Jennifer Charles


Jennifer Charles is an American singer, musician, composer, and poet. Along with Oren Bloedow, she co-founded the New York band Elysian Fields.

Biography

Jennifer Charles was born in Washington, D.C. While Charles was growing up, her mother was a torch singer in Washington D.C. clubs and her father had a radio show that played jazz. At the age of 14 she began her professional theatre career, appearing in plays and experimental theater productions at places like The Studio and The Source theaters.
In 1987, she moved to New York to continue her theatre and academic studies, receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts from NYU's Tisch school in just three years. Upon graduating she appeared in various off-broadway theater, had a stint singing in a dive piano bar and curated a performance/poetry series at the original Knitting Factory. She has also curated at Tonic, DJed in Paris, and at John Zorn's The Stone.
Elysian Fields was founded in 1995 and have released five full-length records. They have also contributed to many compilation CDs, including the first song on John Zorn's Serge Gainsbourg tribute album. This song, their rendition of "Les Amours Perdues", also appeared in Lea Pool's film Emporte Moi.
Besides Elysian Fields, Charles has other projects. She and Bloedow recorded La Mar Enfortuna for Zorn's Tzadik label, featuring renditions of Sephardic and Ladino songs. She has studied classical Indian singing with teacher Gulamji.
In late 2007, she and Bloedow put out a second Tzadik full-length, under the band name La Mar Enfortuna, called "Conviviencia". Charles sings in five languages on the record, including Ladino, Spanish, Aramaic, Arabic, and Greek.
Charles also makes up a quarter of the band Lovage, along with Dan the Automator, Mike Patton and Kid Koala. The band recorded its debut album titled Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By in 2001. Charles co-wrote and sang most of the material on the album. She has also worked with bands like Firewater, turning in performances on "The Circus" and "Mr. Cardiac" from 1996's Get Off the Cross, We Need the Wood for the Fire, as well as Xian Hawkin's "Sybarite", the Foetus record, Love, as well as working with Matt Johnson of The The, and on several of John Zorn's records.
Charles recorded in French with the French composer Jean-Louis Murat for the album A bird on a poire in 2004, which was nominated for a Victoires de la Musique award best pop album.
She had a guest spot on ex-Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna's solo project Tweaker. She sang and co-composed the track "Crude Sunlight", which appeared on the 2004 album 2 a.m. Wakeup Call. Charles co-composed music with Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heill for the film Tangled. Elysian Fields' version of Bob Dylan's "Tangled up in Blue" can be heard in the film's credits.
She produced the latest Oren Bloedow solo record She Goes With me to a Blossom World, which came out in 2008.
Recently Charles was back on stage in the Off Broadway production "Lightning at Our Feet", inspired by poet Emily Dickinson, under the direction of Obie winner Bob McGrath, with film maker Bill Morrison and composer Michael Gordon, which was part of the Next Wave festival at Brooklyn Academy of Music in December 2008, where she sang and acted, channeling the iconic 19th century poet.
In 2011 and 2012, Charles has been touring her latest Elysian Fields effort, "Last Night on Earth".

Discography