024) was Joe Gallivan’s longtime musical partner for over three decades: in Miami from the early 1960s, as a duo from 1973, and on stages and records across Europe and the United States.

“Charles Austin may be the best multi instrumentalist alive today and is certainly one of the greatest musicians.”

From Joe’s biography

At this time he also began a collaboration with multi-reed player Charles Austin which has resulted in many albums, tours and festival appearances over three decades. Their music was praised by Igor Stravinsky, who wrote a letter of recommendation to CBS on their behalf. At the 1968 Miami Pop Festival, they played after Jimi Hendrix and before the Mothers of Invention.

Charles Austin

• Born in Miami, Florida, and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, by his uncle, Dr. W.A. Bisson. After a near-fatal bout of pneumonia at 13, he took up the saxophone. (South Florida Times)
• Played with his mentor Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Cannonball Adderley, B.B. King, Marvin Gaye, James Brown and Stevie Wonder. (South Florida Times)
• Won a 1954 edition of the Ed Sullivan Show playing two saxophones at once, was the first African American musician in the orchestra at the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach, and conducted the Broadway musical Purlie. (South Florida Times)
• Chosen to accompany composer George Crumb at an American library in Romania. (South Florida Times)
• A regular at Miami’s historic Hampton House. He started the music program at Brownsville Middle School and co-founded PAVAC, the Performing and Visual Arts Center at Miami Northwestern Senior High. (South Florida Times)
• Played saxophones, flutes, oboe, English horn and clarinet.
• He died in January 2024, at 93. (South Florida Times)

“Charles Austin is our jazz legend here in Miami.”

As newjazz.com told it, 1998

Charles Austin was born in Miami, Florida, and grew up in Memphis Tennessee, the home of the blues. While still a teenager he played at carnivals and with B.B. King. This blues background has remained in his playing regardless of the style or idiom in which he later played. In his youth in Memphis, he played with Phineas Newborn and Charles Lloyd, who were his contemporaries. At Tennessee A&I University, he became friends and worked with Leon Thomas, Ben Tucker, Jimmy Cleveland, Harold Maebern and Frank Strozier. Charles has worked over the years with many very diverse musicians including Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Marvin Gaye, Tony Bennett, Cannonball Adderly, Blue Mitchell, Sam Jones, Ira Sullivan, George Lewis and Monty Alexander.

Charles plays all musics and all styles of jazz, but it is his own music and the music he developed with Joe Gallivan that makes him one of the truly great creative musicians of our time. In the early 60's, he met daily with a small group of musicians then living in Miami to create a new music that was their own. Charles was already a great player who had worked with Dizzy Gillespie and whose work until that time had paralleled that of John Coltrane and whose repertoire at that time was very similar. This early work can be heard on the Charles Austin/Joe Gallivan album Miami, soon to be released on CD by Culture Press (France). At that time there were few opportunities to perform it, but they played this new music every day. They developed a new philosophy, a music neither "free jazz " nor what is called "avant-garde" (a European music), but which incorporated all music especially ethnic musics as diverse as Japanese Opera and Pygmy chants. They kept all the music that they had learned, including jazz and the blues, but added the melodic and rhythmic modes and colors of the whole earth experience. Igor Stravinsky heard their music and recommended Charles and Joe to CBS. In 1973 they began working as a duo, with Charles and his battery of horns and Joe on Moog Synthesizer and drums. They did projects with other musicians, but it was as a duo that they made many tours in Europe and recorded the sessions at Criteria Studios in Miami. They played festivals including the Kool Jazz Festival in New York, the Bracknell Festival, the Saxophone Festival in England, and the Chateauvallon Festival in France, among many others throughout the world. They have played many concerts and at jazz clubs including the Bim in Amsterdam and Sweet Basil in New York. .Joe Gallivan says "Charles Austin may be the best multi instrumentalist alive today and is certainly one of the greatest musicians."

Records together

1. 1975At Last Man-Made Records, Miami
   Charles Austin (saxophones, flutes, oboe, English horn), Joe Gallivan (Moog synthesizer, percussion) Discogs
2. 1976Mindscapes Spitball Records (At Last reissued under a new title, per Discogs and All About Jazz; CD 2000)
   Charles Austin, Joe Gallivan
3. 1976Intercontinental Express: London Compendium Records
   Charles Austin, Joe Gallivan with Kenny Wheeler, Ian Hamer, Nick Evans, Ronnie Scott, Elton Dean, Jeff Green, Roy Babbington and others Discogs
4. 1977Expression to the Winds Spitball Records
   Charles Austin, Joe Gallivan Discogs
5. 1977Peace On Earth Compendium Records
   Charles Austin, Joe Gallivan & Voices: John McMinn, Carmen Lundy, Marvis Martin, Al Richardson, David Deluca Discogs
6. 1979Home From Home Ogun
   Charles Austin, Roy Babbington, Joe Gallivan (recorded in London, July 1977) Discogs
7. 1979Miami Atmosphere / IRI (France)
   Charles Austin Group with Joe Gallivan Discogs
8. 1980Surroundings Celia Records (Jean Schwarz)
   Charles Austin and Joe Gallivan play with a tape by Jean Schwarz Discogs
9. 1985Ailana Hannibal Records
   Charles Austin & Joe Gallivan, The New Orchestra, with Ryo Kawasaki and others Discogs
10. 1989Mysterious Planet Hannibal Records
    Ailana, the Charles Austin / Joe Gallivan Group, with John McMinn, Nelson Padron, Earl Lloyd Discogs
11. 1989Chantakoa – And Around Celia (Jean Schwarz)
    Charles Austin and Joe Gallivan on “And Around” Discogs
12. Orchestral Meditations newjazz.com
    Charles Austin, Joe Gallivan, John McMinn
13. Timeless newjazz.com
    Charles Austin, Joe Gallivan, John McMinn, Gene Argel, Brian Cuomo, Hector Serrano
14. 2014Europe Joe Gallivan
    Eight duets: Charles Austin (saxophones & flutes) and Joe Gallivan (Moog) buy

Most of these are out of print; Europe is available as a download. Release details: Charles Austin on Discogs.

On stage and on air

• Early 1960s, Miami: Charles is the featured soloist with Joe’s Modern Jazz Orchestra at the Hampton House (per Discogs).
• Igor Stravinsky hears their music and recommends them to CBS.
• May 1968: the Charles Austin Group plays the Miami Pop Festival.
• 1968: Charles plays in A Train of Thought, Joe’s all-electronic big band.
• From 1973, as a duo: the Kool Jazz Festival (New York), the Bracknell Festival and the Saxophone Festival (England), the Châteauvallon Festival (France), the BIM (Amsterdam) and Sweet Basil (New York).
• 1977: a Radio France broadcast. 1978: a live broadcast with a big band from Espace Cardin, Paris. 1980: two Radio France broadcasts with composer Jean Schwarz.
• 1979–1983: working together in Europe.
• 1987: a one-hour public TV show in Miami.
• June 3, 2000: the Rainforest Initiative, with Charles, Evan Parker, Elton Dean, John McMinn and Marcio Mattos, headlines the Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival at the Knitting Factory, New York.

Listen and watch

Sources: Joe Gallivan’s biography and discography on this site; newjazz.com (1998, archived); South Florida Times (2010 and 2024); Discogs.