Jun 10, 2025 4:13 PM
Theo Croker’s Dream … Manifested!
Partway through his early set at Smoke Jazz Club, Theo Croker blinks the room back into focus. He leans over the piano.…
On Nov. 17, the Mississippi Blues Commission will place a historic marker at the site of Trumpet Records in Jackson, Miss. The label, owned and operated by Lillian and Willard McMurry, recorded and released albums by Elmore James, Sonny Boy Williamson, Arthur Crudup and Big Joe Willliams. The McMurrys, both of whom are in the Mississippi Music Hall of Fame, started the label from their retail store, the Record Mart, in 1950.
Trumpet Records was the first record company in Mississippi to achieve national stature through its distribution, sales, radio airplay and promotion.
The marker will become part of the Mississippi Blues Trail, a project of more than 100 markers and interpretative sties located throughout the state. Funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the markers highlight notable sites, chosen by a panel of historians and blues scholars, that document the rich history of blues music in Mississippi.
More info: WebbWilder.com
To record Dream Manifest (Dom Recs), Croker convened artists from his current and recent past ensembles, plus special guests.
Jun 10, 2025 4:13 PM
Partway through his early set at Smoke Jazz Club, Theo Croker blinks the room back into focus. He leans over the piano.…
“There’s nothing quite like it,” Springs says of working with an orchestra. “It’s 60 people working in harmony in the moment. Singing with them is kind of empowering but also humbling at the same time.”
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You see before you what we believe is the largest and most comprehensive Critics Poll in the history of jazz. DownBeat…
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Chuck Mangione on the cover of the May 8, 1975, edition of DownBeat.
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Chuck Mangione, one of the most popular trumpeters in jazz history, passed away on July 24 at home in Rochester, New…
