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NEU Senior Regional Support Officer
'I was intrigued by Bitches Brew rawness, abruptness, tightness and looseness’
CHRIS SEARLE speaks with trumpeter Charlotte Keeffe
Charlotte Keeffe [Nick Brittain]

IN THE final lines of her sleeve poem of her debut album, Right Here, Right Now, the young trumpeter from Boston, Lincolnshire, Charlotte Keeffe writes: “Right here, right now / Breathe / Creative freedom for all!”

It is a telling message, burning from the lips of her own hornplay, whether as soloist, in a duo, quartet in a conduction setting with a large improvising ensemble — all formats are erupting from the sonic power of her album.

“Both my amazing parents are retired primary schoolteachers, always supportive of my music-making,” she told me. “My mum loves singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Joan Armatrading and my dad adores a wide range of music, more on the instrumental side.

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