# Theo Croker recalls a trumpet mentor Marcus Belgrave: Video, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2020/01/10/theo-croker-recalls-a-trumpet-mentor-marcus-belgrave-video-photos/
- Published: 2020-01-10T19:08:58+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Theo Croker vividly remembers his first lesson with Detroit’s brass hero Marcus
Belgrave.**

It was an encounter that rattled Croker to his core — leaving him in tears and forcing
him to come to grips with his shortcomings and aspirations. Though he was already
studying trumpet at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and a grandson of the New Orleans
trumpet great Doc Cheatham, that first lesson called everything into question.

“He wanted to make sure I was in a place where I was really hungry,” Croker says
appreciatively, “‘cause cats like Marcus, they carry such a great part of the tradition,
and I think it’s appropriate that those types of people — Gary Bartz and Marcus 
Belgrave and Donald Byrd — pick and choose who they share the knowledge with.”

[[

**Marcus Belgrave**

Now that Croker is established as a force in music, as evidenced by his radiant,
Grammy-nominated album _Star People Nation_, he has a different perspective on Belgrave’s
tough instruction. He’s among the former students and protégés — like saxophonist
JD Allen and drummers Karriem Riggins and Ali Jackson, Jr. — who’ll pay homage to
the late trumpet master on Sunday at (Le) Poisson Rouge, in a concert organized 
by Belgrave’s widow, the vocalist Joan Belgrave.

This sprawling show, From Detroit to the World, is split in two parts, and will 
showcase Belgrave’s impressive range as an artist. Along with those protégés, it
will convene some of his distinguished peers, including bassist Ron Carter, singer
Sheila Jordan, pianist and singer Johnny O’Neal, and drummer Louis Hayes.

Joan Belgrave says that her late husband “was able to navigate between so many musical
worlds. I watched him in situations with jazz, classical, funk, even techno (with
Carl Craig, who is also on the show).  He created a musical family full of people
who would do _anything_ for him.”

Along with a remembrance of Belgrave, this episode of The Checkout joins Croker 
on a guided tour through _Star People Nation_, which features notable cameos by 
drummers Eric Harland and Kassa Overall, along with vocalists and Chronixx.

I spoke with Croker during my visit to TSF in Paris, during its annual Jazz Sur 
Seine Festival, which happens to be modeled after Winter JazzFest. He’ll bring _Star
People Nation_ to the Mercury Lounge on the Winter JazzFest Marathon on Saturday,
starting at 11:45 p.m.

Watch his band perform “The Messenger,” a track from the album, at WBGO.

![](https://i0.wp.com/www.wbgo.org/sites/wbgo/files/styles/medium/public/202001/
theo_croker_crop.png?w=640&ssl=1)

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