Theodore Lee Croker (July 18, 1985) is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, producer and vocalist. He is a
Grammy Award nominee, three-time
Echo Award
Echo Music Prize (stylised as ECHO, ) was an accolade by the , an association of recording companies of Germany to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The first ECHO Awards ceremony was held in 1992, and it was set up to hono ...
nominee, as well as a Theodore Presser Award recipient.
Croker has released seven studio albums — ''Fundamentals'' (2006), ''In the Tradition'' (2009), ''Afro Physicist'' (2014), ''Escape Velocity'' (2016), ''Star People Nation'' (2019), ''Blk2Life/A Future Past'' (2021) and ''Love Quantum'' (2022). He has also been featured on
J. Cole's ''
4 Your Eyez Only
''4 Your Eyez Only'' is the fourth studio album by American rapper J. Cole. It was released on December 9, 2016, by Dreamville Records, Roc Nation and Interscope Records. The album was Cole's first release with Interscope—his previous albums w ...
'' (2016) and
Common's ''
Black America Again'' (2016) and
Ari Lennox's debut album, ''
Shea Butter Baby'' (2019).
Early life
Croker was born July 18, 1985, in
Leesburg, Florida, and is the second son of William Henry Croker, a civil rights activist, high school principal and farmer, and Alicia Cheatham, a guidance counselor, and the grandson of Grammy Award-winning trumpeter
Doc Cheatham
Adolphus Anthony Cheatham, better known as Doc Cheatham (June 13, 1905 – June 2, 1997), was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader. He is also the Grandfather of musician Theo Croker.
Early life
Doc Cheatham was born in Nashv ...
.
Croker is a graduate of the
Oberlin College Conservatory
The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music conservatory in Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the second oldest conservatory and oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States. It is one of t ...
.
Career
2007–13: Asia
In 2013, Croker returned to the United States after a seven-year stay in Shanghai, China, where he broadened his concept of jazz to encompass other genres such as salsa, fusion-rock, R&B, hip-hop and blues. While in Shanghai, he held a five-month residency at Shanghai's House of Blues. Soon after that he was hired as the house band for ''Asia Uncut Star Network'', a late-night television show modeled on ''The Tonight Show'' where he served as music director, bandleader and in-house composer until mid-2010.
That same year Croker met and performed for the first time with vocalist
Dee Dee Bridgewater. Over the next two years, Bridgewater and Croker kept in touch, exchanging musical ideas. In July 2010, Croker became the first artist in residence at Shanghai's
Peace Hotel
The Peace Hotel () is a hotel on The Bund in Shanghai, China, which overlooks the surrounding areas. The hotel has two different buildings. The Sassoon House, originally housed the Cathay Hotel and is today the Fairmont Peace Hotel run by Fairmon ...
Jazz Bar, the oldest and longest-running music club in China. Both the Jazz Bar and the hotel, now the Fairmont Peace Hotel, date back to the 1920s when it was known as the Cathay Hotel.
2016–19: The Messenger, Star People Nation
On March 1, the first single off ''Star People Nation'' was released, which paid homage to the jazz musician
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones (September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004) was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era.
Most famously a member of John Coltrane's quartet, with whom he recorded from late 1960 to late 1965, Jones appeared on such widely celebrate ...
, titled "The Messenger" featuring guest pianist ELEW. Croker states in an article from Earmilk, "How we swing our quarter note is the basis of all black music. It's the beat, and this song was made to reflect the power in that swing." "The Messenger" was arranged and recorded in Brooklyn, New York. It was mixed and mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer, producer, and arranger
Bob Power
Bob Power is an American Grammy Award–winning and multi-platinum record producer, audio engineer, composer, arranger, performer, and music educator.
Early life
Power was born in Chicago, moved to Rye, New York, then moved to St. Louis, Missou ...
. On April 11, Croker's second lead single was premiered by
Afropunk. The track is titled "Understand Yourself" featuring Jamaican reggae artist
Chronixx
Jamar Rolando McNaughton (born 10 October 1992), popularly known as Chronixx, is a Jamaican reggae artist. His stage name replaced the name "Little Chronicle" which he was given because of his father, the singer "Chronicle".Jackson, Kevin (2014) ...
.
Qwest TV
Qwest TV is a subscription video-on-demand ( SVOD) service featuring jazz and other eclectic music, including classical, blues, and soul.
Qwest TV was created in 2017 by Quincy Jones and Reza Ackbaraly.
History Key dates
Reza Ackbaraly (member ...
by
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...
interviewed the composer about ''Star People Nation'', which released on May 17. A music review by Floriane Esnault from Qwest TV stated, contrary to the political accents that are perhaps contained within the title ''Star People Nation'', Croker refused to enter into this easy "hype" that he sees many musicians devoting themselves to according to. Croker then responded by saying, "I know that many people use jazz to spice up their music, politically, but don't give back to it because they don't learn it and don't respect the masters or their ancestors."
2019: Das Feierabendhaus der BASF, Orchestra debut
In 2019,
China Moses
China Moses (born January 9, 1978, in Los Angeles) is an American singer and television host.
Life and career
Born in Los Angeles, California, China Moses is the daughter of jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater and director Gilbert Moses. She r ...
and Theo Croker, along with the DVRK Funk band double headlined in Ludwigshafen, Germany at the Das Feierabendhaus der BASF. This time, Fawzi Haimor conducted.
Discography
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Croker, Theo
1985 births
Living people
African-American jazz musicians
American jazz bandleaders
American jazz singers
American male trumpeters
American jazz composers
21st-century trumpeters
American male jazz composers
21st-century African-American male singers
20th-century African-American male singers
Arbors Records artists
Okeh Records artists