CHAR-EL

CHAR-EL (1952-2019) was Charles Thaxton, Ohio-born and California/Arizona/Ohio-based synthesist and keyboardist/composer. Charles had performed in bands and solo concerts for more than 46 years. In the 1970's, he played with bands doing progressive rock originals and covers, among them were STARGATE and MAGIK DAYZE. After playing in twenty-five states, MAGIK DAYZE relocated to Southern California in 1979, and stayed for several years, playing five nights a week at full-time gigs. When MAGIK disbanded to move into other genres and pursue each, other dreams, Charles moved to Phoenix, Arizona, drawn by the beauty of the American Southwest landscape, stunning night skies and a terrific artistic community.  There, he connected with like-minded prog-rock musicians, including Larry Clark from AUTUMN PEOPLE. Charles worked alongside Larry Clark with Gary Bruzzese, Don Doiron, and Dan Doiron to form

PARADOX. After an early incarnation of progressive rock space music under the name GALILEO, Larry and Charles would eventually settle into the group GALILEO II with Jim Long and Randy Musser. During those later Prog Rock years, Charles began to seek a niche in instrumental synthesizer-based space music.

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 In 1986, Charles joined Tom Moore's VOYAGER, with Eddie Katz and the project often featured Larry Clark as guest on guitars. VOYAGER was a Tangerine Dream-influenced trio doing original music in planetariums and at outdoor events with a broad, experimental electronically-derived symphonic space sound.

Eventually moving back to his native Ohio, Charles produced his first CD under the name CHAR-EL called WORLDS WITHOUT END in 1996. The CD received repeated exposure on the NPR show MUSIC FROM THE HEARTS OF SPACE and good reviews worldwide. His second CD HEAVEN AND EARTH, a 2-CD set, was released in March 2000 to critical acclaim. While the first CD was a blend of classic cosmic music atmospheres, the second disc divided the music into two worlds... HEAVEN being purely space music and meditative soundscapes, while EARTH moved into progressive rock/symphonic new age territory. For the EARTH CD, Charles enlisted friends from previous bands including Larry Clark from GALILEO on guitars, Doug Bonnell (aka Douglas Blue Feather) from Magik Dayze on drums, and Gary White on additional synthesizers.

Charles' early influences included progressive rock, motion picture scores — especially those of the 1950s and 1960s Science Fiction genre, new age and electronic music, classical music and classic rock. Selections from WORLDS WITHOUT END were gleaned by a physician in Los Angeles to be used as a sonic landscape set behind a women's healing retreat program. For his last few years, Charles had been active in the music community, with special performances at churches and outdoor events around Ohio and Michigan, along with concert appearances at bookstores such as Borders, as well as The UFO Festival in Roswell New Mexico.

Charles had one of the first Mellotron keyboards in Ohio back in the early 70's, and continued to incorporate this classic sound alongside classic analog and modern digital synths and samplers, although the sound was reproduced from an E-MU Emulator IV via CD-ROM instead of analog tapes until 2013, when he purchased a digital Mellotron.

 

The name CHAR-EL came from merging his first name Charles and middle initial "L" into a single name.