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Trumpeter Theo Croker to perform Special Tribute to Parkland Students

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Segerstrom Center for the Arts will become the first performing arts center in the United States to feature the Instrument of Hope on Friday, August 30 during the final Free Summer Jazz concert on the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza. The Instrument of Hope is a one-of-a-kind trumpet made from one hundred spent bullet casings, the same number used in the 2018 Parkland, Florida high school mass shooting. It will be played by Echo Award nominee and Theodore Presser Award-winning jazz trumpeter Theo Croker in a special tribute.

The Instrument of Hope is a project initiated by students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Publicis New York, and Shine MSD, Inc., a non-profit organization created by Parkland students to advance healing through the arts. The Instrument of Hope was designed and hand-crafted by Josh Landress, an NYC-based instrument specialist who donated much of his time and labor for the fabrication of the trumpet. The student-led group from MSD have inspired an instrument born from violence, now transformed into hope – using music to shine a light through the darkness of the school shooting.

Judy Morr, the Center’s Executive Vice President, Producing Director, remarked: “Segerstrom Center for the Arts deeply believes that the Arts can provide a catalyst to bring everyone together for healing and engender hope for humanity. We are honored to be the first performing arts center in the United States to feature the Instrument of Hope and know its sound and sight are an important vessel for conversation, collaboration, and community.”

 

Since its first performance, the Instrument of Hope has been played by Panic! At the Disco, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Keyon Harrold and Brian Newman. Parkland’s Glen Friedman used it to play the national anthem to open an NBA game between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics.

Three months after the shooting, Stoneman Douglas High School students Sawyer Garrity and Andrea Peña composed the song “Shine” to help in their own personal healing. Students later created a music video titled “Shine” to commemorate the victims and to help other survivors with their healing. “Shine” raised awareness and funds for organizations that promote healing through the arts, working through ShineMSD, a non-profit created by the students. ShineMSD’s mission is to promote healing through the arts and, specifically, music. Shine Video Seventy-one musicians, including Arturo Sandoval, Randy Brecker, Wayne Bergeron, Jeff  Beal, Chuck Findley, and Terell Stafford recently recorded a new version of “Shine” that will be released this fall.

The August 30 Summer Jazz performance begins with Sweet Baby J’ai at 7:00 p.m., followed by Croker and the Instrument of Hope at approximately 8:00 p.m. The program concludes with The Women of Jazz.

About Theo Croker
Theo Croker is an American jazz trumpeter, producer, arranger, songwriter and multi-instrument. He was born in Leesburg, Florida, the second son of William Henry Croker, a civil rights activist, high school principal and farmer, and is the grandson of Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Doc Cheatham.
The 34-year-old Croker has released five studio albums —Fundamentals (2006), In the Tradition (2009), Afro Physicist (2014), Escape Velocity (2016) and Star People Nation (2019). He has also been featured on J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only(2016) and Common’s Black America Again (2016) and Ari Lennox’s debut album Shea Butter Baby (2019). He is a three-time Echo Award nominee, as well as a Theodore Presser Award recipient.

In addition to being the grandson of Doc Cheatham, Croker is a former student of legendary jazz trumpeter. He follows naturally an internal need to compose. Learning to play the trumpet at age 11 after hearing Cheatham play in New York City, by his teens, Croker was studying music formally at the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville, followed by the Music Conservatory at Oberlin College.

Croker returned to the United States after a seven-year stay in Shanghai, China, where he broadened his concept of jazz to encompass other complementary genres such as salsa, fusion-rock, R&B, hip-hop and blues. While in Shanghai, he held a five-month residency at Shanghai’s House of Blues. Soon after that he was hired as the house band for Asia Uncut Star Network, a late-night television show modeled on the Tonight Show–where Theo served as music director, bandleader and in-house composer until mid-2010. In July 2010 Croker became the first artist in residence at Shanghai’s Peace Hotel Jazz Bar, the oldest and longest-running music club in China. Both the Jazz Bar and the hotel, now the Fairmont Peace Hotel, date back to the 1920s when it was known as the Cathay Hotel.

Returning to the United States, Croker launched his, introducing his singular style in 2014 on Dee Dee Bridgewater-assisted AfroPhyicist. His 2016 follow-up, Escape Velocity, marked a watershed moment for the artist, with the Wall Street Journal extolling the album as “timeless and of-the-moment.” The first single off his Star People Nation album paid homage to legendary jazz musician Elvin Jones, titled “The Messenger,” featuring guest pianist ELEW. Croker states in an article from Earmilk, “How we swing our quarter note is the basis of all black music. It’s the beat, and this song was made to reflect the power in that swing.” “The Messenger” was arranged and recorded in Brooklyn, New York. Mixed and mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer, producer, and arranger Bob Power. Croker’s second lead single was premiered by Afropunk. The track is titled “Understand Yourself,” featuring Jamaican reggae artist Chronixx.

Croker has also lent his talents to the world of hip hop, with rap superstar J. Cole’s platinum-certified No. 1 opus 4 Your Eyez Only, with Croker acting as trumpet arranger and performer on multiple tracks. Grammy® Award-winning rapper Common also sought out Croker for his critically acclaimed album Black America Again. In 2019, Croker also leant his trumpet talents to the most recent release by Dreamville artist Ari Lennox’s Shea Butter Baby.
Earlier this year, China Moses and Croker, along with the DVRK Funk band double headlined in Ludwigshafen, Germany at the Das Feierabendhaus der BASF. This time, Fawzi Haimor conducted.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is an acclaimed arts institution as well as a beautiful multi-disciplinary cultural campus. Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center is Orange County’s largest non-profit arts organization. In addition to its six performance venues, Segerstrom Center is also home to the American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School and the School of Dance and Music for Children with Disabilities.

The Center presents a broad range of programming for audiences of all ages, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, children’s programming that features theater companies from around the world, free year-round performances open to the public on the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza, including movie screenings, dance events and lessons, community festivals and more.

INSTRUMENT OF HOPE
with Theo Croker
Segerstrom Center for the Arts – Julianne and George Argyros Plaza
600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA
Friday, August 30, 2019
7:00 p.m. – Sweet Baby J’ai
8:00 p.m. – Instrument of Hope with Theo Croker
8:15 p.m. The Women of Jazz
Admission – FREE – Non-ticketed
Information – www.SCFTA.org
Phone – (714) 556-2787

Information provided is accurate at the time of printing but is subject to change.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is a public, non-profit organization.

“Segerstrom Center for the Arts” is a registered trademark.

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