“Playing music and painting are not the same, painting is a silent art/music is made from sounds and words. I would go from the solitude of my studio 2 some joint packed with savages, and play all night with some amazing musicians. I knew some day I would paint this real life experience and I did. “

“I love B/W because of the freedom and speed of it. It is like playing music/ I wanted the paintings 2 b free of all unnecessary d-tails. just about them and me 2 and the music, no background-smoke tables etc, u know, props, all the stuff found in paintings of musicians. just them and the music, that is what i did. The players are, some all of them, long time friends. That is an important reward. I painted some of them from the conga players viewpoint from behind. “

— From Charlie's sketchbook