John Richard Handy III (born February 3, 1933, in Dallas, Texas) is an American jazz musician most commonly associated with the alto saxophone, although he also plays tenor and baritone saxophone, saxello, clarinet, oboe, and sings.
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John Handy and Sue Mingus describe Charles as individual, volatile, strong, supremely honest, uncompromising, and having a very dynamic personality that ran like the color spectrum; testing people to see how far he could go.
After academic studies he has performed since 1986 with greats such as Fred Bongusto, Pino Daniele, Vinicio Capossela, Billy Preston, Santana, Malo, Os Originais do Samba, John Lee Hooker, Oreste Vilatos, John Handy, Bob Mintzer, the Checkmates, Rique Pantoja, etc..
Vax has performed and/or recorded with trumpeters Freddy Hubbard, Don Ellis, and Don Jacoby, vocalists Joe Williams, Anita O'Day, Barbara McNair, and The Four Freshmen, and other instrumentalists including Art Pepper, Al Grey, Gene Krupa, John Handy, and Louie Bellson.
He wrote music for The Learning Tree, Soul Soldier, Shaft's Big Score, Slither, A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich, and John Handy.