Name: Theo Croker
Occupation: Trumpet player, composer, producer, vocalist
Nationality: American
Current release: Theo Croker's By the Way EP, featuring Ego Ella M,ay and D'LEAU is out via People Nation. He will perform at Cheltenham Jazz Festival which takes place Wednesday 1 – Monday May 6 2024. Other acts on the bill include Dionne Warwick, Robert Plant, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Jack Savoretti, Snarky Puppy, Brad Mehldau Trio, Bettye Lavette, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Sultan Stevenson, Lakecia Benjamin, Nubiyan Twist, Fatoumata Diawara and Zara McFarlane. Buy tickets directly here.
Recommendations: I like art by Kerry James Marshall. Really interesting  and just beautiful. His paintings are beautiful. I would check that out.
And also Tokio Aoyama. Another artist who does a lot of album covers but also paintings. His work is beautiful. And he did my last two covers for Love Quantum and Black for Life. A future past.

[Read our Sophie Ellis-Bextor interview]
[Read our Jack Savoretti interview]
[Read our Sultan Stevenson interview]
[Read our Nubiyan Twist interview]

If you enjoyed this Theo Croker interview and would like to know more about and stay up to date with his music, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram.

To keep reading, we also have a Uèle Lamore interview for the thoughts of one of his collaborators.



Do you think that some of your earliest musical experiences planted a seed for your interest in improvisation?

I would say improvisation was my earliest musical experience.

It was the seed that led me to want to experience more music and that feeling of improvisation and unknowing.

When did you first consciously start getting interested in musical improvisation? Which artists teachers, albums or performances involving prominent use of improvisation captured your imagination at the beginning?

I would say, again, I was always interested in musical improvisation. Which artists and teachers? I mean, all of them. Yusef Lateef, John Coltrane, Earth, Wind and Fire, Stevie Wonder, Gato Barbieri, Outcast, Michael Jackson, Prince.



I just feel like the improvisational aspect is also in how you how you perceive it, how you replicate it in your own mind or in your own creativity as a musician.

Tell me about your instrument and/or tools, please. What made you seek it out? What makes it your instrument and what are some of the most important aspects of playing it?

For me, it's about sound. I love the sound of the trumpet and the variation within the sounds, and the tonality of the sounds, the sweetness and the roughness. Translating it from a human voice into trumpet notes.

That's what makes it my instrument. I have been playing it, I guess, for over 28 years now.

Is that right? 28 years or 21 years ... something like that. It's been a minute.

How would you describe your own relationship with your instrument – is it an extension of your self/body, a partner and companion, a creative catalyst, a challenge to be overcome, something else entirely?

It's a piece of metal that's crafted to vibrate. I put the soul into it. That's me.

I guess in a way it's an extension, but it's really a tool. The spirit is what goes in and comes out of it.

Derek Bailey defined improvising as the search for material which is endlessly transformable. What kind of materials have turned to be particularly transformable and stimulating for you?

I am not searching for something endless. I am remaining forever present and reacting. And participating in the conversation creatively and supporting and looking to find the most beautiful moments and all of their different timbres and intensities.

It's about letting myself and the listener experience it.

Do you feel as though there are at least elements of composition and improvisation which are entirely unique to each?

No, improvisation is composition. Composition is improvisation. They're one and the same and I think all my work reflects that. So you can take your pick on something you like the most.

One of my favourites is Hero Stomp.



On that piece, you really hear the interplay between all the people in the band and the melody, and the counter melody in the bassline and the melody and the drums - the rhythmic melody - and how the intertwines with the improvisation in and out. It's a pretty cool example.

When you're improvising, does it actually feel like you're inventing something on the spot – or are you inventively re-arranging patterns from preparations, practise or previous performances? What balance is there between forgetting and remembering in your work?

I do my best not to be cliche. And when it comes to dealing with patterns, I just deal with sounds and vibrations, tonalities keys, progressions.

When I practice, I don't repeat things I already know how to play or hear. I'll start off a practice session, sounding not good at what I'm trying to play, and not executing it very well with the accuracy that my technique could command - because I don't hear it correctly yet. But I'm finding what it is!

And I do that slowly, until I work myself up to being able to hear it and play it and feel it more fluidly. Continually improvising the composition throughout its practice, whatever the harmonic exercise. I don't like the word pattern because I wouldn't use a set pattern, I would keep changing where I start and finish.

And you really teach your ear, the whole tonality and all the different starting points and ending points, parallel and nine, even and odd, ascending and descending and interpolating as much as I can to really understand that tonality, that key, that vibration, that chord, those harmonics. And when I hear that tonality, I'm open to continuing the story that I'm telling. And I'm continuing a melody, continuing a story. So that I can be free to just express whatever's happening in that moment, what I'm trying to say.

Now, it's just mainly about remembering the sequence of chords, and the order of operations. But you don't think about those things. Once you know them, you don't think about them.

In terms of your personal expression and the experience of performance, how does playing solo compare to group improvisations?

All your expressions are personal when received. But I mean everybody's always improvising … (laughs) When is it not that? So I don't know if there's a difference.

If I were to play a solo show, I would be in control of all aspects of the vibe and harmonics and creation. So that would be the most free. But that's not to say that a group improvisation is restrictive. I believe that freedom can be found within any parameter or confine. That's the meaning of true freedom.

In your best improvisations, do you feel a strong sense of personal presence or do you (or your ego) “disappear”?  

I'm just an instrument. I'm just a medium.

So everything disappears. It just becomes whatever the music is in that moment.

In a live situation, decisions between creatives often work without words. From your experience and current projects, what does this process feel like and how does it work?

You just tap in man, it's telepathic.

When you're playing with cats, you know ... once you establish a certain raport from spending time together, travelling together, eating together, breaking bread together, you know, cutting loose together, exploring together. manoeuvring through different cultures together … once you do all that stuff together as a band, you become a unit and you start to express things together because you live in the same experience. And you start to play that way.

So that's definitely being communicated b good leadership skills on the bandstand. And a band that's involved in and paying attention and open to feeling. And that's what we strive for every night.

Stewart Copeland said: “Listening is where the cool stuff comes from. And that listening thing, magically, turns all of your chops into gold.” What do you listen for?

I listen for sound, tone, melody, feeling, emotion, drama. I listen for range. I listen for intensity, intention, meaning.

I have always been fascinated by the many facets of improvisation but sometimes found it hard to follow them as a listener. Do you have some recommendations for “how to listen” in this regard?

Listen, don't judge it. Just hear it. Just listen, let go. And the more it makes you want to try to understand it or feel confused by it, then listen even more intently, let go even more. It's like therapy.

It's easy to meditate at the top of the mountain in complete silence, while close to the heavens. But can you meditate in the middle of the city? With all the madness going on? That's real thing.

In a way, improvisations remind us of the transitory nature of life. When an improvisation ends, is it really gone, just like a cup of coffee? Or does it live on in some form?

It's gone. It's that moment.

And that's what it's supposed to be. That's why it's so magnificent. And so captivating. And so real.