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Within two hours [of meeting], we determined that we were brothers.
—Charlton Singleton
Friends, bandmates, and fellow members of the Gullah cultural community 
Quentin E. Baxter & Charlton Singleton Mark Nearly 30 Years Making Music Together With Joint Albums 'Art Moves Jazz' & 'Crossroads,' Set For Aug. 12 Release By Baxter Music Enterprises
Charlton Singleton
trumpetFriends for nearly 30 years, Baxter and Singleton’s musical collaboration began on the jazz scene in their native Charleston, South Carolina (first as a duo, then in the popular local quartet Gradual Lean). They also found common ground in South Carolina’s Gullah culture, in which they both have roots. While that was the direction in which they ultimately found success in Ranky Tanky, they never lost touch with the jazz spark that had brought them together.
“His playing reminded me of church,” Singleton (music and choir director of Charleston’s St. Patrick Catholic Church) says admiringly of the drummer. The admiration is mutual: “Musically, Charlton is just so dependable,” Baxter says.
The albums make clear their exceptional abilities (separately and together). On Art Moves Jazz—Baxter’s leadership debut—the drummer extends his exploration of traditional Gullah music, stamping perceptively played jazz standards like Jimmy Heath’s “For Minors Only” and
Thelonious Monk
piano1917 - 1982
In each case, however, the leader finds a sympathetic partner in his associate. Whether it’s Baxter underlining Singleton’s music with his surefooted rhythm, or Singleton seasoning Baxter’s folk-dance milieu with his pungent tone, both draw deeply from the same cultural wellsprings of jazz, gospel, and Gullah traditions, extensions of the Black heritage of the American South.
Or, as Baxter more concisely puts it, “That stuff we played was swinging!”
About Charlton Singleton and Quentin E. Baxter
Charlton Singleton was born January 7, 1971. Quentin E. Baxter was born April 28, 1971. Both were born in Charleston, South Carolina; both showed an early aptitude for music; and both had profound family connections to the region’s Gullah community—an African American enclave that forged a distinctive culture out of their African traditions and shared experience in slavery.Despite these coincidences, however, trumpeter Singleton and drummer Baxter didn’t know each other until the mid-1990s, when they (along with bassist Kevin Hamilton, another longtime friend and colleague) met at the Charleston record store where Singleton worked. Later that evening, he and Baxter got to know each other and were astounded by all they had in common. “Within two hours,” Singleton recalls, “we determined that we were brothers.”
Soon they were also roommates, not to mention collaborators. Baxter and Singleton—along with Hamilton and guitarist Clay Ross—formed the jazz quartet Gradual Lean, which quickly came to be regarded as a linchpin of the Charleston jazz scene. However, Gradual Lean dissolved around the turn of the 21st century when its members turned to other pursuits. Baxter toured with such luminaries as
Rene Marie
vocals
Monty Alexander
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Freddy Cole
piano1931 - 2020
In 2016, however, the duo, along with the other two members of Gradual Lean and vocalist Quiana Parler, reinvented themselves as
Ranky Tanky
band / ensemble / orchestraAll throughout, both men have cultivated accomplished solo careers. As he became a beacon of Charleston jazz, Singleton also recorded four albums under his own name. While he didn’t lead a record himself, Baxter co-led and produced three with poet and electronic musician Marcus Amaker. Their work together on Baxter’s Art Moves Jazz and Singleton’s Crossroads reveals significant new depths in each individual, and in the creative relationship they’ve fostered over three decades.
For more information contact Terri Hinte Publicity.
Personnel
Charlton Singleton
trumpetAlbum information
Title: Crossroads | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Baxter Music Enterprises
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Charlton Singleton Concerts
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Ranky Tanky
Soka Performing Arts CenterAliso Viejo, CA
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