QUENTIN E. BAXTER
DRUMMER/COMPOSER/EDUCATOR/PRODUCER
Two Concerts Nightly ~ 6:30 PM and 9:00 PM
Educated in the public schools of Charleston County and graduate of the College of Charleston (Bachelor of Arts – Music Theory & Composition), Quentin E. Baxter cultivated his musical talents under the wings of regional legends/mentors Robert Ephraim, Oscar Rivers, Jr, Lonnie Hamilton III, George Kenney, Dr. David Maves, Teddy Adams, and Delbert Felix.
Currently touring worldwide with award-winning vocalist and composer René Marie and Ranky Tanky, Baxter regularly performs many prestigious venues and festivals. He’s performed at The Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Jazz at Lincoln Center (New York), Joy of Jazz Festival (South Africa), Toulouse Jazz Festival (France), Umbria Jazz Festival and Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi (Italy), and, of course, Spoleto Festival USA (Charleston). ...
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QUENTIN E. BAXTER
DRUMMER/COMPOSER/EDUCATOR/PRODUCER
Two Concerts Nightly ~ 6:30 PM and 9:00 PM
Educated in the public schools of Charleston County and graduate of the College of Charleston (Bachelor of Arts – Music Theory & Composition), Quentin E. Baxter cultivated his musical talents under the wings of regional legends/mentors Robert Ephraim, Oscar Rivers, Jr, Lonnie Hamilton III, George Kenney, Dr. David Maves, Teddy Adams, and Delbert Felix.
Currently touring worldwide with award-winning vocalist and composer René Marie and Ranky Tanky, Baxter regularly performs many prestigious venues and festivals. He’s performed at The Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Jazz at Lincoln Center (New York), Joy of Jazz Festival (South Africa), Toulouse Jazz Festival (France), Umbria Jazz Festival and Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi (Italy), and, of course, Spoleto Festival USA (Charleston).
Baxter has worked with other great artists including Monty Alexander, Ernest Ranglin, Wycliff Gordon, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Allan Harris, Fred Wesley, Houston Person, Marcus Roberts, Joey DeFrancesco, James Spaulding, Bobby Watson, Ira Sullivan, Billy Childs, Eddie Henderson, Donald Byrd, Charlie Byrd, Gregory Hines, Sonny Fortune, Doug Carn, Marcus Printup, Terry Gibbs, Buddy DeFranco, Ronald Westray, Me’Shell NdegéOcello and India.Arie.
Baxter’s passion for worldwide performances is equaled by his dedication to educate, promote, produce, and present world-class artists in his hometown, Charleston, SC. He serves as Professor of Jazz Percussion at the College of Charleston and formed Baxter Music Enterprises (BME, LLC).
Kebbi Williams is considered to be one of today’s leading improvisers on tenor saxophone. The Grammy award winning multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, arranger, teacher and innovator, defies categorization and experiments with all music genres. From avant-garde, jazz, hip-hop and latin to afro-beat, gospel, electronica and classical Kebbi bends it to his will and into his compositions to create a sound that is uniquely and undeniably his own.
Kebbi was born into a musical family. His uncle, Milan Williams, was an original member of The Commodores and composed their first hit “Machine Gun”. He went on to write two more hits for the Commodores “Brickhouse” and “Easy Like Sunday Morning”. His uncle’s success and love of music captured the imagination of a young Williams and became an aspiration to reach for. Williams studied saxophone throughout high school and college. He received an undergraduate degree in Jazz from Howard University and returned to earn a Master’s in Jazz Studies. The public began to take note of Williams in 1995 when he won the Graduate College Outstanding Performance in the Jazz Instrumental Soloist Category award from Downbeat Magazine at the age of 22. Williams was no longer a best-kept secret.
Williams has gone on to play a wide range of music including Jazz, Hip-Hop, Soul, and Rock & Roll. He has performed with many of the best contemporary and legendary Musicians of our time, a long list that includes Grammy Award winners: Outkast, Branford Marsalis, Donald Byrd, Roy Hargrove, Cee-lo and Gnarls Barkley, Mos Def, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Bilal, Oteil Burbridge, Me’Shell Ndegeocello, Russell Gunn, Betty Carter, Derek Trucks, and Julie Dexter. Kebbi has always been breaking down barriers and pushing the envelope Musically; turning his Jazz background and training into a coveted item that can crossover into the varied worlds of Hip-Hop, Soul, and Rock & Roll. Kebbi continues to perform around the world with many great Musicians ranging from Tedeschi Trucks Band, Outkast and Mos Def to virtuosos like Me’Shell Ndegeocello. Kebbi concluded an African Tour with Mos Def, and he has also performed on the the Jay Leno and David Letterman Shows.
Louis Heriveaux ~
Born in Queens, New York, only 25 minutes away from Harlem, which was once known as America’s Jazz Mecca, one might suspect that Louis Heriveaux would have gotten his early beginnings in Jazz, as a youngster, dipping and dodging in and out of Jazz clubs in the Big Apple. However, the road Heriveaux traveled is a journey more intriguing to read about.
Louis recalls hearing Jazz as a child. “I would hear music on television shows such as Charlie Brown and Mr. Rogers and tell my parents I wanted to play music that sounds like that. Unfortunately there was no outlet for this music in the area where we lived. Since my earliest exposure was primarily classical music, for me, Jazz still remained just beyond my reach.”
The summer after his junior year of high school, Louis was selected to attend The Governors Honors Program. The top 10% of students in every academic field attended a prestigious university for six weeks of intense studies. It was here that Louis received his initial exposure to Jazz. “I was exposed to charts and improvisation, the mechanics of the music and how a pianist could make their own choices about what to play – from chord voicings to musical lines. In spite of the fact that I was pretty good in classical, I never planned to be a musician for a living. My plans were to become a pharmacist, but instead I fell in love with Jazz. When I returned home I practiced and studied on my own.” That same year he made first chair in Jazz All State. With these honors now under his belt, Louis began honing his skills.
After graduating from Griffin High School, Louis settled in Atlanta, Georgia. Louis began playing Jazz on Atlanta’s Jazz scene, at age 17. Heads began to turn and fellow musicians and club owners began to take notice of his early signs of professionalism and confidence at the piano.
Today, Louis holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in jazz performance, and is one of the most sought after pianists in the area.
Delbert Felix always felt the thump of the bass, and at age 8 was given an electric bass guitar by Jonathan Francis. He also played horns, marched with the Beaufort High School band and then the famous Marching 100 at Florida A&M University, where he learned constant repetition is required to reach perfection.
Felix took the influences of Lowcountry musicians — Nathaniel Drake, Earl Davis, “Cool” John Ferguson, Steve Best and Bill Barnwell — with him to chilly Boston where he studied at the Berklee College of Music. He took it with him to the U.S. Navy, where he played music around the world and taught in its musical school.
He has performed with Sting, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Cole and all the Marsalis brothers, among others.
MUSIC CHARGE: $25.00
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