Charlotte Keeffe

About Charlotte Keeffe

British musician, trumpeter and flugelhorn player Charlotte Keeffe wears her love for free improvisation, jazz and experimental music on her sleeve. Whether performing regularly as a soloist or leading a variety of different ensembles, including her own quartet, she carefully carves out spaces for the free movement of ideas and individual expression. Inspired by painters, Charlotte refers to her instruments as ‘Sound Brushes’. Her debut album ‘Right Here, Right Now’ is where you’ll find her exhibiting a passion for vibrant soundscapes rendered in live spaces. Released in 2021 on Discus Music, Charlotte earned critical acclaim and carved out a niche on the imprint, composing and performing for a number of the roster’s artists including Hi Res Heart, French singer Carla Diratz, Julie Tippetts and Anthropology Band, with Jazz FM's Gold Award winner Orphy Robinson MBE among others. To date, her music has been featured on Jazz FM, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 6, where she's been described as a 'prolific', 'dynamic' and 'excellent improviser!', by the likes of Corey Mwamba, Stuart Maconie and Jez Nelson. She is a Serious Artist and part of the Take Five 2022 cohort. In September 2022, Charlotte will perform her duet with the mighty City of London at the Festival of New Trumpet Music. Harnessing the power of art for social change is a crucial part of Charlotte’s musical identity: over the years she has served as Assistant Musical Director of the London Gay Big Band, championed gender and diversity equality, as part of the Parliamentary award-winning Women in Jazz Media team, and played in Marin Alsop's Taki Concordia Orchestra at the World Economic Forum 2019, in front of world leaders and celebrities including Sir David Attenborough. From stepping on Glastonbury and Wilderness stages alongside Charlotte Church, Laura Mvula and Kate Nash, to broadcasting to an international audience live from her bathroom during the global pandemic, Charlotte understands that embracing individuality and letting go of inhibitions is the surest way to grasp the transformative power of music. ‘...Keeffe shows notable strength of character as she runs the sonic and emotional gamut.’ - Kevin Le Gendre, JAZZWISE