Artist description Charlene & The Smoking Section play a variety of styles from traditional and contemporary jazz to pop and Latin inspired originals. Group members include vocalist Charlene Bradley McMichael, guitarist Wess McMichael, bassist Larry Moore, drummer Dave Bowen, and Paul Brodt on alto saxophone. The band released their first album, "Driving The Standard", in June of 2000. On this album the band conceived and executed their arrangements of mostly songbook tunes that are remarkably fresh and interesting. Their second album “Starry Sky” was released December 2001. The band’s second album includes the original, “Starry Sky”. Once again, C & SS adds a fresh yet sultry twist to remarkably great standards such as Caravan, - Duke Ellington and Irving Mills, My Favorite Things – Rodgers and Hammerstein and I Can’t Give you Anything But Love – Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields.

Music Style vocal jazz originals and standards

Musical Influences Ella Fitzgerald, Jobim, Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday

Artist History Charlene Bradley McMichael, vocalist, has been singing since she was a child. She grew up listening to her father’s classical music but especially loved his jazz albums. Charlene has been performing professionally for the last seven years. Classically trained, Bradley applies the techniques she's been studying for years to the jazz tunes her band performs today. Charlene was a vocal clinician for the Jazz in June 2001 Festival held in Norman, Oklahoma.

Group Members Charlene McMichael, Wess McMichael, Larry Moore, Gary Riley, Paul Brodt, Jim Burnett

Instruments Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Saxophone, Drums

Albums Driving the Standard, Starry Sky

Press Reviews Musicians improvise best of blues, jazz music 01/12/2001 By Sandi Davis Staff Writer The Daily Oklahoman Their name has nothing to do with vices. Charlene and the Smoking Section got that moniker because Charlene Bradley fronts a band that is one smoking group of musicians. Vocalist Bradley, guitarist Wes McMichael, drummer Jimmy Burnett, Hammond organist Jim Robinson and rotating sax players Morris McCraven Jr. and Floyd Haynes combine to create a smooth polished blend of blues and jazz. They make the rounds of jazz and blues clubs in the city, and their fan club is growing. Their renditions of Duke Ellington's "Take the A Train" and Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" showcase the strengths of this group -- Bradley's silky, sultry voice and the band's seamless improvisational skills." Each member brings a different strength. Bradley was introduced to jazz by her father, Charles Weeks, and she was hooked. She has sung all her life, but started getting paid for it seven years ago. These days, one of her jobs is teaching voice at McMichael Music. When girls come in thinking they will learn songs like the ones by 'N Sync or the Backstreet Boys, she plays them a tune or two by the Andrews Sisters and watches their faces as they realize what harmony can sound like. "They're always telling me they can't tell where one voice ends and other begins," Bradley said between sets at a recent gig at Dooleys. "That's what I want to know and learn -- what harmony can sound like." The band got its start when McMichael and Robinson were playing and decided they needed a vocalist. Bradley got the job. They quickly went through drummers until Burnett joined about two years ago. Unlike many jazz bands, Charlene and the Smoking Section doesn't have a bass player. Instead, Robinson will play both a bass and lead line on his organ. He's also credited with giving the band its name. "I put a band together when I had a gig at Danny's Steak House," McMichael said during a break. "It was a spur of the moment thing for a swanky place. It was an afternoon gig." When that show was done, McMichael's band was playing in Norman a few nights a week and added Bradley to give a voice to their music. Drummer Burnett knew his calling when he saw Ringo Starr play drums with The Beatles on Ed Sullivan's show. He started listening to jazz in the mid-1970s because it is more of a musical challenge than rock, he said. Even though he plays jazz, that didn't stop country superstar Toby Keith from asking Burnett to go out on the road with him. "I'd done all the traveling I was going to do by 1982," he said. "During the day, I'm an imaging technician at Baptist Medical Center." Even though he said "No" then, he played percussion at 1999's tornado benefit concert at the Zoo Amphitheater with Keith and fellow Oklahoman Ronnie Dunn. Robinson is one of many boys who took piano lessons as a child but never admitted it until he learned girls liked boys who could play piano. He's had several organs and keyboards over the years, but now his pride and joy is a Hammond organ he bought from a church two years ago. "All I have now is a piano and this keyboard," he said. "When I started playing with bands, I noticed there were a million bands playing covers of rock tunes, but no jazz bands." At last year's Jazz in June, organist Jack McDuff needed a Hammond. He called the University of Oklahoma, and a woman there called Bradley on a guess, hoping she could help track one down. "My friend called, and I set it up for Jack McDuff to play on Jimmy's instrument," Bradley said. "And get this, at the show, Jimmy got to go backstage but I didn't, and I hooked them up." Charlene and the Smoking Section generally have either Haynes or McCraven on sax but plan on using both at a few upcoming shows. Both men are talented and mesh smoothly with the band. At the Dooleys' show, the crowd was constant. Several people got there early for good seats and others arrived fashionably late to hear this quintet play songs like "Smooth Operator," "Route 66," and "Angel Eyes." The group is fine-tuning its own demo tape for this year's Jazz in June and planning to start work on a CD in February, a good idea to help those folks addicted to the sound of Charlene and the Smoking Section.

Location Norman, OK - USA

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