Episode 511: Melanie Charles

A talented flautist trained as an opera singer, Melanie Charles wanted to make a splash with her Verve Records debut, Y'all Don't (Really) Care About Black Women. She taught herself to sample and tackled a slate of songs by some of jazz’s all-time greatest vocalists, from Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald to Betty Carter and Abbey Lincoln. The result is a bold and expansive meditation on music and the many civil rights that permeate to this day, hitting a kind of fever pitch in recent years. Charles joins us to discuss her journey, the role of meditation and building on the work of some of music’s biggest names.

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