Charles Carlini is a perfect example of a musician who decided against playing music full-time but has been quite successful as a behind-the-scenes person. The native New Yorker, whose mother, Ida Carlini (formerly Ida Puente), was once married to salsa/Latin jazz star Tito Puente, is a guitarist/bassist who is capable of playing both jazz and Latin music (Afro-Cuban as well as Brazilian). But in the music industry, Carlini is best known for his work as a concert promoter, restauranteur, producer, and manager (among other things). Carlini has helped produce a few albums (including a 2002 release by singer Ann Hampton Callaway), and as a concert promoter, he has often crossed paths with many major jazz and Latin stars.
Born in New York City on May 1, 1967, Carlini was only a baby when he moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil. At the age of nine, he returned to the U.S. and moved to Miami, where he spent the remainder of his pre-adult life. One of the people he was very close to in Miami was his half-brother, Richie Puente, who was Tito Puente and Ida Carlini's son and is known for his years with the '70s funk-disco band Foxy. Richie Puente did a lot to encourage Carlini's interest in music, as did Ida Carlini (a professional dancer who had quite a few music-industry connections) and Miami jazz guitarist Vincent Bredice. Richie Puente taught Carlini to play guitar, and Carlini went on to study with Bredice. At 18, he moved to Boston in 1985 to attend the Berklee College of Music. But after studying at Berklee for two years, Carlini realized that a lot of talented players were struggling to survive and decided against pursuing a career as a full-time musician. However, he still wanted to be around music as much as possible, and after moving to New York in 1989, he remained music-minded without devoting all of his time to playing. The '90s found Carlini (who speaks English, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese fluently) getting into the restaurant business and managing some well-known Manhattan restaurants (including Trattoria Dell'Arte and the Redeye Grill), and it was around 1993 that he started booking jazz at Manhattan's Zinc Bar -- which developed a reputation for being a guitar hangout and attracted well-respected guitarists like George Benson, Jimmy Bruno, and Russell Malone. In 1995, Carlini founded his own company, the Carlini Group, a multimedia outfit that produces concerts and manages artists (among other things). The major artists the Carlini Group has worked with in the '90s and/or 2000s have ranged from Eumir Deodato, Candido Camero, and Ray Barretto to Blossom Dearie, John Scofield, and other well-known jazz artists. Carlini also owns another New York-based company called Hospitality Savvy, Inc., which has had more of a restaurant-oriented focus. In the early 2000s, Carlini and director Leon Gast began co-producing a film on the life of the late salsa/Afro-Cuban singer Hector Lavoe; the working title was The Life and Times of Hector Lavoe: Cantante de los Cantantes. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
