Charles Thomas: A Short Biography

From the earliest years, music has been a driving force for Charles Thomas.
Starting before grade school to now, music has been an ever present staple
in his life.

Born in San Francisco, California, Charles started playing cello in junior high
school. His music teacher needed more bass players; thus, the conversion was
made. From there he managed to picked up other instruments including guitar,
piano, and drums.

Charles grew up in the fertile heart of San Francisco's famous Fillmore district
and became a well known Bay Area player in the pop, reggae, jazz, and classical
idioms. He studied formally and informally various musical styles, from Fillmore
blues and San Francisco acid rock/funk, to classical and jazz, graduating with
degrees in music, first from City College of San Francisco and then San Francisco
State University.

While completing his degrees, Charles toured the Pacific Northwest with the great
Sierra Leone guitarist and singer, Souliman Rogie. He then was invited by Esther
Phillips to join her band and tour as her bassist for 4 years. He's also played with
Les McCann, Billy Paul, Julian Priester, Lenny Williams, Karlton Hester, John Handy,
Little Anthony, The Fifth Dimension, and many others. 

Charles' musical influences include: bassists, Ron Carter, Ray Brown,and Curtis Counce,
composers and improvisers- Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Dexter Gordon, arrangers
and film composers- Quincy Jones, Allen Silvestri, and Thad Jones.

Charles is a successful composer, arranger, and producer. He is also a composer of film
music and has scored a number of independently produced films. Expanding his musical
talents, he is becoming an accomplished vocalist.

Currently, Charles performs in the Bay Area with various well known groups and runs
his company, Sea Tea Music Co., which is a production and creative force specializing
in working with artist and companies with recording and sound track projects.

 

To hear film soundtrack samples,click the Soundcloud widget on the Home page!
 






   

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