Melanie Charles Will Return to Sydney in October

Renowned for her vibrant fusion of jazz, soul, and R&B, Brooklyn-born singer-songwriter, Melanie Charles will captivate Sydney audiences on Sunday, October 26, at Mary’s Underground.

Performing with her trio, Charles is one of the headliner artists in the 2025 Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival, promising a night of boundary-pushing sound, rich vocals, and genre-defying energy.

The Trio includes Charles (vocals, flutes, effects) Ignabu (drums/percussion) and Paul Wilson Bae (piano, key bass) celebrating Rev John Coltrane’s legacy with found footage, interviews, and samples from his contemporaries.

Charles is of Haitian descent and is also an actress and flutist.  Her bold genre-bending style has been embraced by a range of artists, and has seen her work with Gorillaz, The Roots, SZA, Jean Grae, Mach-Hommy, and Wynton Marsalis. In 2021 she appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk and amazed with her eclectic style. Television appearances The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, SNL, Good Morning America, and HBO’s Vinyl.

Charles is signed to the esteemed Verve Records, where she released the acclaimed 2021 album Y’all Don’t (Really) Care About Black Women and !K7 Music, 2023’s Hotel San Claudio collaboration with Mark de Clive-Lowe and Shigeto.

Charles’ passion project “Make Jazz Trill Again” aims to blur the lines between social classes, cultures, genders, sounds and theories to create a world where opposing elements and eras can co-exist through improvised music, podcast conversation, production and advocacy.

2025 Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival full program will be announced shortly. 

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