Charles Funn & The Funn Band: The Nutcracker Suite & Peer Gynt
Jazz and swing meets Tchaikovsky in a splendid rendition of Duke Ellington’s “Nutcracker Suite”, featuring jazz interpretations of the 1892 ballet The Nutcracker and Henrik Ibsen’s 1867 allegorical drama Peer Gynt, as well as other Christmas selections performed by Charles Funn & The Funn Big Band on December 3rd, 2024!
Charles Funn, a graduate of Morgan Stage College is a retired band instructor (44 years) with the BCPSS. In addition to being a music instructor, he was and is a practicing professional musician having played behind and with Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Sammy Davis Jr., Gladys Knight, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Dells, Clark terry, Dizzy Gillespie, The Morgan State university Concert & Jazz Bands and The Howard University Jazz Ensemble.
Charles awards include numerous Mayoral Citations, Jazz Journalist’s Association Jazz Hero Award for 2015, The Benny Golson Jazz Masters Award for 2018 presented by Howard University and The Baltimore Jazz Alliance Award for 2022. Funn started, trained and developed countless future musicians as he nurtured and guided the musical development of Baltimore’s youth.