Marcus Belgrave  

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Marcus Belgrave (June 12, 1936 – May 24, 2015) was a jazz trumpet player from Detroit, born in Chester, Pennsylvania. He recorded with a variety of famous musicians, bandleaders, and record labels since the 1950s. His composition "Space Odyssey", originally released on Gemini II (1974) was included on the anthology Universal Sounds of America (1995) and was reprised on The Detroit Experiment (2003).

Biography

Belgrave was tutored by Clifford Brown before joining the Ray Charles touring band. He later worked with Gunther Schuller, Carl Craig, Max Roach, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles Mingus, Tony Bennett, La Palabra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dizzy Gillespie and John Sinclair, amongst others.

Belgrave was a frequent faculty member at Stanford Jazz Workshop and a visiting professor of jazz trumpet at the Oberlin Conservatory. Among Belgrave's students were Rodney Whitaker, Kenny Garrett, Robert Hurst, Regina Carter, James Carter, Geri Allen, Karriem Riggins, Kasan Belgrave and Carlos McKinney.

Belgrave died on May 24, 2015, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, of heart failure, after being hospitalized since April with complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure.

Discography

As leader

• Gemini II (Tribe Records, 1974; reissued Universal Sound, 2004).
• Working together (Detroit Jazz), 1992 (featuring Lawrence Williams)
• Live at Kerrytown Concert House (Detroit Jazz), 1995
• In the tradition (GHB) (featuring Doc Cheatham and Art Hodes)
• You don't know me - Tribute to New Orleans, Ray Charles and the Great Ladies of Song (DJMC), 2006
• Marcus, Charlie and Joan...Once again (DJMC), 2008

As sideman

With Geri Allen

• Open on All Sides in the Middle (Minor Music, 1987)
• The Nurturer (Blue Note, 1991)
• Maroons (Blue Note, 1992)
• The Life of a Song (Telarc, 2004)
• Grand River Crossings (Motéma, 2013)

With George Gruntz

• Theatre (ECM, 1983)

With McCoy Tyner

• La Leyenda de La Hora (Columbia, 1985)

With B.B. King

• Let the Good Times Roll (1999)

With David Murray

• Black & Black (1991)

With Horace Tapscott

• Aiee! The Phantom (Arabesque, 1996)

With Joe Henderson

• Big Band (album) (Verve, 1997)

With Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

• They Came To Swing (live) (Sony,1994)

Other

• The Detroit Experiment (2003)