PERFORMER

What People Say

“Carlie is unquestionably a masterful and passionate bassist, but perhaps their truest strength is the ability to put you entirely at ease while also inspiring you to be better. When we play together, I feel like my best self, both musically and personally. She is a comforting presence, a well of kindness, compassion, and humour, and is just an absolute joy to work with..”

— Brielle Ansems (Songwriter, Recording Artist, Vocalist, Multi-Instrumentalist)

Carlie Howell is a Manitoba-born, Prince Edward Island based composer, bassist, vocalist and educator. They graduated with honours from the University of Toronto with a Jazz Performance Degree on Bass (acoustic and electric) having also studied orchestral music, and the drumming and dancing traditions of Ghana and Japan. Carlie has spent the last 15 years in self-guided study of the music and movement traditions, language, and pedagogy of Brazil.

As a PERFORMER, Carlie weaves together their experience with jazz, blues, classical, folk, pop, rock, reggae, klezmer, free-improv, and world music traditions to create an eclectic and unique musical voice all their own. Carlie’s passion lies in creation and collaboration, working and performing with composer-collectives, accompanying original singer songwriters, and fusing traditional styles with contemporary contexts. They are the leader of Carlie Howell and The DeHarms (folk-jazz), collaborator in Laranjeiras (spoken word bi-lingual poetry and song) and founding member of The Electric Storm Collective (contemporary folk-jazz). They can also be heard playing bass, percussion, and singing back-ups with Culture Reject (lo-fi pop) The Queer Songbook Orchestra (chamber pop) The Women’s Blues Revue Band (rhythm and blues) Joao Leao (Brazilian popular) Os Tropies (Brazilian Psychedelic Rock) Aline Morales and Baque de Bamba (Brazilian traditional percussion ensemble) Since 2018, Carlie has been touring Canada and Europe with synth pioneer and trans icon Beverly Glenn Copeland (chamber-electronica/folk-jazz) Most recently, they have had the opportunity to collaborate with their partner, spoken word artist and songwriter Tanya Davis, accompany folk singer-songwriters Catherine McClellan, Jenn Grant, Tara McClean as well as perform in The Harmony House stage shows.