By DAN ARMONAITIS
As the drummer for Ranky Tanky, a Charleston-based group that specializes in jazz-influenced arrangements of traditional Gullah music, Quentin E. Baxter was recently honored with his first Grammy Award.
The group won in the Best Regional Roots Music Album category for its latest effort, “Good Time,” and Baxter couldn’t be more excited.
“To receive this award with this band — a local band from home — it feels great,” said Baxter, who also tours the world as a drummer for Grammy-nominated artists Freddy Cole and René Marie. “It does a lot for the culture at home, and it does a lot for the music and to show what Charleston, the Lowcountry and the sea islands all have to offer.”
Baxter, who is also a well-respected composer, producer and educator, often connects music with community, and that’s a big reason for the Jazz Concert & Education Series that he’s set to bring to the Tryon Fine Arts Center in Tryon, N.C.
The series kicks off on Sunday, Feb. 16 with a performance by his own Quentin Baxter Quintet on the TFAC’s Veh Stage and will continue with performances by the Jeremy Wolf Quartet on May 3 and the Mark Sterbank Group on Sept. 13. Each concert will be preceded by an artist talk one hour before showtime.
“The mission and the vision of this concert series is to expose people to high art and to the importance of this American music art form,” Baxter said. “I want to give them a better understanding of what jazz music means and really just invite them on a musical journey.”
Baxter has already been curating a successful jazz concert series on Kiawah Island for quite some time and hopes to build something similar in Tryon.
As for his own performance this weekend, Baxter said, “It’s going to be a lot of traditional jazz, but I’ll incorporate a lot of different influences and a lot of different styles.”
Among the highlights will be a tribute to legendary tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath, who died on Jan. 19 at age 93.
“I’ve always loved his compositions and I’ve always wanted to record some of them and I did that recently,” Baxter said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t have (a record) out before he left us so he could hear it, but when I met him and told him what I was doing, he really dug the idea.
“One thing I did was to make kind of a rumba and do some different styles and really make it accessible with the groove. I love playing grooves that people can dance to while also staying authentic to the original sound.”
Baxter — who will be joined by Charlton Singleton on trumpet, Mark Sterbank on tenor saxophone, Demetrius Doctor on piano and Rodney Jordan on bass — said he also plans to play some Thelonious Monk tunes along with a few of his own original compositions and perhaps a “song about love since it’s Valentine’s weekend.”
A Charleston native who comes from a long line of drummers and percussionists, Baxter is especially drawn to the drumming of the late jazz legend Max Roach.
“He was one of the drummers that I was emotionally encapsulated by,” Baxter said. “I mean, I just could not break away from wanting to hear more Max Roach. But, also, I couldn’t break away from wanting to hear more Roy Haynes or Philly Joe (Jones) or Papa Jo (Jones).
“And then there’s Billy Higgins, Jeff Watts, Lewis Nash and Herlin Riley. I could go on and on. And then I’ve got some peers who are big influences for me. I just love the music so much, and I never stop learning, and because of that, I’ll always keep loving it.”