Charlie Singleton

by Steve HueyCharlie Singleton was a New York City-based saxophonist and bandleader who worked in a jump blues/R&B vein during the late '40s and early '50s. He and his group -- alternately dubbed the Charlie Singleton Combo or the Charlie Singleton Orchestra -- backed jump blues shouter H-Bomb Ferguson on a number of sides for Atlas Records in the early '50s. Singleton himself also cut a series of instrumentals for Atlas, which proved to be some of the small, black-owned independent label's biggest sellers; his most popular recording was 1952's "My Song," which helped lead to a well-received stint on the Boston club scene that winter. He also recorded with the likes of Buck Clayton and Oscar Pettiford. Singleton's combo later went on to record for RCA Camden, which issued the LP The Big Twist Hits in 1962.