Local History: Jazz in the New Millennium with Charlie Jennison

In this informative recounting of the growth of jazz in Seacoast New Hampshire since the new millennium, Charlie Jennison presents a first-hand look at the people behind the scenes as well as the important players, venues, and events that shaped the current flourishing jazz world in Portsmouth. Charlie will unfold his personal recollections of how jazz and its proponents have enriched the Seacoast community and inspired generations of artists and listeners.

No registration required. Click this link to connect via Zoom. Password: 3GWdHC

Charlie Jennison has been active in the Seacoast Area music scene since 1964, when his father retired from the Navy and moved back to the family farm in Lee, NH, where he now resides with his wife, Anne, who holds Master’s degrees in both History and Native American Storytelling. A graduate of UNH and Lesley College in Cambridge, MA, Charlie has played keyboards, flute, clarinet and saxophones on over 25 recordings and in dozens of New England groups over the course of his career of 50 years and is currently lead alto with the Seacoast Big Band, for which he writes and arranges. An associate of local piano legend Tommy Gallant and former UNH Director of Jazz Studies Dave Seiler, Charlie has participated in innumerable jazz jam sessions and concerts at local venues, notably the Press Room and Music Hall in Portsmouth and Johnson Theater at UNH. Now Vice-President of the Seacoast Jazz Society, Charlie currently teaches in the music department at Phillips Exeter Academy and plays with the Faculty Jazz Group as well as his own quartet, “Iridescence.”