Melanie Charles with Ignabu and Paul Wilson Bae

A 2025 Madison Jazz Festival Event

Madison Jazz Festival 2025 and Wisconsin Union Theater presents Melanie Charles with Ignabu and Paul Wilson Bae on Sunday June 15, 2025 at 5:00pm at the Memorial Union Terrace, 800 Langdon Street. Free admission.

Melanie Charles (vocals, flutes, effects) featuring Ignabu (Drums) and Paul Wilson Bae (Piano, Key Bass) is a collective of 3 New York Natives who came together in 2019 to record a rehearsal for a performance at the 41 st annual Wall to Wall concert series at Symphony Space, spotlighting all things Rev John Coltrane Trane. (Source: Blue Note Jazz)

Melanie Charles

Melanie Charles has made a name for herself through dynamic engagements with jazz, soul, and R&B. Her bold genre-bending style has been embraced by a range of artists including Wynton Marsalis, SZA, Mach-Hommy, Gorillaz, and The Roots. In 2021, she appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk and stunned with her eclectic style. Through it all, she has remained committed to making music that pushes listeners to consider new possibilities—both sonically and politically. “Make Jazz Trill Again,” a project that she launched in 2016, demonstrates her allegiance to everyday people, especially the youth and is focused on taking jazz from the museum to the streets. “I love jazz, I really fell in love with it deeply. But I was interested in young people interacting with it,” Charles says. The album Y’all Don’t (Really) Care About Black Women is reflective of Charles’ tremendous versatility and imagination as an artist but of also her deep care for community.

Ignabu

Ignabu (Cinque Kemp) is relentlessly devoted to the elevation of human vibrations/consciousness and the protection of the plane. Based in NYC, he’s toured/produced/directed his own compositions as well as those by Macklemore, Pink Siifu, Flatbush ZOMBiES, Shaun Ross, James Corden's Late Late Show, Arto Lindsay, Ana Tijoux, Melanie Charles, A.Chal, Soul Science Labs for Carnegie Hall, Janka Nabay, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Donchristian Jones, Broad City, Pegasus Warning, Eastern Medicine Singers, Yonatan Gat, Jojo Abot, Young Paris, Cookies, The Young Presidents, Sewer Rats, Hannah Cohen, Nick Hakim, SNNY, Joakim Bouaziz and suā. Visual arts also provide therapeutic conduits of expression, having photos featured in New York Winter Jazz Fest’s promotion, Smith & Gale Magazine, Northside Magazine; and directing/producing his own music videos and live performance videos for Pink Siifu among sundry ongoing collaborative projects.

Paul Wilson Bae

Paul Wilson Bae is an artist, music producer, and audio engineer born and raised in Jamaica, Queens. Wilson Bae has found silent success with the trust given to him by many artists, such as SZA, BIGYUKI, Kassa Overall, Morgan Guerin, Quantic, Lauryn Hill, and many more. From Boiler Room to Blue Note, whether in solo expression or in a large ensemble, he brings a warm energy and a smile to light up any room.

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