POSITIVE REASONING With MARCIA HIGGS

REASONING With CHARLESTON SARJEANT, FRIDAY, JUNE 21st @ 6 PM EASTERN TIME: Charleston L. Sarjeant Jr. is Boston based STEEL PANist, combining a strong sense of tradition with a dedication to the progression of steel pan and steel pan music. Whether it's arranging, composing, producing or as a solo steel panist, Charleston continues to build a distinctive style that fuses traditional calypso with jazz, blues, rock and latin styles. Charleston Sarjeant grew up in a musical family and from a very young age, Charleston was learning the ropes of being a musician and by the age of 7 was playing with various steel bands throughout New England. Charleston began arranging for steel bands at the age of 11. He founded Pan United Steel Orchestra at the age of 14, which established itself as one of New England's top steel bands at the time. He has been in just about any musical situation, whether that be touring, teaching, recording, directing and composing. A freelance musician, for the last several years, he has toured the United States with the Dis-N-Dat Band and has performed extensively in the Northeast with numerous bands in numerous genres. He is an assistant director of the Boston Public Schools Citywide Percussion Ensemble (which transitioned to being a steel band) in 2005. In 2008, he was brought in to the Roland Hayes School of Music to help build a steel pan program (based of the Citywide Ensemble). Currently, he is the director of the steel pan program at the school and is also assists in percussion ensemble. In 2012, Charleston was hired at St. Mary's Episcopal Church (www.stmarysdorchester.org) as their Steel Pan Director and has sucessfully revived the legendary ‘Heavenly Fire Steel Band', which existed at the church between 1995 and 2001.

CHARLESTON SARJEANT