Charles Earland (24 May 1941–11 December 1999) was an American jazz composer, organist, and saxophonist. Earland was born in Philadelphia, and learnt to play the saxophone at high school. He played tenor with Jimmy McGriff at the age of seventeen, and in 1960 started his first group. He started playing the organ after playing with Pat Martino, and joined Lou Donaldson's band from 1968 to 1969. The group that he led from 1970, including Grover Washington, was successful, and he eventually started playing soprano saxophone and synthesizer. From 1988 until his death Earland traveled extensively one of the many highlights of his latter years was a stellar 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 continued to perform throughout the US and abroad until his death. He died in Kansas City at the age of fifty-eight.
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