Charlie Apicella was voted onto the 84th and 86th DownBeat Readers Poll for Guitar.

He has received numerous grants for his work preserving Ma Rainey‘s Legacy in collaboration with the Ma Rainey House Museum in Columbus, GA and the Library of Congress.

As a young guitarist he met his idol, B.B. King, who gave him critical advice and shared some stories. Apicella studied composition and improvisation with musical titans Yusef Lateef and Pat Martino and was trained as a historian by Archie Shepp and Billy Taylor.

He is a lecturer and curator for the Yusef Lateef Estate and has collaborated with Lincoln Center, Vanderbilt University, Williams College, and the Newport Jazz & Folk Festivals Foundation.

He has toured with one of the last living treasures of blues, Lil’ Jimmy Reed, and performed with jazz legends Dave Holland, Sonny Fortune, John Blake, Jr., and Avery Sharpe and is guitarist for the Sonny Stitt Legacy Band. In 2022, he formed The Griots Speak with bassist William Parker, saxophonist Daniel Carter, and percussionist Juma Sultan, who is known for his work with Jimi Hendrix.  

* * *

- Program Director, BLUES ALIVE

- Curator and Lecturer, THE YUSEF LATEEF ESTATE

- Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient, NORTH JERSEY BLUES SOCIETY

- Generation Blues Education Committee, THE BLUES FOUNDATION

*  * * 

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