Marcus Belgrave: An Appreciation
It is still hard to believe Marcus Belgrave is gone. He passed away on May 24 at 73 years of age. Belgrave has been such a fixture on the Detroit jazz scene since the 1960s when he got off the road and settled here. As listeners, we took it for granted that he would sit in as a surprise guest when some major jazz figure appeared at a local club or concert. We were used to the fact that he could keep up with anybody and that his appearance would raise the intensity of any ongoing session. At jam sessions he was the guy who set background riffs, cued soloists, and kept the music on course.
He was the quintessential improviser who could add something to a session, no matter the style, excelling at bebop, to be sure, but comfortable with any style of jazz from trad to post-bop. In recent years he gained a following playing Louis Armstrong's tunes, but that was nothing new. We remember being floored by his version of "West End Blues" around 1980. Some of us first heard him playing in a post-bop context with Tribe in the mid-1970s and brought to mind Clifford Brown, who one of his early mentors. His full tone and the constant flow of ideas was mesmerizing. Marcus had a generous spirit; he had a marvelous gravely laugh that was akin to his singing voice. His generosity, like his laugh, was often serious because he loved people and music and was always eager to help other musicians, young or old. His role as a mentor is by now legendary.
Unfortunately, there are relatively few recordings in print that show him at the top of his game. Among our favorites is Live at Kerrytown Concert House, with Detroit pianists Tommy Flanagan, Geri Allen and Gary Schunk. Another is the 1992 Working Together, made with his friend drummer Lawrence Williams. Anytime Belgrave and Lawrence Williams teamed up, they created magic, especially when performing Williams' driving compositions. Long after Williams passed, Marcus would play these songs in his live performances and recorded them in 2008 on The Song is You, a mesmerizing series of duets with guitarist Michéle Ramo. This recording ends with Marcus singing "What a Wonderful World;" listening to it today provides a reminder of how this great musician embraced life and art.