Artists To Watch

Jason
0:00:00
The A.E. Group and 91.5 Jazz and More presents Artists to Watch. If you're hip to the Vegas jazz and blues scene, Charles McNeil is a name you probably recognize from his decades of service as a saxophone player accompanying a lead performer. But finally, Charles is stepping out of the side stage and onto the front stage in both his recorded music and his live performances and he'll be performing this week at The Gambit out in Henderson. I got a chance to talk to Charles last week. Charles, welcome to the show. Hey, how's it going, man? It's going good. You know, we're all very familiar with your voice. How long you've been in the business here in Las Vegas? In

Charles
0:00:34
Las Vegas, I think I've been here for about 15 years, 14, 15 years. My music career started in Denver, Colorado. So, you know, I started playing, you know, like folks my age, we all play instruments in school. So I started out on clarinet and then when I got to high school the music teacher didn't need any more clarinet players and I was really bad. So he was like I want to play saxophone. So he actually let me take the school saxophone home over the summer and that that kind of started the journey. The music scene was incredible in Denver Colorado and there was just some amazing young young musicians that were playing at a professional level and that just inspired me to want to do what I do now.

Jason
0:01:21
And I love how you're a combination because they have it written up as jazz, blues, funk and soul. If you had to only take one of those genres on a desert island, which one would it be?

Charles
0:01:31
Oh, that's going to be hard. If I had to take one, I got to go with jazz. That's what started it for me. Now, I grew up, my mom listened to gospel and blues, my dad listened to everything. So, I grew up in that environment, like, just great music.

Jason
0:01:50
Now this is usually where we would segue to Charles' latest song, but Charles doesn't really have his own song. He's only ever been featured in other people's songs, but that's about to change.

Charles
0:02:00
Like, I'm on a lot of CDs, but I haven't put anything out on my own. So I have interest in a lot of friends and just different people on record companies and myself that want to release the CDs. So it's just me getting up the nerve to do it. You know, you do, I don't know if you're an artist yourself, you do something and you always have that thing, you know, if you're doing it all on your own. Is it good enough? Is that, I guess, you know, so that little bit of fear of putting it out there. But, you know, so many people have said, Charles, man, you got to release it, you know, release it and move on to the next one.

Jason
0:02:38
You're playing this Thursday at the Gambit in Henderson with your friends, Chris, Tom and Dre. Tell me a little bit about your band.

Charles
0:02:45
Okay, Chris Caden here will be a piano player. He's on piano, keys and then on bass. It's Timothy Bailey. I met Tim when I was doing some other gigs A couple of years ago and then on drums is great energy. I don't know what great last name is I just know it's great energy. Hey, what's up folks? This is Charles McNeil saxophone player I hope to see you this Thursday at the Gambit in Henderson

Jason
0:03:13
Jazz soul and funk with Charles McNeil and friends. It's happening this Thursday night at the Gambit Henderson, 2031 West Sunset Road in Henderson. And you can find information and tickets at aegrobelv.com. Artists to watch. Artists to watch. Find more information at kunv.org.