Charlie Adams
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Charlie and Yanni have known and worked with each other for over 20 years. Together they have recorded over fourteen CDs, on which Charlie played/wrote percussion and drums and did drum programming. In addition, he was assistant engineer for these projects. He has been with Yanni on all his concert tours, except for the Tribute tour (and CD) in 1997/98. Charlie began playing drums at the age of 13. He grew up in Joliet, Illinois, where exposure to a great blues and jazz tradition complemented his drum lessons, which began at the age of 14. He played in rock and roll and jazz bands while attending college, and was fortunate enough to play in a concert series with jazz greats Don Ellis and Stan Kenton. From Chicago, Charlie headed to Minneapolis-St.Paul where he studied with Mary Dahlgren, principal percussionist for the Minnesota symphony. He eventually formed the rock band Chameleon and developed his own record label, Platinum Records. It was here that he met Yanni, who later joined the band. Chameleon made Billboard charts, and toured extensively. "With Chameleon, when we would ride between gigs, we’d be listening to a Jazz record one minute, the next minute we’d have on a John Williams movie sound track, next some Classical music, and then we’d turn right around and listen to some Led Zeppelin. We never listened to just one style of music and I think that's why the music became more original, more of a world sound." A big part of Charlie's success has been his ability and desire to learn different styles of music. "The minute you think you know it all, you stop learning," he says. "Let’s face it, accountants have to learn new tax laws every year, lawyers have to learn new laws, doctors have to keep up on the newest techniques in medicine; it’s no different in music. I didn't know everything about Big Band Jazz, so I went to Eddie Shaugnessy, Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show drummer for lessons. I didn’t know everything about every Latin rhythm, so I went out and found a good Latin teacher, and I'll find somebody who knows a lot about African tribal rhythms. I went to one drum teacher just for marching drums because he was really good at that." When not on tour with Yanni, Charlie lives in Nashville. He owns his own 24-track digital recording studio, Adams Apple Studio, where he records and teaches drum lessons. Charlie also tours giving drum clinics and seminars in schools and retail stores. He has completed his solo rock project on CD called Plain James and is now currently working on his next solo CD, which he describes as heavy metal techno guitar versus big band swing. |
Charlie's drum solo starts at the 2 minute mark.