U.S. Trumpeter Marcus Belgrave Dies Aged 78
U.S. jazz trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, who performed with some of his era's biggest names including Ray Charles and Dizzy Gillespie, died Sunday. He was 78.
The Detroit musician died in Ann Arbor, Michigan from heart failure, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Belgrave had a profound influence on the Detroit jazz scene and kept playing almost until the very end -- even hosting brief jam sessions with other musicians from his hospital bed, the newspaper reported.
"He became a mentor to entire generations of musicians, and a lot of us would not have found the music without him," bassist Rodney Whitaker told the Free Press.
Belgrave began trumpeting as a professional when he was just 12, and played with Ray Charles in the late 1950s and early '60s.
He also played with some of America's jazz greats including Max Roach and Charles Mingus.
"If I had Marcus Belgrave, I'd have the greatest band going," Mingus told Down Beat magazine in 1975, lamenting the fact he could not persuade Belgrave to leave Detroit and head to New York, where he would surely have secured a larger national profile.
Belgrave's contributions also included a passion for teaching and he ran a workshop to help aspiring musicians.
Source: Agence France Presse
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