Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

TRYON—Tryon Fine Arts Center will conclude its Mountains to the Sea Jazz Series with Jazz and Poetry on Sunday, May 19, at 4 p.m. This fusion of jazz music and poetry will feature two of the Lowcountry’s finest and most creative talents – Quentin Baxter and Marcus Amaker.  

GRAMMY award-winner Quentin Baxter is a percussionist, composer, educator, and prominent figure in the jazz community of his native Charleston, S.C. Baxter was recognized earlier this year by the Jazz Journalists Association as a 2024 Charleston Jazz Hero, along with fellow Ranky Tanky bandmate Charlton Singleton, for his tireless support of local and regional music of the South Carolina Lowcountry.

Baxter has taught Jazz Percussion at the College of Charleston for more than twenty years and serves as the musical director of the Charleston Jazz Initiative, a research project exploring the history and legacy of the Carolinas’ African-American musicians. He’s also a founding board member of the Jazz Artists of Charleston and a board member of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra.

Baxter will be joined by the multi-talented poet and musician Marcus Amaker. Amaker is the first Poet Laureate of Charleston and was inducted into the South Carolina Literary Hall of Fame earlier this month. In addition to being a poet, Amaker is an opera librettist. His debut opera, The Weight of Light, premiered this year at the Chicago Opera Theater. He’s published 10 books and released 43 albums of electronic music, along with three albums with Baxter. 

The Jazz and Poetry performance has been described as “a marvelous mashup of lyrical poetry and electric percussion” and “a unique jazz experience you’ll never forget.”

“The creative combo of Quentin Baxter and Marcus Amaker is felt both physically and emotionally by the audience,” said Nancy Holmes, who attended their previous performance at Tryon Fine Arts Center in 2021.

For more information about the Mountains to the Sea Jazz Series and to purchase tickets for Jazz and Poetry, visit tryonarts.org or call the Tryon Fine Arts Center box office at (828) 859-8322.

 

Submitted by Terry Brown