Obituary of Charlie Banacos

Charles “Charlie” Banacos Gloucester—Jazz Guru Charles “Charlie” Banacos, 63, beloved husband of Margaret (Mathison) Banacos, died following a brief battle with cancer on Tuesday December 8, 2009 at the Mass General Hospital in Boston. Born in Lowell, he was the son of the late Peter and Pauline (Malliaros) Banacos. He lived in Dracut in his youth. He graduated from Dracut High School, then received a degree in Music Education from Lowell State College, Class of 1968. Mr. Banacos was a gifted musician, and through his passion for jazz he had a wide-ranging influence in that genre. His concepts for teaching influenced many educators and students since the 1950’s. He focused on ear-training and improvisation, and designed his teaching to be customized for each student. He believed music sounded its best when improvised naturally, not in a contrived, pre-conceived manner. He was a pianist, composer, author and educator, concentrating on jazz. He created over 100 courses of study for improvisation and composition. His concepts of teaching and his courses have influenced educators since the late 1950s. He is the original author of courses named “Hexatonics”, “Intervallics”, “Tetratonics”, “Superimpositions”, “Harps”, “Overlaps”, “Bitonal Pendulums”, “Double Mambos”, “Twenty-third Chords”, “Tonal Paralypsis”, and “Triad Pairs,” among others. These and many of his other terms for his courses have become part of the basic lexicon in jazz education. The ear-training methods he devised specifically for the improvising musician are imitated in college courses and ear-training routines by many educators around the world. His exercises have been used at such institutionsas Berklee College of Music, The New School, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory of Music, Longy School of Music, among others. At the time of his death, Mr. Banacos was in the process of consolidating many of his courses along with the assistance of his daughter, pianist Barbara Banacos. When guitarist Mike Stern showed his employer, Miles Davis, some of Banacos’ ear-training exercises, Davis stated “I know that Banacos. Give me his telephone number. I’m gonna get me some lessons.” Michael Brecker once said of Banacos “He’s some kind of genius.” His students have performed or recorded with Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Maynard Ferguson, Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis, David Liebman, Wayne Shorter, Michael Brecker, and Joe Henderson , among others. His students and musical associates include Mike Stern, Danilo Perez, Wayne Krantz, Jeff Berlin, Garry Dial, Gerard D’Angelo, Vic Juris, Daryl Rhodes, Michael Brecker, jerry Bergonzi, Marilyn Crispell, Leni Stern, Rachel Z among many others. The ear-training methods devised by Banacos specifically for the improvising musician are imitated in college courses and ear-training routines by many educators around the world. His original concept of dealing with relative-pitch exercises, using cadences and recognition of one tone at a time to the progressing of the recognition of clusters of sounds in a key up to all twelve tones simultaneously, and also the memorization of pitches without reference to a key, was developed to enable musicians to hear equally well in tonal and atonal situations both in improvised situations and in pre-conceived settings. Central to Banacos' teaching is his view that ear-training techniques should be taught differently to each musician, because each person has individual neurological pathways pre-arranged in the brain. According to Banacos, without proper ear-training advanced music making will sound mechanical and soulless. He is survived by: his wife, Margaret (Mathison) Banacos of Gloucester, with whom he shared 36 years of marriage; his four children, Peter & his wife Jennifer Banacos of Milton, VT, Christina & her husband Ross Ackley of Dover, MA, Barbara Banacos of Lexington, and Paul Banacos of Gloucester & his fiancée Kristin Dorgan of Peabody, three grandchildren, George, Julia, and Emily Banacos of VT; a brother Paul & his wife Trish Banacos of Dracut, a sister Marguerite & her husband George Salpas of Tyngsboro; a sister-in-law, Linda & her husband William Welch of Sonoma, CA, and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death, besides his parents, by a brother George Banacos. A visitation will be held on Friday from 4 – 8 PM in the Conway, Cahill-Brodeur Funeral Home, 82 Lynn St. location, Peabody. Relatives and friends are kindly invited to gather on Saturday for his Funeral Service at 12 Noon in St. Vasilios Greek Orthodox Church, 7 Paleologos St., Peabody. Burial will be private. Memorial donations may be made to “Cancer Research” c/o MGH Development Office, 165 Cambridge St., Suite 600, Boston, MA 02114.