Frost School of Music professor Etienne Charles has topped a year of accomplishments by being named the 2025 Laureate in Arts and Letters by the Anthony N Sabga Award for Caribbean Excellence, one of the most prestigious honors in the region. The Trinidadian-born jazz artist received the prize, which comes with a $500,000 award and recognizes individuals who uplift the Caribbean in the areas of Arts and Letters, Entrepreneurship, Public and Civic Contributions, and Science and Technology, last week.
Charles said he was shocked, humbled, and grateful for the award, which recognizes his commitment to using music to inspire and educate. “This recognition from a Caribbean institution means the world to me,” Charles said. “Throughout my career, I have consistently represented and celebrated Caribbean culture and educated the world about us through music.”
The past year has been a banner one for Charles, a composer, bandleader, trumpeter, and multi-instrumentalist known for combining jazz with Caribbean music and creating ambitious musical and multi-media stories of the African diaspora.
Last spring, he released “Creole Orchestra,” an album mixing big band classics with calypso and other Caribbean genres. Charles produced and released the album independently after a decade of planning. The album, featuring singer Rene Marie, was named the number-one album of 2024 by JazzWeek and received extensive positive press. That included a four-star review in Downbeat, a five-star review in BBC Music Magazine calling it “a thrilling melting pot,” an extensive feature article in Jazziz, and a cover story in England’s Blues & Soul magazine. Charles toured internationally behind the recording, performing in New York, London, and Miami’s Faena Theater, among other cities.
In November, he was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) at a ceremony at the French Consulate in Miami. The award is given to people who have made significant contributions to the arts, literature, or promotion of culture in France and globally.
In December, Charles was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the Outstanding Jazz Album category for “Creole Orchestra.” Last year also saw him named in multiple categories in Downbeat’s Annual Critics Poll and its Annual Readers Poll, including Rising Star Jazz Artist, Trumpet, Jazz Group and Composer.
Last April, Charles premiered “Earth Tones,” a music and multimedia work commemorating areas imperiled by sea level rise and climate change, funded by a 2022 Creative Capital Award.
At the Frost School, where Charles leads the Frost Studio Jazz Band (SJB), he organized two unique musical and cultural experiences for students with major guest artist/teachers. Last February, two-time GRAMMY-winning jazz-funk-R&B bassist Marcus Miller, a renowned session player and songwriter, came to campus for a masterclass and concert celebrating the influential Trinidadian American musician Ralph MacDonald, with the SJB and numerous student vocalists. In November, Charles brought in Wycliffe Gordon, a famed jazz trombonist, bandleader, composer, and educator, who led members of the SJB in “Within Our Gates,” his original score to a groundbreaking, century-old Black silent film. Last summer, Charles was artistic director of the first-ever JAS Afro-Caribbean intensive, part of the JAS Academy jazz program run by the Frost School and Jazz Aspen Snowmas.
Charles also stayed close to Trinidad and his musical roots with concerts and road march appearances during the island’s massive Carnival celebration in early February. And in January he performed with King of Soca Machel Montano on NPR's popular Tiny Desk Concert.
