Barrier-breaking Colorado musician Charlie Burrell dies at 104

DENVER — Charlie Burrell, a jazz and classical bass player who became the first African-American member of a major American symphony, passed away Tuesday. He was 104 years old.

Burrell was a fixture in Colorado’s music scene. His first orchestral career opportunity came from the then-Denver Symphony (now called the Colorado Symphony) in 1949. He was the first African American to receive a permanent contract with a major American symphony, earning him the nickname “The Jackie Robinson of classical music.”

Burrell retired from the Denver Symphony in 1999 at age 79. Over the course of his career, he performed with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday.

"My music papa passed today. Charles Burrell you will be missed. Thank you for the laughs and your mentorship. Most importantly your friendship," Denver pianist Tenia Renee Nelson said Tuesday.

"Rest in power to one of the great Bassists of the last hundred years," said saxophonist Rico Jones. "A true pioneering figure."

He continued playing music well into his 90s, often with a cigar hanging from his mouth. In 2021, Aurora Public Schools announced it was naming a new magnet school after Burrell: The Charles Burrell Visual and Performing Arts Campus.

“Charles dedicated his life to his music and inspired the world with his bass. As one of the first African Americans to win an audition with a major symphony orchestra, he opened the doors for musicians of color everywhere,” Burrell’s family said in a statement. “While we are heartbroken at his loss, we are also grateful for his long and inspiring life.”

Born in Toledo, Ohio in 1920, Burrell grew up in Detroit. His mother, Denverado, was from Denver. Burrell began lessons on the string bass and tuba when he was 12 years old, the same age he decided that he would become a professional musician. He graduated from Detroit’s Cass Technical High School in 1939 and continued his education at Wayne University, where he faced racism and discrimination in the music department.

“Coming up to graduation I was called in a room by one of the men who ran the school and he was commending me and praising me on my ability and what I had done, and I almost got tears in my eyes ‘cause it was so great,” Burrell told KUVO JAZZ’s Carlos Lando in 2019. “And then he pulled the plug on me. He says, ‘I'm 40 years old and as long as I’m here there’ll be no negroes in the music department in any of the public schools.’ And that just blew my whole thing.”

Burrell continued to pursue his passion while working odd jobs at restaurants and, more importantly, night clubs. That’s where Burrell learned to play the bass in his own unique style.

“That was the beginning of...a tremendously fruitful career for me,” Burrell said.

Below, you can watch the conversation between Lando and Burrell.