Melanie Charles

53 Wall Street, New Haven

Melanie Charles and her band perform for the day 3 finale of the ninth annual YUJC Jazz Festival!

(All patrons, including non-Yale patrons, must be asymptomatic with an up to date vaccination status. Proof of vaccination status and ID will be checked at the door. Yale-approved masks (see https://ehs.yale.edu/masks) are also required for all audience members. Extra Yale-approved masks and hand sanitizer will be made available at the venue.)

“There are very few artists whose sound can capture the sentiments of a generation. The Brooklyn born and raised, Melanie Charles, is one of these artists. Over the past few decades, she has made a name for herself through dynamic engagements with jazz, soul, and R&B. Her bold genre-bending style has been embraced by a range of artists including Wynton Marsalis, SZA, Mach-Hommy, Gorillaz, and The Roots. In 2021, she appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk and stunned with her eclectic style. Through it all, she has remained committed to making music that pushes listeners to consider new possibilities—both sonically and politically. “Make Jazz Trill Again,” a project that she launched in 2016, demonstrates her allegiance to everyday people, especially the youth and is focused on taking jazz from the museum to the streets. “I love jazz, I really fell in love with it deeply. But I was interested in young people interacting with it,” Charles says. The album Y’all Don’t (Really) Care About Black Women is reflective of Charles’ tremendous versatility and imagination as an artist but of also her deep care for community.”