Charlton Singleton
AGE: 41
HOMETOWN: Awendaw
OCCUPATION: Conductor, Charleston Jazz Orchestra
LITLE-KNOWN FACT: From 2000 to 2007, Singleton was a middle-school band director. "I wanted kids to understand the doors music could open if they just gave it a try.
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Growing up in Awendaw, Charlton Singleton was keenly interested in music, but gave no indication he would become the face of Charleston’s jazz scene.
“I started playing trumpet in the sixth grade,” Singleton says. “My dad loved jazz, and bought all these tapes of Wynton Marsalis. He dusted off old 78s of Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong. But I didn’t get the jazz bug for a really long time.”
As an adult, Singleton’s musical talent led him in many directions, but he found his calling when he met local jazz impresario Jack McCray, who helped Singleton form the 17-piece Charleston Jazz Orchestra in 2008.
“He had this way of informing me about jazz that made it seem so important,” Singleton says of McCray, who authored the book Charleston Jazz. “He had this enormous desire to present Charleston music to the rest of the world, and he thought a big band was a great way to do that.”
The orchestra’s debut sold only 300 tickets, “about half of which were family and friends,” Singleton recalls, but the ensemble drew rave reviews for original compositions and their ability to blend jazz with other genres. Now in its fourth year, the Jazz Orchestra’s six-show season is one of the Holy City’s hottest tickets and sold-out well in advance.
“We’ve turned heads, and that’s pretty amazing for all of us,” he says. “But for me personally, I think I’m just hitting my stride. I think I’m finally doing what I was born to do.”
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Get More
For more information on the Charleston Jazz Orchestra, visit jazzartistsofcharleston.org/cjo.