Vocalist

This Grammy Award winning Charleston, SC- based quintet, performs timeless music born from the Gullah culture of the southeastern Sea Islands. Playful game songs, ecstatic shouts, and heartbreaking spirituals can all be found on their latest release Good Time, which also offers the groups first original songs inspired by Gullah tradition.

Ranky Tanky

The Rosen House at Caramoor

Trinidad-born trumpeter, composer, and storyteller Etienne Charles embarks on a captivating musical journey that explores the rich history and culture of the Gullah Geechee people, drawing parallels to his Caribbean heritage. Joined by the masterly percussion of Quentin Baxter, a Charleston native and Festival favorite, Charles weaves a mesmerizing sonic tapestry. The varied compositional textures and pulsating rhythms evoke a trance-like state, inviting listeners to explore the deep connections between Afro-Caribbean, Gullah, and American jazz traditions.

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Etienne Charles Gullah Roots with Special Guest Quentin Baxter

College of Charleston Cistern Yard

The Grammy® Award-winning, Charleston, SC-based quintet performs timeless music born from the Gullah culture of the Southeastern Sea Islands. Their debut album soared to the number-one position on the charts. Playful game songs, ecstatic shouts, and heartbreaking spirituals inspired by the Gullah tradition.  

Clayton State University

Experience an electrifying performance like no other as The Abdiel Iriarte Experiment takes the stage at the 2024 Charleston Jazz Festival Finale! This hard-driving band is a force to be reckoned with, combining the best of Afro-Venezuelan-Cuban rhythms with a modern jazz twist.


Charleston Jazz Festival: Charlton Singleton & Contemporary Flow

Firefly Distillery

The Southern Pines features two-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist Quiana Parler from Ranky Tanky and some of the Southeast’s finest jazz musicians! This female-driven band was formed with inspiration from South Carolina life and the exhibit Our Own Work, Our Own Way: Ascendant Women Artists from the Johnson Collection at the Columbia Museum of Art. All of their music is written by bandleader Colleen Clark, who has a deep understanding of swing, New Orleans street beats, and blues. Colleen is an assistant professor of jazz at the University of South Carolina, where she coordinates small ensembles, conducts a big band, and teaches drum set studio and jazz history courses. She is the first and only drummer to earn a Doctor of Musical Arts from the world-renowned University of North Texas.

Charleston Jazz Festival: The Southern Pines

Music Farm

“Hers is a voice so big and so spine-tinglingly beautiful that on a nightly basis it does the near impossible” (The Guardian). Two-time GRAMMY winner Lisa Fischer joins Gullah groovemasters Ranky Tanky for an incendiary reprise of their sold out 2022 residency.

Known far and wide for her powerhouse vocals and prominent role in director Morgan Neville’s Oscar-winning 2013 music documentary 20 Feet From Stardom, Fischer won a GRAMMY for her #1 charting R&B single “How Can I Ease the Pain” and has toured for over two decades with the Rolling Stones, belting out “Gimme Shelter” to astonished audiences around the world. She’s contributed her soaring instrument to innumerable film soundtracks and performances alongside Luther Vandross, Tina Turner, Gregory Porter, Chris Botti, Sting, and industrial rock juggernaut Nine Inch Nails.

Ms. Lisa Fischer w/ Ranky Tanky

SFJAZZ Center

Get in a Gullah groove with GRAMMY® winning South Carolina band Ranky Tanky. Born of the Gullah culture of the Carolina Coast and Sea Islands, their music is a thrilling collision of traditional spirituals, call and response, folk songs, and playground chants, infused with hot American jazz. Featuring Quentin Baxter (Drums and Percussion), Kevin Hamilton (Bass), Clay Ross (Guitar and Vocals), Charlton Singleton (Trumpet and Vocals) and the phenomenal vocals of lead singer Quiana Parler.

Ranky Tanky with very special guest Ms. Lisa Fischer

New Jersey Performing Arts Center

Charlton Singleton and The Beehive Orchestra join the Charleston Symphony onstage for one night only. Curated by Grammy Award winner Charlton Singleton and the CSO’s Associate Conductor Kellen Gray, the night celebrates premier jazz musicians Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn and their arrangements of your favorite “hits” from The Nutcracker. You’ll delight in their arrangement of the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”, which has been transformed into “Sugar Rum Cherry.” And dance in your seat during the “Peanut Brittle Brigade,” a reimagination of The Nutcracker’s March.

Dueling Nutcrackers

Gaillard Center

Two-time Grammy Award winner and Charleston favorite Quiana Parler, joined by The Wives vocal ensemble, delivers a soul-stirring tribute to Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul. From “Respect” and “Chain of Fools” to “Think” and “A Natural Woman,” these iconic songs rise to new heights with the power of the full Charleston Jazz Orchestra behind them.

Vocalist

Quiana Parler

Events

Upcoming events

Sep 18, 2027

RESPECT: Quiana Parler Sings Aretha Franklin · Charleston Jazz

Past events

Jul 11, 2025

Ranky Tanky · Caramoor

Jun 4, 2025

Etienne Charles Gullah Roots with Special Guest Quentin Baxter · Spoleto Festival USA

About

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