|
Famed
Detroit
jazz
trumpeter
Marcus
Belgrave
dies at
78
By JEFF
KAROUB
Associated
Press
DETROIT
(AP) --
Marcus
Belgrave,
a jazz
trumpeter
who
graced
stages
and
studios
with Ray
Charles,
Aretha
Franklin,
Dizzy
Gillespie,
Joe
Cocker
and
Motown
artists
galore,
died
Sunday.
He was
78.
Belgrave
died at
an Ann
Arbor
care
facility
and the
cause of
death
was
heart
failure,
said
Hazelette
Crosby-Robinson,
a cousin
of
Belgrave's
wife
Joan.
Belgrave
remained
active
on the
Detroit
and
international
jazz
scenes
up until
his
death.
Born
into a
family
of
musicians
in
Chester,
Pennsylvania,
he
started
playing
professionally
at 12
and
joined
The Ray
Charles
Band in
the late
1950s -
what he
once
described
as "the
beginning
of my
musical
life."
He came
to
Detroit
in 1962
and
became a
studio
musician
for
Motown
Records,
playing
on hits
including
"My
Girl,"
"The Way
You Do
the
Things
You Do"
and
"Dancing
in the
Street."
After
Motown
decamped
to
California
in the
early
`70s,
Belgrave
stayed
in
Detroit
and
co-founded
Tribe
Records
and
recorded
with a
collective
of jazz
artists.
He
became
an
original
member
of
Lincoln
Center
Jazz
Orchestra
in 1988
at the
request
of
Wynton
Marsalis,
and in
2006 was
featured
at Jazz
at
Lincoln
Center's
presentation,
"Detroit:
Motor
City
Jazz."
He also
was a
prolific
mentor
and
teacher,
serving
as a
professor
or
visiting
artist
at
numerous
institutions,
including
Detroit-area
schools,
Michigan
State
University,
Stanford
University,
University
of
California
and
Oberlin
College.
In 2009,
he
received
the
Kresge
Foundation's
Eminent
Artist
award,
honoring
nationally
acclaimed
artists
who have
pursued
careers
in
Detroit.
In a
special
book the
philanthropic
foundation
published
at that
time,
Belgrave
said,
"After
65 years
of
letting
the
music
live
through
you, it
just
comes to
you." |