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Charles Xavier

Bay Area composer and percussionist Charles Xavier has released four CD’s on his label Happy Note Records and he is performing as The XMan with several music ensembles performing his eclectic music for creative minds…

About Me

About Charles Xavier
 The artistic demands of jazz have always been the driving force behind vibraphonist, drummer, and composer Charles Xavier, even though his eclectic music evades generic category. A jazz drummer from the age of sixteen, San-Francisco-Bay-Area-based Xavier was born and raised in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where the East Coast jazz scene shaped and defined his musical tastes.

Xavier studied arranging and composition at Berklee College of Music in Boston. At the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York, he studied drumming with Jack DeJohnette, Bobby Moses, Stu Martin, and Jumma Santos, and creative ensemble performance under the guidance of Karl Berger, Dave Holland, Kalaparusha, and John Abercrombie.


About Happy Note Records Happy Note Records is multifaceted entertainment company that is currently developing its musical production capabilities so that the business can promote the music of its featured artist Charles Xavier from the onset of its formalized operations. The business produces artist tracks and downloadable media for each production completed by the business. HNR is designed to be a full service record label, promotion, and distribution company, focused initially on the career of Charles Xavier, a San Francisco-based, nationally touring musician, with the future potential for the label to apply this business model to other “up and coming” and “established” recording artists.

My Jazz Story

The artistic demands of jazz music have always been the driving force behind the San Francisco Bay Area-based drummer/vibraphonist and composer Charles Xavier, although his music cannot be classified as jazz. Happy Note Records recording artist, Charles Xavier, aka: The XMan, released his latest CD, Perfect Mold, on Nov. 24th 2013. Perfect Mold, the fourth release that features Charles Xavier, a multi-instrumentalist and composer who plays genre-fusing original compositions and puts his unique spin on rock and pop classics including Hey Jude, Blowing in the Wind, The Beat Goes On, Fire and Rain, Eleanor Rigby, and Leaving on a Jet Plane. Charles Xavier has been called many things, including a “Rara Avis” – a rare and unique person or thing - by the legendary Down Beat Magazine. Therefore, it’s not unusual that this “true music Polymath,” according to The Mondo Project’s Mark Saleski, has released Xmas Vibe in stereo and 5.1 surround sound, possibly the only Holiday music offering available in the latter format. Xavier describes Xmas Vibe as “a World Music-meets George Winston and Gary Burton-influenced soundscape of Holiday favorites with a blend of innovative and unusual Rock, Soul, Funk and New Age styles that will appeal to a wide range of listeners.” Called a “project deserving of a wider audience,” by JazzTimes.com, Xmas Vibe features eclectic and creative interpretations of many traditional and contemporary Christmas songs, such as of John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (The War is Over)” and the classic “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman.” Defying convention, Xavier’s Xmas Vibe is captivatingly jazzy, New Age and trance-like with delicate vocals, guitar, piano, vibes, chimes and bells, and sampling and technology. Enchanting, mystical, and abstract, Charles Xavier’s Xmas Vibe takes the listener on a creatively harmonious and melodious musical journey through a magical winter landscape of style and unusual flair. Xmas Vibe is an enchanting, avant-garde, mystical, eclectic and original approach to festive, traditional and contemporary Christmas classics, with the inclusion of one Xavier-original song, performed on vibraphone and electric guitar with vocal accompaniment. His past release, “The XMan Cometh – Expect the Unexpected,” introduced The XMan, an emcee of sorts, who boldly questions the status quo. You’ll hear the unexpected: thick, funky bass beats and the sweet tones of the vibraphone coupled with screaming horns and driving drum lines. The stories are of sex, eroticism, politics, and street hustle. Whether it’s the struggle to find love or taking on the challenge of standing up for others, The XMan provides music with a message for where you will find solace during dark times. In 1982, Xavier co-produced an EP with Glenn Feit (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gary Numan, David Byrne, and Bobby Womack), The King Has Come, with Xavier and the Messengers. The album, which features a caricature of Ronald Reagan on the cover, is a blend of New Wave, reggae, rock and jazz, and went on to receive the prestigious Editor's Choice award from the esteemed Downbeat Magazine. In the mid-'70s, Xavier created developed a loyal audience on the East Coast with his avant-garde jazz band Satori, through numerous in club, college, and festival performances and TV and radio appearances.