Music
Marcus Belgrave
1936–2015 · jazz trumpeter, educator
Trumpeter who left Ray Charles's band for Detroit in 1963 to record at Motown and became the city's great jazz teacher, mentoring a generation of Detroit stars.
- Born
Chester, Pennsylvania- Died
Ann Arbor, Michigan
aged 78- Birth name
- Marcus Batista Belgrave
- Detroit years
- 1963–2015
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Tutored as a young man by Clifford Brown, Belgrave toured with Ray Charles before moving to Detroit in 1963 to play on sessions for Berry Gordy at Hitsville U.S.A., where he recorded behind Martha and the Vandellas, the Temptations and the Four Tops. He stayed for the rest of his life. In the 1970s he played with the Tribe collective, recording Gemini II for its label, and founded the Jazz Development Workshop, while his residencies at Cass Technical High School and in Detroit schools shaped a remarkable run of students: Geri Allen, Regina Carter, Kenny Garrett, James Carter, Robert Hurst, Rodney Whitaker, Marion Hayden and Karriem Riggins among them. He also recorded with Charles Mingus, Max Roach, McCoy Tyner, Wynton Marsalis's Lincoln Center orchestra and techno producer Carl Craig, and taught at Oberlin and the Stanford Jazz Workshop. In 2009 he was the first artist named a Kresge Eminent Artist. He died in Ann Arbor in 2015.
Highlights
- Moved to Detroit in 1963 to record for Motown
- Founded the Jazz Development Workshop in the 1970s
- Mentor to Geri Allen, Regina Carter, Kenny Garrett, James Carter and others
- Recorded Gemini II (1974) for Detroit's Tribe label
- First Kresge Eminent Artist (2009)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Recorded here · 1963–1960s
Motown Museum
Motown's West Grand Boulevard studio, where Belgrave played on sessions after moving to Detroit in 1963; now the Motown Museum.
Worked here · 1960s–1970s
Cass Technical High School
Belgrave was artist in residence at Cass Tech, where bassist Marion Hayden was among his students.
Buried here · 2015
United Memorial Gardens
Cemetery in Superior Township west of Detroit where Belgrave was buried in 2015.