Charlie Apicella was voted onto the 86th and 84th DownBeat Readers Poll for Guitar.
He has performed concerts and recorded with jazz legends Dave Holland, Sonny Fortune, and John Blake, Jr. as well as contemporary masters Joe Magnarelli, Vic Juris, Dave Stryker, Don Braden, and Jon Herington of Steely Dan.
Charlie studied composition and improvisation with musical titans Yusef Lateef and Pat Martino and was trained as a historian by Archie Shepp and Dr. Billy Taylor. As a young guitarist he met his idol BB King, who offered him advice and shared some stories.
Charlie Apicella is Director of Music Curriculum for The Blues and Beyond
He is an Eastman Guitars Featured Artist a
Guild Guitars Sponsored Artist and a
ZT Amplifiers Official Artist
He has been a TrueFire educator since 2018
and has published two masterclass lessons for DownBeat magazine