# Theo Croker: I’ve always tried to find my own way: Video

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2018/07/18/theo-croker-ive-always-tried-to-find-my-own-way-video/
- Published: 2018-07-18T00:04:25+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**18.07. – Happy Birthday !!! Enter the AfroPhysicist – trumpeter/composer Theo 
Croker. Coming straight out of Leesburg, Florida by way of Shanghai, China, this
bold young soul-jazz newcomer, grandson of New Orleans trumpet legend Doc Cheatham
is fortified by tradition with no lack of contemporary electricity to propel him
into the future.**

Croker’s new album – AfroPhysicist – 2014 on Dee Dee Bridgewater‘s DDB Records via
Sony Masterworks’ imprint OKeh Records. This is Croker’s third album and the inaugural
release on Bridgewater’s label. His music literally shape-shifts without pause through
12 captivating selections.

AfroPhysicist includes three vocals sung by Bridgewater, each from different eras
and genres, and all re-imagined in bold strokes: “Moody’s Mood For Love” (the classic
James Moody instrumental vocalized by Eddie Jefferson in the `50s, then by George
Benson with Patti Austin in the`80s); “Save Your Love For Me,” (made famous by Nancy
Wilson with the Cannonball Adderley Quintet in 1962); and “I Can’t Help It,” originally
introduced by Michael Jackson on 1979′s Off the Wall, and flipped here into a sizzling,
chattering Afro-Cuban whirlwind.

Though Croker recorded two previous albums as a leader – The Fundamentals in 2007
and In the Tradition in 2009 – the time he spent in Shanghai prepared him to become
the daring artist that Bridgewater was excited to unleash on her DDB label. “What
was hot in New York didn’t matter,” says Croker. “We were far enough removed that
nobody was judging us.”

When Croker met Bridgewater, it was October of 2009 during the Shanghai Jazz Festival,
where he was playing in the big band that backed her. The two hit it off at an after-
party jam and met for lunch during her next visit. When Bridgewater inquired about
the music the trumpeter was working on, Croker handed over his iPod and told her
to listen for herself. By Summer 2010, they were in discussions about recording 
an album. “The first thing Dee Dee said was, ‘We are not doing a jazz record,’” 
Croker says laughing. “It was perfect. I already knew who I was and I had no inhibitions.”

AfroPhysicist features Croker’s core group: keyboardist Sullivan Fortner, wind and
reed man Irwin Hall, drummer Karriem Riggins, acoustic/electric bassist Michael 
Bowie and guitarist David Gilmore, with other horns and specialists. One standout
guest is vibraphonist Stefon Harris who brings his unfiltered spell casting to a
cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Visions.” “In another life, maybe I was a singer,” Croker
muses. “I gave up on that dream a long time ago but felt I could really convey the
meaning of Stevie’s deeply relevant lyric through my horn. His Innervisions album(
1973) was a huge influence for me, flow wise.”

Croker also persuaded friend and trumpet veteran Roy Hargrove to guest on a song
of his own composition, “Roy Allan” (which Hargrove dedicated to his father). Hargrove
originally recorded the tune instrumentally for his 1995 classic album Family, but
sang his accompanying lyric only occasionally in concert…until now. Croker also 
pays tribute to South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela by recording the meditative
Serengeti slink of “Bo Masekela,” composed by the great Caiphus Semenya in 1965 
in honor of Masekela and his then-wife, Miriam Makeba. A souring relationship inspired
Croker’s own “It’s Not You, It’s Me (But You Didn’t Help),” featuring synchronistic
interplay between Croker and Hall on alto flute.

The genre-fusing “Light Skinned Beauty” has elements of rock, hip hop/R&B and a 
fast swing. “Think about the lines of race being blurred… When you first meet someone,
it’s hard to tell them who you are in 4-5 minutes. This song is a statement like
that,” explains Croker. “So if you see a cutie at the bar and you throw out these
three genres – with the same harmony and vibe all the way through but with stuff
changing over the surface – hopefully one line will stick!”

Before moving to Shanghai, the then 16-year-old Croker lived in Jacksonville, Florida,
attending the Douglas Anderson School of Arts and becoming an artist in residence
at the Ritz Theatre with its big band. Upon graduation, he attended the Oberlin 
Conservatory of Music in Ohio, drawn by Dr. Donald Byrd and a faculty of jazz legends
including Gary Bartz. Croker won the Presser Music Foundation Award in 2006 and 
used the money to fund a debut album of original compositions.

“I’ve always tried to find my own way,” Croker states. “I went to Oberlin College
instead of Juilliard. Then I went to China. Once there, I opened up – not only to
survive but to investigate what was going on. I joined a way-out fusion group led
by Alec Haavik, but I also joined a salsa band. Musicians in China don’t have stereotypes.
To live well, you played everything.” Now, following several years of hustling as
a freelance musician and live music promoter in Shanghai, Croker is back in New 
York preparing to take it to the next level. “Dee Dee said it was time for me to
come home.”

“My older brother is the one who imparted the nickname AfroPhysicist upon me,” Croker
concludes. “Last spring, I dropped it on Dee Dee and she dug it. She introduced 
me to an audience that way. They liked it, so it stuck. Maybe it will create a buzz.
Look at what artists like Kanye West and Erykah Badu do, changing their genre titles
and names to fit different artistic directions. Truthfully, I am a lil’ wild! So
the title fits – a crazy person in the basement snatching all these things together.”

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