Charles Compo

Charles Compo is a contemporary American composer, flutist, saxophonist and guitarist.

Charles Compo, Bi Coastal Music, 2009

Family And Early Life[]

Charles Compo was born in 1958 in Jamaica, Queens to jazz violinist Peter Compo and Broadway actress Faith Daltry Compo. He grew up surrounded by music in Ossining NY.

His father recorded and performed with jazz artists like Zoot Sims, Duke Jordon and Lionel Hampton and his mother was part of the original cast of Plain and Fancy on Broadway. His grandfather, Joseph Daltry, founded the music department at Wesleyan University and his grandmother, Faith Merriman, was a soprano with the San Francisco Opera under the direction of Gaetano Merola.

He studied music at his father's school, Compo Conservatory. At the age of 16 Compo began playing in and around New York City with funk bands, club bands, and touring oldies acts including The Ink Spots and The Platters.

Music career[]

In 1976 he moved to New York City, where he met Harry Smith. Compo composed music for Smith's , as well as for live presentations of Smith’s animations at the and Anthology Film Archives. In 1983 Smith introduced Compo to Moses Asch, who signed him to Folkways Records. The Smithsonian/Folkways released Compo's ''Seven Flute Solos in 1987. Compo worked briefly as an assistant to Andy Warhol in 1985 before Warhol's death and later, from 1986-1990, he worked as assistant to songwriter Ritchie Cordell.

In 1991, he appeared in a number of shows in and around New York City under the stage name Chuck Tempo, including Axel Rhodes in the Off Broadway production of Return to the Forbidden Planet. He also played Fast Eddie in the NBC daytime drama Another World. In 1992, Twyla Tharp commissioned Compo to compose Touch Dance. During this time, Compo also recorded, wrote, and performed on commercial projects for companies such as Hitachi, , ESPN, and Johnson and Johnson.

Compo studied composition and arranging with Don Sebesky and has performed and recorded with jazz artists Curtis Fowlkes, Sahib Shihab, and Roy Campbell Jr., William Hooker, and Ted Daniel. Compo also collaborated with notable hardcore producer Don Fury on the album Doctor Phibe's Portable Darkness. In addition to his consistent work with respected jazz artists, Compo has also supported and performed with pop artists such as Christina Aguilera, Martha Reeves, Bo Diddley, and Julee Cruise.

Discography[]

1983 Seven Flute Solos, Charles Compo, Smithsonian Folkways FW37463
1994 Lifeline, William Hooker Quartet, Silkheart Records
1994 The Firmament/Fury, William Hooker Ensemble, Silkheart Records
1995 Armageddon, William Hooker Ensemble, Homestead Records
1995 Radiation, William Hooker Ensemble, Homestead Records
1996 Great Sunset, William Hooker, Warm-O-Brisk Records
1996 Tibet, William Hooker Quartet, Table of Elements
1998 The Distance Between Us, William Hooker, Knitting Factory Records
2000 Seventh Moon, Charles Compo, Star Records STR9911
2003 Psycho Jammy, Charles Compo, Lakehouse Records 121502LHR
2005 Doctor Phibes, Portable Darkness, with Don Fury, Playhouse Ventures
2007 Soothing Music of the Savage Beast, The Phibes, Lakeside Records
2009 The Phibes, Lakeside Music
2010 Mind Frame, Patrick Henry Music
1997 Hennen, Bakr and Compo, Piano Magic
2012 Foolish Pleasure, Charles Compo, Chaos Music Company
2013 The Dream Logic LP, The Dream Logic, Chaos Music Company
2015 My Black Arts, The Dream Logic, Chaos Music Company
2017 Liquid Sunshine, The Dream Logic, Chaos Music Company
2019 Son of The Drum Song,Mustafa Ahmed, Chaos Music Company
2021 Big Moon, William Hooker, Dusty Groove Records

Fine Art career[]

Hand in hand with his musical career, Compo is an internationally recognized fine artist. His painting style has always been an intuitive process, depicting stories of every day life. Working primarily with oil paint on canvas, his work have been revisited over multiple decades, with evolving narratives appearing and disappearing on each canvas.

Today, Compo tends to an intimate following of fellow artists, collectors, and art lovers. He is presently showing his work at a number of galleries in New York, throughout the United States and abroad, including a selected debut at the 2021 London Biennale, and a premier solo show "Psychodramatic Landscapes" at Pictor Gallery in New York City in November of 2021.

"I've Got The World On A String" , Oil on Canvas by Charles Compo, exhibited at the 2021 London Biennale

Exhibition History[]

2019 Annual Invitational, group show, Pleiades Gallery, New York, NY
2019 “Beauties and Beasts” group show, Pleiades Gallery, New York, NY
2021 The London Art Biennale, Chelsea Old Town Hall, London, UK
2021 “Looking Forward, Looking Back” group show, A Tree Falls Gallery, New York, NY
2021 Virtual Solo Exhibition, Pleiades Gallery, New York, NY
2021 “Colors” Online Exhibition, Art Room Gallery Online
2021 “What is Art II?” International Group Show, Boomer Gallery, London, UK
2021 “PAINT” Juried Show, Silvermine Gallery, New Canaan, CT
2021 “Call of The Wild” Virtual Show, San Fernando Valley Arts & Cultural Center, Encino, CA
2021 “Unprecedented” Juried Show, Healdsburg Center for the Arts, Healdsburg, CA
2021 “Desperately Seeking Normal” Premier Members Show, Pictor Gallery, New York, NY
2021 “Made In New York” Juried Show, Schweinfurth Center For The Arts, Auburn, NY, Second Prize Winner
2021 “Bold Expressions” Northern California Arts, Inc, Carmichael, CA
2021 “ICON” International Juried Show, Boomer Gallery, Tower Bridge, London, UK
2021 October Group Juried Show, Jones Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2021 “America The Beautiful” Juried Show, Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn NY
2021 “Mystery, Magic, Macabre” Juried Show, Deines Cultural Center, Russel, KS
2021 CCAN Juried show, Center for Contemporary Arts, Abilene, TX
2021 7th National Juried Exhibition, Oxford Arts Alliance, Oxford, PA, Second Prize Winner
2021 Pure Paint, Juried Show, Arts Benicia, Benicia, CA

References[]

Worlds of Sound: The Story of Smithsonian Folkways (Published by Collins/Harper Collins Publishers)
Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz, Oxford University Press, Lenord Feather and Ira Gitler
All About Jazz^{[permanent dead link]}
Broadway World
Think of the Self Speaking: Harry Smith, Selected Interviews. Selattle: Elbow/Cityfull Press.
Special Collections and Archives, Olin Library, Wesleyan University