Theo Croker is speaking through a glitchy video connection from Shanghai, where he played thousands of gigs during a seven-year stint in China from 2007–2013, and he’s taking fresh news about an upcoming assignment in stride.
A prodigious trumpeter, composer, producer, and scion of jazz royalty, Croker is set to become the first-ever artist-in-residence at Summer Fest, San Jose Jazz’s flagship music festival that will transform the downtown area around the Plaza de Cesar Chavez into a tropical musical oasis Aug. 8-10. Despite the intermittently frozen picture and audio drop out, he seems clearly pleased to find out about the scope of the gig.
Croker’s involvement in Summer Fest includes guest appearances with the powerhouse funk-fusion outfit Ghost-Note and the hip-hop laced jazz combo Butcher Brown.
Early Saturday evening at the intimate SJZ Break Room, Croker is slated to introduce his own blazing young quartet, featuring pianist/keyboardist Idris Frederick, drummer Miguel Marcel Russell, and double bassist Eric Wheeler, who’s propelled the trumpeter’s bands for the past decade. Though Croker may sit in spontaneously with other acts, he will conclude his official responsibilities at Summer Fest with a Sunday afternoon quartet set at the California Theatre Stage.
“I’ve got a great group of young musicians, with Idris and Miguel both under 30 [years old],” he said, noting that he’s embraced his role as a mentor to the rising generation, having turned 40 last month. “I’m at that middle point where I can be a bridge. I have to be a bridge. It’s part of my growth too. If I don’t absorb what younger people are doing, I’ll be left behind.”
In many ways, he’s a living link to jazz’s early evolution. Croker is the grandson of storied trumpeter Doc Cheatham (1905-1997), who continued to perform into his 90s and often reminisced onstage about his crush on Billie Holiday and love of Louis Armstrong. Mentored early on by trumpeter Donald Byrd, Croker was later championed by vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, who produced his 2014 album AfroPhysicist.
His third album as a leader, the record established Croker as a major league talent with a highly personal approach to weaving hip-hop, R&B, and rock with a matrix of jazz idioms. It’s a project that seemed to extend territory plowed by trumpeter Roy Hargrove, who appeared on the album as a special guest.
Haitian American vocalist Tyreek McDole has praised Croker in interviews for his tone and as an inspiration for his work, saying “Theo has an incredibly unique and supple tone.” The winner of the 2023 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, McDole will join Croker’s quartet at Sunday’s California Theatre Stage in addition to performing his own set the day prior.
On Croker’s new album, Dream Maninfest, he features McDole on “64 Joints,” a song “that has nothing to do with weed or anything like that,” he said. “The song is about enlightenment and reaching your higher self,”— no pun intended.—“It’s been great to see Tyreek start getting attention.”
Known as a showcase for brilliant young jazz musicians, Summer Fest has managed to thrive since 1990 by anchoring the mainstage with big-name acts. Various outdoor venues and surrounding theaters boast deep rosters of jazz greats, mid-career masters, rising stars and student combos, blues acts, Latin jazz combos, and kindred Caribbean and Latin American ensembles.
This year’s headliners include suave jazz crooner José James, rapper Common, New Orleans mainstays Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the all-female East Los Angeles ensemble Mariachi Las Catrinas, Nigerian Afrobeat scion Femi Kuti and Positive Knowledge, and the Headhunters, the influential funk-jazz combo that started as Herbie Hancock’s band (and still features the foundational rhythm section tandem of drummer Mike Clark and percussionist Bill Summers).
“I figure I need five or six bigger names, and then I can book other great music for people to explore and find,” said Artistic Director Bruce Labadie, who’s served as Summer Fest artistic director since the beginning (when it was known as the San Jose Jazz Festival). . Under Labadie, the event has become one of the nation’s most diverse and interesting Latin music showcases, drawing audiences from far outside the Bay Area.
Introducing an artist-in-residence position this year adds another level of depth to the programming. Croker is no stranger to Bay Area stages: He’s played nearly a dozen multi-night residencies at Black Cat, a Tenderloin nightspot that continues to serve as the region’s preeminent showcase for young jazz talent from New York and Los Angeles, and more recently has performed at Yoshi’s and SFJAZZ (where he will return as part of a double bill with vibraphonist Stefon Harris later in the fall).
In much the same way that Ladabie and his booking team seek out the best representatives of the musical traditions presented at Summer Fest, Croker said he looks to boost young artists “who musically deserve it.”
“‘Gatekeeping’ is looked at as a bad word these days, but it’s also quality control,” Croker said. “With streaming, we’re flooded with so much trash, and artists are more exploited than ever.”
A stint in Croker’s band is more than a musical education, it’s also about learning the business and “being a professional, showing up and doing seven interviews, and taking care of yourself on the road. It’s about long-term goals, how to create something that will last 20 years, [and] not just a quick bite and quick success,” he said.