Detroit Jazz Musicians Co-Op Inc.
20707 Lee Court
Grosse Pointe, MI 48236-9998
734-730-3571
Press Releases
“The music itself was miraculous. Jazz players have a way of adapting, changing on the fly….
The Marcus Belgrave Legacy Ensemble, presented by singer Joan Belgrave (the late trumpeter’s wife), delivered
a big-hearted performance in honor of one of Detroit’s most-beloved jazz figures.”
--- Frank Alkyer - Downbeat Magazine – September, 2020
Marcus Belgrave at ASCAP sponsored 26th Annual Jazz Issue Forum and Concert
New York Times music review: Celebrating an Elder Statesman of Jazz
"the man is a maestro." - NATANGA SMITH-Barbados, WI- Nation paper
Marcus Belgrave is being honored by the Jazz Journalists Association as a
2013 Jazz Hero. Read press release
http://www.jjajazzawards.org/p/jazz-heroes-2013.html
Marcus Belgrave "Lottie's Mood" video
Recorded live @ the 5th Annual DON WAS DETROIT ALL STAR REVUE
ALL ABOUT JAZZ 2012: Marcus Belgrave: Preserver of Jazz
By SHANNON J. EFFINGER, Published: September 3, 2012 (.doc)
Detroit's Jazz 'Patriarch' Improvised A Teaching Career
by PATRICK JARENWATTANANON – NPR JAZZ 8/29/2012 (.doc)
The nurturer
Marcus Belgrave assembles an all-star cast
By Charles L. Latimer
PUBLISHED: AUGUST 29, 2012
Legendary jazz trumpeter Marcus
Belgrave has the music in him
Recording project wants Detroiters to share tales - Detroit News 07/10/12 (.doc)
On the web: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120710/METRO01/207100345#ixzz20bluSXty
All That Jazz: The Heidelberg Suite
Composed by Marcus Belgrave and Anthony Wilson and performed by the Detroit All-Star Jazz Orchestra. The performance of this jazz composition is in honor of the Heidelberg Project and played as a farewell tribute to Tyree Guyton who is heading to Basel, Switzerland for a prestigious one-year residency.Coleman Hawkins cut “Pablo Picasso,” and there’ve been jazz salutes to Mark Rothko, Romare Bearden, Joan Miro, etc. Now trumpeter Marcus Belgrave has “The Heidelberg Suite,” co-composed with guitarist Anthony Wilson (son of the bandleader-composer Gerald Wilson), a commissioned tribute and a send-off to artist Tyree Guyton (year-long residency in Basel, Switzerland). The all-star band bash!!
Read Full Metro Times Article: Metro Times > Events > All That Jazz: The Heidelberg Suite
Belgrave, DSO to invoke New
Orleans
"You have to take jazz trumpeter Marcus Belgrave seriously when he says
playing with a symphony orchestra
is like a magic carpet ride. Belgrave,
who just turned 75, can count some pretty magical experiences in
his
extraordinary career..." full Detroit News Article
Detroit Trumpeter/Mentor Marcus Belgrave to Be honored by the Congressional Black Caucus -- More info
Jazz Master Artist in Residence 2009-2010 for the Virgil Carr Center - Michigan Arts League
Kresge Foundation Names Detroit Trumpeter Marcus Belgrave 2009 Eminent Artist $50K
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Monmouth Road JAZZED by Belgraves - Big Tony's - 06/21/2010
French Magazine SO Jazz article about Tribe, November 2009 - Read article
Honorably Designated "Jazz
Master Laureate" for the CITY OF DETROIT !!!!!
www.today.com/view/detroit-jewel-marcus-belgrave/id-2883564/ - 19k
Tribute to Marcus Belgrave by his Protoges - Kenny Garrett, Geri Allen, Robert Hurst Read article
Marcus Belgrave recorded with, and … considered
by Stevie Wonder’ as one of his...“People of Wonder”.
http://www.steviewonder.org.uk/people_of_wonder.htm
A true musical Renaissance man - Jazz Master… Educator… Mentor…
Marcus Belgrave is one of the Original Ray Charles band members. He was mentored by Ray Charles from a young age. He has performed with the who’s who of jazz, including Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, toured with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, Aretha Franklin, recorded with McCoy Tyner, David Newman, B.B.King & Art Hodes, just to name a few.
Part of the Lincoln Center Motor City Jazz Masters …which included Yusef Lateef, Curtis Fuller, Charles McPherson, and Ron Carter
Mentors the "next" jazz generations…..including….pianist Geri Allen, bassist Robert Hurst, alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett, saxophonist James Carter, violinist Regina Carter…
Marcus Belgrave continues to
mentor as part of San Francisco States "Generations Jazz Master
Mentors Group" with Jimmy Cobb,
Ray Drummond, Ronnie Mathews, Eric Alexander,
& Andrew Speight
San
Francisco State’s International Center for the Arts Debuts “Generations”
Article on ejazznews.com Posted by: editoron Friday, November 02, 2007
Article on allaboutjazz.com: Generations
ensemble releases "Tough Guys" CD
Instructor… Oberlin University
Former Motown "Funk Brothers" Member
"He's a treasure, producing a golden tone and
lyric bursts of spidery ideas that coalesce in gorgeous paragraphs of
melody."
-Mark Stryker, Free Press music critic - November 29, 2008
"Belgrave sets the mood and tone…. "haunting,
lyrical" "sensual trumpet melodies"
-Jim Santella" - jazzreview.com
"trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, a secret master of
the music."
By Richard Scheinin-San Jos Mercury News
"There was Belgrave…. fluent, inventive, hard-bop statements…. high
register squeals"
By Leonard Turnevicius - The Hamilton Spectator
-(Ontario)
.."Mr. Belgrave, well known as a teacher but
still underrated as a
performer, played subtle, wide and logical solos on trumpet and fluegelhorn
that were like compressed pieces of wisdom"
Monday, June 23, 2008
JVC Jazz Festival
-BEN RATLIFF- The New York Times
On playing with David "Fathead" Newman.
Where: Iridium Jazz Club, New York:
"bold-toned trumpeter Marcus Belgrave. Belgrave's
rhythmically charged
thoughts stood out.."
-Zan Stewart, The Star-Ledger - New
York
Marcus Belgrave Presents A Tribute to New Orleans,
Ray Charles, and the Great Ladies of Song
"I have just one word to say: WOW!...The music is great….
The arrangements are fabulous …….a genuinely crowd-pleasing
act…..I love it.…pizzazz and charm….glitter of a New
York stage sprinkled all throughout it."
-Pete Fallico- KKUP Radio -Santa Cruz,
Ca, KCSM Radio -San Mateo, CA
“Joyously putting his own
spin on Pop’s greatest hits ... referencing classic original trumpet
solos with enough sincerity and surprising turns that the music comes
off fresh”
-The Detroit Free Press
"…. to catch Belgrave performing with his touring band….. was to gain new appreciation for his work…Belgrave's easygoing tempos, fervent lyricism”and raspy vocals…. puckish vocal phrasings and mercurial trumpet lines.. Belgrave took pains to share the spotlight with his band, which turned in some of its most exemplary playing in early Duke Ellington"
“New Orleans mind-set flows smoothly in heart
of Chicago”
By Howard Reich | Tribune arts critic
Semja Update Review
of "Excitable"
-BY PIOTR MICHALOWSKI, October 2009
Detroit Trumpeter Marcus Belgrave Is 2009 Eminent Artist read article
-By thedetroiter.com · October 8, 2009 City Life
Kresge Foundation Names Detroit Trumpeter Marcus Belgrave It's 2009 Eminent Artist
Detroit's premier jazz musician and educator receives $50,000 prize from The Kresge Foundation
TROY, Mich., Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Master jazz trumpet player Marcus Belgrave -- who has enthralled audiences world-wide with his musical virtuosity and mentored scores of aspiring young musicians -- has been named the 2009 Kresge Eminent Artist by The Kresge Foundation.
The award and $50,000 prize recognizes Belgrave's lifelong musical achievements and his personal and professional contributions to music performance and education in Metropolitan Detroit. The foundation, through its Kresge Arts in Detroit initiative, annually supports the Kresge Eminent Artist Award, Kresge Artist Fellowships, and Kresge Arts Support grants. The Eminent Artist Award is administered by the College for Creative Studies... Read entire article
Detroit Free Press: Jazz giant awarded $50,000
distinction Read
article
-MARK STRYKER, October 08, 2009
Something exciting: Joan Belgrave
at Kerrytown this weekend
Back in June our frequent jazz correspondent Charles L. Latimer wrote
about the life and revived career of vocalist Joan
Belgrave, who can "belt pop, R&B, classic rock, the blues
and jazz," but whose forte in any genre is delivering love songs
in a voice "so soothing and sexy, she could give a pit bull goose
bumps."
Belgrave's new album, a mixture of standards and love-song originals, is Excitable, and it's having its official release with two nights at the Kerrytown Concert House, Friday and Saturday, with shows at 8 p.m. Admission is $25. The crack band is helmed by Belgrave's husband, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, with Charlie Gabriel on sax, Gayelynn McKinney on drums, Jeff Halsey on bass and Simon Fortner on piano.
Followers of the local jazz scene should recognize all of those names, with the exception, likely, of Fortner. Anyone who knows Belgrave should know about his ear for young talent, from Kenny Garrett and Geri Allen, through more recent Belgrave picks, notably Chicago trumpeter Corey Wilkes, now recording as a leader and with the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Belgrave came across New Orleans-born Fortner in his teacher duties at Oberlin, and tapped him to play on Joan's disc and now this gig. He's a name to remember. "Swinging Charles," as we call him, was particularly taken with Fortner's way with backing vocals, an art in and of itself.
These two nights of music, btw, are part of the Kerrytown's
25th anniversary celebration. In this economy, seeing a vital institution
like Kerrytown mark such an anniversary is cause for celebration.
- W. Kim Heron, Metro Times 9/18/2009
2009 Detroit Jazz Festival Jazz Guardian Artistry Award
International Trumpet Guild
Journal article:
Marcus Belgrave on Teaching
and Playing By Honoring the Past.
This PDF file is posted through the kind permission of the International
Trumpet Guild. For further information about ITG, please visit the organization's
website (www.trumpetguild.org)
New
CD Available!! Excitable - Joan Belgrave
with Marcus Belgrave, Charlie Gabriel and Sullivan
Fortner
More info...
Belgrave,
Gabriel Will Introduce CD at Bert's Posted: 2009-01-15 on ALLABOUTJAZZ
Annual Jazz Event Delights
Crowds - February 26, 2009
BY MARY ELLE HUNTER: SPECIAL TO THE PILOT from ThePilot.com
Jazz great gives top-grade tribute to Armstrong : Review by Chris Lopez of The Clarion, Citrus College, Glendora, CA - 3/4/09
Interview with
Marcus Belgrave by José A. López of the Pomerado
Newspaper Group,
Poway, CA - February 4, 2009
I Dig
Jazz: Charles L. Latimer's Jazz Journal - Monday, January 19, 2009
Review of the release of the Once Again CD
"Detroit trumpet hero Marcus Belgrave has been
playing with remarkable creativity and strength in recent months, and
because he doesn't play all that many high-profile local gigs these
days, you have to jump on any opportunity -- especially when he's playing
the no-nonense bebop that made his reputation. He's a treasure, producing
a golden tone and lyric bursts of spidery ideas that coalesce in gorgeous
paragraphs of melody."
-Mark Stryker, Free Press music critic - November 29, 2008
Marcus Belgrave, Phil Ranelin,Wendell Harrison--
Tribe New Release!!!
September 27, 2008 Marcus Belgrave
performed as Special Guest Artist with
Wynton Marsalis' Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra/Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Marsalis quote "I was honored to
sit next to Marcus in recording sessions"
On Thursday, August 14th, Marcus Belgrave received
designation as 'Jazz Master Laureate' for
the City of Detroit via a Testimonial Resolution presented by The Detroit
City Council and the Dr. Charles H. Wright Museum of African American
History!
Photos of the ceremony
Article from www.today.com: www.today.com/view/detroit-jewel-marcus-belgrave/id-2883564/ - 19k
Tribute to Marcus Belgrave by his Protoges - Kenny
Garrett, Geri Allen, Robert Hurst
Read article
Marcus Belgrave recorded with, and … considered
by Stevie Wonder’
as one of his...“People of Wonder”.
http://www.steviewonder.org.uk/people_of_wonder.htm
Soon to be released & Produced by .... DJ Carl
Craig..... a project with Legendary Tribe Members Marcus Belgrave, Wendell Harrison, Phil Ranelin, & Doug
Hammond!!!
Full Press Release
Marcus Belgrave Octet to perform
at Festival of the Forks
Full Press Release
Marcus Belgrave continues to
mentor as part of San Francisco States "Generations Jazz Master
Mentors Group" with Jimmy Cobb, Ray Drummond, Ronnie Mathews, Eric Alexander, & Andrew Speight
San
Francisco State’s International Center for the Arts Debuts “Generations”
Article on ejazznews.com Posted by: editoron Friday, November 02, 2007
Marcus
Belgrave is the Door to Jazz!
Where It's @, Southern Utah's Entertainment Guide,
Oct. 12 - 18, 2007