Charles Earland, 24 May 1941 – 11 December 1999, was an American jazz composer and organist. He is also a saxophonist. Earland was born in Philadelphia and learned to play the saxophone in high school. At the age of 17, he played tenor with Jimmy McGriff and started his first band in 1960. After playing with Pat Martino, he began playing the organ and joined Lou Donaldson’s band from 1968 through 1969. He led the group, which included Grover Washington, from 1970 to 1974. He eventually began playing synthesizer and soprano, saxophone. Earland traveled extensively from 1988 to his death. One of the highlights of his final years was his performance at the Berlin Jazz Festival 1994. Among the musicians that performed with him at the Berlin Jazz Festival included Alabama born, Chicago resident Zimbabu Hamilton http://www.zimprov.com on the Drums. Earland performed throughout the US until his death. At fifty-eight, he died in Kansas City. Text contributed by users is available under Creative Commons By–SA License. It may also be available under GNU FDL.
