If percussion is the heartbeat of a band, Quentin Baxter’s playing throbs with artistry and invention. The pulse is strong and steady, the sound as tight as, well, a drum.
Charleston’s own percussionist extraordinaire brings the Quentin Baxter Quintet to the Spoleto Festival USA for a May 27 performance at the College of Charleston’s Cistern Yard. It will mark his seventh appearance at Spoleto, this time in the company of Charlton Singleton (trumpet), Mark Sterbank (tenor sax), Demetrius Doctor (keyboards) and Rodney Jordan (bass).
A two-time Grammy Award-winner and four-time nominee, Baxter is, like Singleton, an alumnus of the Charleston Jazz Orchestra with a background in the form that is as broad as it is deep, combined with a love of music rooted in family and the church.
The frequent collaborators also have garnered international acclaim in recent years for their work with the Gullah-influenced band, Ranky Tanky.
As usual, Baxter is stoked.
“We will perform the music from my 2022 recording ‘Art Moves Jazz,’” said Baxter, who has been surrounded by drums since childhood. “In addition to the members of the quintet, I’ve invited very special guests Bobby Watson (alto sax), Dan Wilson (guitarist) and Gino Castillo (percussion) to join us for this event.”
Baxter said Spoleto’s Wells Fargo series has been a vital element in increasing jazz awareness since its inception.
“It’s had a key influence in terms of growing audiences by introducing and/or presenting many renowned artists and audiences to our world-class venues. This presentation is an experience that has since become the desired expectation for trusting audiences.”
One of the distinctive features of Baxter’s career is that he has combined performance with composition. While a number of drummer-composers spring to mind, among them Jack DeJohnette and John Hollenbeck, it has not been all that commonplace in years past.
“Honestly, some of my favorite composers/arrangers are drummers,” said Baxter, the 2017 South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts winner and a College of Charleston Distinguished Alumnus. “In addition to the aforementioned, there’s Max Roach, Tony Williams, James Black, Jeff Watts, Lewis Nash, Brian Blade — the list grows the more I think about it. I think it is less uncommon today than in previous years.”
Performance came first for Baxter, and he experimented with piano, bass, woodwinds and guitar before realizing percussion was his calling. But composing soon became a prospect to pursue and master.
“Composition was explored and encouraged during my studies with Dr. David Maves, Dr. William Gudger, Dr. Edward Hart, and conversations with pianist Billy Childs, saxophonist Bobby Watson and several others.”
Baxter also cut his chops under the wings of such storied regional musicians as Oscar Rivers Jr., Lonnie Hamilton III, Robert Ephraim, George Kenney, Teddy Adams and Delbert Felix.
Apart from the obvious quality of consummate musicianship, Baxter said there is a special faculty that all the great percussionists have.
“[It’s] the ability to serve the music by effectively orchestrating the lyrics, melodies and harmonic tendencies in ways unique to their own thought processes.”
Highly active with the production company Baxter Music Enterprises, which he formed in 2004, Baxter generally divides his time between touring and producing. But his area civic and teaching involvements are never far from his mind.
A former adjunct professor of Jazz Studies at the College of Charleston, Baxter is a board member of both the Charleston Symphony and Engaging Creative Minds, and a producer of benefit concerts for the Avery Research Center, Jenkins Orphanage, the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Spoleto Festival USA and other arts organizations. He also continues to serve as musical director of the Charleston Jazz Initiative, an ongoing research project exploring jazz history and the legacy of African American musicians from Charleston and the Carolinas.
The question is, how does he manage it all? The Quintet and Ranky Tanky alone would be more than enough for most folks to handle.
“Yes, there’s the time management juggle, but it comes with the territory,” Baxter said. “I strongly believe in the path[s] of research and hard, effective work to manifest ideas in performance, production and growth. At the same time, trying to do too many things is not sustainable. Every time I get on stage I want it to be the best I have to offer.”
Bill Thompson is a veteran culture and travel writer who lives in Charleston.
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