NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Jessica Shively, Communications & Development Associate
207-367-2788
jessica@operahousearts.org

DATE: July 1, 2025
TITLE:Grammy Award-winning Artist to Headline 25th Annual Deer Isle Jazz Festival

Stonington, ME – Jazz history runs deep in Charleston, South Carolina and the musicians in Charleston are as forward-leaning as anywhere jazz is played. They are grounded in time-honored traditions that are boldly African and rhythmically distinct. 

Larry Blumenthal, the Deer Isle Jazz Festival curator, met Quentin Baxter a decade ago in his home town of Charleston and invited him to headline this year’s 25th annual festival. Raised in a family of drummers, Baxter is a Gullah descendant with a world of tradition at his fingertips. His power as a drummer, composer, bandleader, and producer radiates with mastery in many directions but always back to the place he calls home.

Baxter will bring his authoritative style, his notably lyrical approach to the drum kit, and his knack for making music whose appeal belies its complexity to the stage of the Stonington Opera House for two performances. 

Baxter is joined by Rodney Jordan on bass, Melvin Jones on trumpet, pianist Demetrius Doctor, and Mark Sterbank on tenor saxophone.

On July 18 at 7pm the Quentin Baxter Quintet will perform “Jazz and the Gullah Tradition.” The Yvonne Rogers Trio will open the evening.  

Descended from enslaved West Africans, Gullah people live in the Lowcountry regions of South Carolina and the Sea Islands. Gullah influence can be heard in American music ranging from Ira Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” to the folk song “Kumbaya.”  

The performance on July 19 at 7pm\will highlight the influence of the renowned South African pianist with “Quentin Baxter’s African Marketplace-Celebrating Abdullah Ibrahim”  The George Stevens Academy’s Upright Expression directed by Phelan Gallagher will be the opening act.

Tickets are $39, $49, and $59. For more information or to purchase tickets visit operahousearts.org or call 207-367-2788.

About the Opera House

The Stonington Opera House is a historic center of culture and entertainment, a performance space, and a civic gathering place. Our work is rooted in the belief that access to and participation in the arts transforms lives.

The Stonington Opera House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 and in 1999, it was rescued by the founders of Opera House Arts, a 501 (c) 3, that was established specifically to restore this historic building to its original purpose.

A cornerstone of a year-round, vibrant Main Street located at the top of the busiest commercial fishing pier in Maine, the Stonington Opera House is an economic engine for the creative economy of Deer Isle.

Images:

1.    Quentin Baxter by Reese Moore Photography

2.    Quentin Baxter by Reese Moore Photography

3.    Quentin Baxter courtesy of Quentin Baxter