Cooper Meets Belgrave
By Susan Cross
I met Marcus when I came out of the military back in the ‘50s.
He was in the Air Force in Wichita Falls, Texas. He would come down to Dallas on weekends where
we would have the jam sessions. He was getting out of the Air Force. They
brought him down to a jam session, and I just got out of the Army – that’s how
long ago I met him. He figured that the guys in Dallas couldn’t play too much.
He’s got people in New York so he figured he’s coming down south and these were
nobodies. Well, he plays trumpet now, but he brought this trombone to the jam
session. He was experimenting and those guys I played with were hot. He was
surprised.
He said, “Next Sunday I’ll bring my trumpet.” Never underestimate
your adversaries.
So people in this club where I was working in Dallas called
the Harmony Lounge got to hear him. People like Pat Boone used to hang out in
there. All the kids from north Texas, big college, up the road 30 miles, would
come down to the Harmony Lounge and all the top musicians would come in and
play. It was a regular Sunday shootout.
I told him, “Why don’t you try to get with Ray Charles?” A
lot of the guys he knew from the sessions in Dallas were with Ray. When they
went to his home town, Chester, Pennsylvania, he got in the band. When I came back
into the band he was already there. We were old friends.
I’m talking back in the late 50s. We go back farther I
think. We were so tight. It’s funny how a band would be so involved with
people.
People don’t realize how tight. We used to go to night clubs
and see these girls talking to a local guy, and we would say, that’s so and
so’s wife. It was a shame. We would be upset. And some guy wouldn’t even know. He’d
just say look at this. We’d say that’s a friend of mine. There was such a
closeness.
Marcus always had such a good heart. He’s a good man. Guys
used to gamble back in the early days. I remember in Detroit the road manager
broke the band. But Marcus broke him. So we didn’t have any money. Every day
Marcus would come by and take us to dinner. The band would line up like
soldiers.
“Time to go eat,” Marcus said. We had a three dice game
called 4-5-6. Poker with dice. We used to play it back in the day. It’s an
interesting game and guys used to lose, lose, lose. I was just not a gambler.
I remember Marcus’ father, his brothers in Chester, all of
them are deceased. We were tight. He left the band and then he came back. Every
time I would go to
Detroit,
we’d have dinner or something and hang out. We keep in touch.
We went to Chicago for a reunion not too long ago. Cynthia
Scott was there, too.
Marcus is very stable and very popular. He has a school in
Detroit for jazz musicians that were very poor, ghetto kids. He’s gotten
several awards. He’s highly respected.
Interview with Marcus Belgrave - August 2009
Where are you from
originally?
I’m from Chester, Pennsylvania. I knew Leroy before I joined
the band. I met Leroy when I was in the Air force. I was stationed in Wichita
Falls, Texas. I didn’t know too much about Texas so I was really despondent
about being there. That’s when I met Leroy and he was working in a club. That
was one of the first places that I got a chance to hear some real dyed in the
wool jazz out of the southwest.
Everywhere you go you run into guys like Leroy and James
Clay. They’ve got it all over the country. He was one of the great jazz
musicians that I met. It was a revelation. I felt like I was a student. They
gave me such a warm welcoming into a society of music that was not getting
introduced to me. So it was an awakening to me. Running into Leroy Cooper and
James Clay and Bobby Bradford in the same club. That was one of the most
inspiring moments in my world. That’s my world. And John Hardee.
How long had you been
playing trumpet by then?
My father taught me when I was young.
Then he sent me to a music conservatory in
the Philadelphia area. Mike Boslet also taught me. I was all ears. My cousin,
who is also a very fine baritone player in Dizzy Gillespie’s band, was the
first one that taught me a Charlie Parker tune by ear. I was about 5-years old.
My life has been one great musical experience and Leroy Cooper opened my eyes
to the realities of places I could play. That was the most memorable
experience. Being in Texas, I thought that being part of the Air Force band
would be a great thing but it didn’t turn out that way. John Hardee taking me
to Dallas and introducing me to these guys gave me a new life.
How long were you in
the Air Force?
I was with them over two years. It was during the Korean
War. It was a four-year hitch but after two years you could take a voluntary
discharge and that’s what I did.
When did you join the
Ray Charles band?
After I left the Air Force, I met Ray Charles and Leroy was
with him then. I got a chance to sit in with them. I didn’t get a job with them
then because one of the guys was sick and he went home so I did get a chance to
sit in with them, but he was coming back. So it wasn’t until about three months
later until I got hired. Ray came to my home town and spent about three weeks
and I got the job. The last day Ray Charles was going to be in town I went by
this club and someone said, Hey, they’ve been looking for you. Ray Charles
asked could I be ready in an hour. I said I’ll do my best. Leroy wasn’t in the
band then. Three months before that, a few months before Christmas, I guess he
decided to stay home in Dallas. And for whatever reasons Ray told me that if
you want this gig you can have it. I didn’t think too much about it. I wanted
to play with Ray’s band because it was one of the first bands I heard that had
that heart and soul. That was 1958.
How long were you with
the band?
I stayed with him off and on until 1963 then I went back
with him a couple of times 1970-71.
When was the last time
you got together with the band members?
We did a tribute to Ray in Chicago last year [2008] at the jazz
festival. They wanted someone there who had been in the band so they asked me
to put the band together from Ray’s small band. Leroy came up for that. They
gathered us together; the ones who had played in Ray’s small band. Leroy was
number one, Phil Guilbeau on trumpet, Hank Crawford, David Newman, and me on
trumpet. Cynthia Scott was there, too. Leroy and David Newman are the ones I
kept in touch more than the others. I’ve always been in contact with Cooper.
The great reunion. Previously we had done one with Ray in Chicago in 1997.
Is that the last time
you saw Ray?
That was one of the times that Ray got everyone back
together. Ray was very much a part of that getting together of the band which
he called his favorite small band. The last time was in 1979 for Saturday Night
Live.
What are you involved
with now?
I’m happily married to a beautiful lady named Joan. We
perform together, playing jazz.
I founded an organization for underprivileged kids to learn
music. Actually the kids had formed together so I just made it a foundation.
They wanted to learn something about jazz and performing. I guess I was just in
the right place at the right time. So many came through and became successful. It
wasn’t planned. I was involved with a government sponsored program that lasted
three years in Detroit. When that folded up, there was some kids that didn’t
have the opportunity to come under that wing and they wanted to continue. So
they came to me. They were very ambitious and dedicated.
It became so successful with those young people, and so many
of them have made great lives and have done quite well on their own.
Copyright © 2013 Susan Cross – All rights reserved
