{{Short description|American musician}} '''Charles Henderson Drayton''' (5 May 1919 Brooklyn, New York – 31 July 1953 Los Angeles) was an American jazz bassist who performed and recorded from the late 1930s until his death.
== Career == Drayton performed with artists that include Louis Jordan, Benny Carter, Dizzy Gillespie, Pete Brown, Ben Webster, Joan Edwards, Timmie Rogers, Savannah Churchill, the Basin Street Boys, Barney Bigard, Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, Woody Herman, Julia Lee, Jack Teagarden, Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, Russell Jacquet, Marion Abernathy, The Treniers, Billy Taylor, Helen Humes, and Teddy Bunn.<ref name="Mercury Records" /> In 1946, he played several times with artists at Jazz at the Philharmonic.<ref name="Lord Discography" />
Drayton's performances — including the known fifty-two jazz recording sessions from 1938 to 1953<ref name="Lord Discography" /> — with artists at the vanguard of bebop during the height of its development, placed him in the flow of many historic settings in jazz that marked the careers of musicians. In one such setting, Drayton was the bassist for Ben Webster's first recording session — February 8, 1944, World Broadcasting Systems, New York City — with Hot Lips Page (trumpet), Clyde Hart (piano), Denzil Best (drums).<ref name="Lord Discography" /><ref name="Webster's 1st recording" /> That session has been released multiple times. A 1993 release on CD is titled ''The Horn,'' by Progressive Records.<ref>{{OCLC|53833333}}</ref>
== Family == Drayton was born May 5, 1919, in Brooklyn to George Leslie Drayton (1889–1946) and Albertha Eugena Bynoe (1885–1979). Both parents were born in Bridgetown, Barbados, and immigrated to the United States from Barbados – both arriving in the Port of New York in 1907. Drayton arrived June 7, 1907, aboard the ''SS Parima'' and Bynoe arrived October 29, 1907, aboard the ''SS Soldier Prince.''<ref name="George-Leslie-Drayton-Naturalization 1923" /><ref name="Albertha-Eugena-Bynoe" /> They married in Manhattan October 24, 1912.<ref name="Marriage-George-Drayton_Albertha-Bynoe NYC 1912 Oct 24" />
Charlie Drayton married Lois Ola Robinson ''(maiden;'' 1922–1997), who had been Pearl Bailey's hairdresser. Lois' brother, "Red" Minor William Robinson (1920–2008), was a Los Angeles-based jazz drummer.<ref name="Vacher 1915" /> One of their sons, Bernard "Bernie" Drayton (born 1941), is a studio audio engineer and producer of recording artists and jingles. He was the audio engineer of John Coltrane's last recording, April 23, 1967, ''The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording.''<ref name="DeVito-Wild-Fujioka-Wolf 2008-2013" /> Another son, Leslie Clem Drayton (born 1950), is a professional trumpet player and arranger in the Los Angeles area who also has been an advisor to the Live Music Movement Foundation since its inception in 2011. Leslie was a founding member of Earth, Wind & Fire.<ref name="Leslie-Drayton's-website">{{URL|http://draytonmusic.com/about|Official Website of Leslie Drayton}}</ref>
Charlie Drayton's grandson, Charley Drayton (born 1965), is a drummer.
== Death == Drayton's death certificate states that he died at the Los Angeles County General Hospital after an apparent suicide attempt from strychnine poisoning, which he had ingested at his home in South Park neighborhood of Los Angeles at 451 East 48th Street.<ref name="Los-Angeles-Death-Cert Charlie-Drayton 1953 Jul 31" />
== References == {{Reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name="Mercury Records">''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNwMKESNeOEC&pg=PA661 The Mercury Labels: A Discography — The 1945–1956 Era; Volume I],'' Michel Ruppli (born 1934) & Ed Novitsky, Greenwood Publishing Group, pg. 661 (1993), {{ISBN|0-313-29031-8}}, {{ISSN|0192-334X}}</ref>
<ref name="Lord Discography">''The jazz discography'', West Vancouver: Lord Music Reference {{OCLC|182585494}}</ref> <ref name="Webster's 1st recording">"[https://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/24/arts/more-jazz-treasures-from-the-past.html More Jazz Treasures From the Past]," by John S. Wilson, ''The New York Times,'' April 24, 1983</ref>
<ref name="Los-Angeles-Death-Cert Charlie-Drayton 1953 Jul 31">"Certificate of Death," "California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800–1994", database with images, FamilySearch, "{{URL|https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP3H-62B8|Charles H Drayton}}," Date-of-death: July 31, 1953, Los Angeles</ref>
<ref name="George-Leslie-Drayton-Naturalization 1923">"U.S. Naturalization – Declaration of Intention" [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9MD-M946-4?cc=1999177&wc=MDS2-VPD%3A326204001%2C327060001 Re: "George Leslie Drayton,"] September 26, 1923, New York Supreme Court of Kings County, U. S. Department of Labor, Naturalization Service, Vol. 323, No. 161139, p. 139 (image 74 of 271; form 14-735)<div style="margin-left:2em">Accessible ''via'' FamilySearch (free, but registration required) – "New York, County Naturalization Records, 1791–1980," database with images, September 13, 2019, Kings, Declarations of Intention, 1923, Vol 323, Nos. 161001–161500, image 74 of 271</div></ref>
<ref name="Albertha-Eugena-Bynoe">"List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the U.S. Immigration Officer at Port at Port of Arrival," Re: [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C95R-4SKT-V?cc=1368704&wc=4XBX-SBN%3A1600362308 "Albertha-Eugena-Bynoe,"] October 21, 1907<div style="margin-left:2em">"New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892–1924," database with images, FamilySearch, January 26, 2018, Roll 1028, Vol. 2269, image 168 of 426; Citing NARA microfilm publication T715 and M237</div></ref>
<ref name="Marriage-George-Drayton_Albertha-Bynoe NYC 1912 Oct 24">Re: "Marriage of George L. Drayton and Albertha E. Bynoe," New York City Municipal Archives; New York, New York; Manhattan, Vol. 8, License No. 30724 (accessible ''via'' Ancestry.com; subscription required)</ref>
<ref name="DeVito-Wild-Fujioka-Wolf 2008-2013">''[https://books.google.com/books?id=IvlVu9XCoxUC&pg=PA768&dq=%22bernard+Drayton The John Coltrane Reference,'' by Chris DeVito, David Wild, Yasuhiro Fujioka, and Wolf Schmaler, edited by Lewis Porter, Routledge (Taylor & Francis) (2008; paperback 2013), p. 768; {{OCLC|940620370}}; {{ISBN|0-4156-3463-6}}; {{ISBN|978-0-415-97755-5}} (hardcover); {{ISBN|978-0-415-63463-2}} (paperback); {{ISBN|978-0-203-94005-1}} (e-book)</ref>
<ref name="Vacher 1915">''[https://books.google.com/books?id=q69_CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA283&lpg=PA283&dq=%22charlie+drayton Swingin' on Central Avenue: African American Jazz in Los Angeles],'' by Peter Vacher (born 1937), Rowman & Littlefield (2015), p. 283; {{OCLC|1004734085}}</ref>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Drayton, Charlie}} Category:American jazz double-bassists Category:American male double-bassists Category:Hard bop double-bassists Category:Mainstream jazz double-bassists Category:Musicians from New York City Category:1919 births Category:1953 deaths Category:Jazz musicians from New York (state) Category:20th-century American double-bassists Category:20th-century American male musicians Category:American male jazz musicians