Charlie Caranicas
Arthur's Tavern57 Grove Street, New York 10014
Charlie Caranicas leads the late Sunday-night bill at Arthur’s Tavern, bringing the traditional and mainstream jazz focus for which he is known. No accompanying performers or set-specific theme are listed, so the night is billed simply under Caranicas’s name: a trumpet-led appearance from a player whose work spans concert halls and club stages around the world.
A New York-based trumpet player originally from Minneapolis, Caranicas has co-led the house band at the Blue Note Jazz Club and served as trumpet soloist with the Rainbow Room Orchestra. His credits range from Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks and the Onyx Club Sextet to the Karrin Allyson Group, Chico O’Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Vanguard Orchestra, Flying Neutrinos, Grove Street Stompers, Sarah King, Terry Waldo, and the Lester Lanin Orchestra. He has also worked in numerous Broadway pits and productions, recorded on dozens of albums including his own, and received a National Endowment for the Arts grant. Critics have called his playing “wonderfully musical, notably articulate,” “lyrical and emotive,” and a “joy to hear”; one listener noted a “glossy brilliance” that “gets under the skin of the song.”
Arthur's Tavern is a basement club in the West Village where jazz, Latin, and blues are played with deep roots and modern energy. The stage is small, the room intimate, and the audience sits close to the musicians, often with a few people standing near the back. Shows start around 5 PM and go late, with some sets extending into the early hours. The club has a history of hosting top-tier performers since 2001, including regular appearances by Yuichi Hirakawa Jazz Group. It's a place where music is the center, and conversation flows naturally between the audience and the performers.