Charlie Banacos with Jaki Byard in 1969

Charlie Banacos with Jaki Byard in 1969

ABOUT CHARLIE (1946-2009)

Charlie was a pianist (performances with Roy Haynes, Teddy Kotick, Charlie Mariano, Harvie S., and Jerry Bergonzi), composer (World Premier of "Pelaghia" - Carnegie Recital Hall, 1984), author ("Tonal Paralypsis", etc.), and educator (since 1959) in both jazz and classical idioms. His students have performed or recorded with Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Maynard Ferguson, Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis, David Liebman, Wayne Shorter, and Joe Henderson, among others. 

Some of his students and musical associates included Alain Caron, Mike Stern, Danilo Perez, Livingston Taylor, Terre Roche, Kenny Werner, Helio Alves, Wayne Krantz, Jeff Berlin, Garry Dial, Gerard D'Angelo, Vic Juris, Daryl Rhodes, Michael Brecker, Jerry Bergonzi, Marilyn Crispell, John Novello, Leni Stern, Caris Liebman, Rachel Z, Gustavo Assis-Brasil, Joe Hubbard, Bruce Gertz, and Jeff Golub. 

He was on the faculty of New England Conservatory of Music and the Monk Institute in Boston, Longy School of Music in Cambridge, and had served on the faculty of Berklee College of Music in Boston.

He had also served as adjunct faculty member for the following institutions:

"New School for Social Research", New York
"Empire College/SUNY", New York
"Williams College", Williamstown, MA USA
"University of Massachusetts", Amherst, MA USA
"Massachusetts Institute of Technology", Cambridge
"Harvard University", Cambridge


Music for music’s sake
— Charlie Banacos