Marcus Belgrave: Preserver of Jazz

SHANNON J. EFFINGER,

Shannon J. Effinger

CD/DVD Reviewer since 2008

Shannon J. Effinger is an arts & music writer living in Brooklyn, New York.

Recent articles (2 total)

Published: September 3, 2012

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AAJ: How do you balance the two roles of musician and educator today?

MB: I stopped playing in nightclubs in 1996. I couldn't take the smoking anymore. By 1998, I embarked on another situation to do a tribute to Louis Armstrong. So I ended up being able to play at concert halls instead of juke joints. So that was a great thing. And then my teaching career started at Oberlin in 1999. I had worked there until 2009. I'm kind of retired now. But my wife and I have a project called "Marcus and Joan" or "Joan and Marcus." And we travel all over the country. Right now, I've been doing a study on Horace Silver's music, which is going to be at the [2012 Detroit Jazz] festival; we're doing a tribute to him with Louis Hayes, who was his drummer, and [trombonist] Curtis Fuller, who's also a mainstay Detroiter. So my coming here to Detroit was lifesaving to me and I imagine uplifting to another couple of generations of great young musicians.

Selected Discography

Marcus Belgrave / Charlie Gabriel / Joan Belgrave, Marcus, Charlie & Joan...Once Again (Detroit Jazzians Coop, 2009)
Marcus Belgrave, Tribute to Louis Armstrong (WJS, 2008)
Marcus Belgrave / Eddie Henderson / Javon Jackson / Ron Carter, Hub Art: A Celebration of the Music of Freddie Hubbard (Hip Bop, 1996)
Marcus Belgrave, Live at Kerrytown Concert House (Detroit Jazzians Coop / DJM Records, 1995)
Marcus Belgrave, Working Together (DJMC, 1992)
Marcus Belgrave, Gemini II (DJMC, 1975)
Marcus Belgrave, Gemini (Soul Jazz, 1974)
Ray Charles, The Genius of Ray Charles (Atlantic, 1959)