Charles Heath Reynolds was born on June 5, 1924. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. A.H. Reynolds of Morgan City, Louisiana. He attended Morgan City High School and graduated in May 1941. After a year at Loyola University in New Orleans, Reynolds served in the US Army for three years, stationed mainly in Austria and Germany, during which time he organized a sixteen-piece dance band and did all their arrangements. After military discharge he finished a degree in piano performance at University of Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette) where, as a student, he continued to arrange, compose, and play in a USL dance band. He was an active member of Phi Mu Alpha Music fraternity. He enrolled in graduate school at Juillard School of Music, the Cincinnati Conservatory, and LSU, resulting in a Master’s degree.

For thirty-five years, Reynolds was a professor of piano, composition, and arranging at the USL School of Music, retiring in the summer of 1987. For twenty years of his professorship, he accompanied the School of Music Chorus when Willis Ducrest, former department chairman, was its conductor. Reynolds also performed with the USL Wind Ensemble, the USL Concert Band, the Lake Charles Jazz Band, and the Charlie Aillet dance band. He was lauded as a musician and composer at Lafayette Public Library as part of USL and Friends Fall Music Series. The program included several of his works: “Rondo: Trombone Solo with Piano Accompaniment”, “Imprompte for Clarinet and Piano”, “French Folksongs of South Louisiana”, “Rhapsody for Horn and Piano”, and “Festival for Flute and Piano.”

As a published composer of solo instrumental works, Reynolds continued orchestral, band, and choral arranging in his retirement. Various choral groups in the Lafayette area and in France, most recently by Lafayette’s Choral Acadienne, have performed one of his more popular choral pieces, an Acadian mass. The Acadiana Symphone Orchestra premiered his last instrumental composition, Dances Acadienne.