City Weekend: Who you?

Theo Croker: I’ve been in shanghai since September 2007. About two and a half years. I’m originally from Florida, near Orlando. Then I migrated to Ohio and then to New York. I’ve never really settled anywhere. I was brought over to play the House of Blues and Jazz. I still go back to New York and do a lot of things there. I did a concert series over the summer at the Reuben Museum of Art. It’s a museum of Tibetan art. I did a series called "Harlem in the Himalayas" that was pieces of music based on Tibetan artwork. I was given a pretty healthy budget so I was able to work with some legends – people like Jimmy Cabb who played drums on "Kind of Blue."

CW: Where do you like playing most?

TC: It all depends. As you know, the sound systems are notoriously bad in Shanghai clubs. But the Cotton Club is wonderful. I like the way the trumpet sounds there. I like the House of Blues and Jazz. The big wooden room I thoroughly enjoy. I like playing JZ late at night at the jam sessions. It can be my favorite spot at times. But I’m not too fond of the sound. It is what it is. I like playing Cotton Club the most. I like playing with Sugar Mama because she has so much experience. That’s what I miss about New York. You need to be around more seasoned people because that way you learn so much.

CW: What do you think about the scene here?

TC: It has a lot of potential. It’s come a long way in the two and a half years I’ve been here. It’s definitely grown a lot. The venues are the same since I got here, but the scene is growing, there are more musicians that have come here. But it’s still very small considering how big the city is. It’s difficult sometimes when you want to do something new. In other places when you want to do something new there is a group of people who are hungry to do something new and there’s nothing holding them back. In far of the audience, I think a lot of people here don’t know what they want – local and expat.

CW: If you could play anything, what would you play?

TC: I would by playing my compositions. The kind of thing you would come and sit down to and be involved in it. Not the kind of thing that you would talk or congregate around. You would go on a trip with us for 45 minutes or an hour, and that would be the experience and then that would end and you could talk or hang out. That’s what I’m used to, where I’m coming from. I like the lively atmosphere at 3am in JZ when I’m working out stuff I’ve been working on. I’m not there for the people, for the audience. But it would be nice to have a place where people could sit down and just listen. I’d rather do that for 10 people than for 50. I play for everybody, but that’s something that’s just starting to develop here.

CW: Do you think in order to appreciate that side of jazz you need to understand jazz very well?

TC: Not at all. I wouldn’t even call my music jazz any more, to be honest with you. It’s just music. If I play with a blues band or I play with the Lions of Puxi or a big band, I’m playing the same stuff. My instrument doesn’t know the difference. The music doesn’t know the difference. That’s all just commercialism and branding. You don’t have to know anything about the music, but in order to be there and enjoy the type of music I’m talking about, you need to want to hear the music, you need to be receptive to it. It’s not casual. It’s very intense. The group of us are all pouring ourselves into it at that moment. It’s definitely in the moment. If I play for you right now, we’re dealing with right now. It’s very intimate and it can do a lot for your soul. That’s how jazz music caught me when I was a little kid. I was 10 or 11 years old and in a jazz club and the music just caught me.

CW: Tell us about the big gig you have coming up in March.

TC: March 7 I’m going to be premiering a piece of music I commissioned myself to write for Shanghai. It’s called “The Path of Transcendence”, which is the translation from the Chinese name. I’m writing it for Shanghai, forCchina, to show my artistic appreciation for being able to grow here, so it’s going to be two 45 minutes sets of all newly composed, original music and it’s not going to be in the format of a jazz set, when you play the melody and people solo. It’s going to be very composed, like a symphony, but in a jazz context.

CW: You mentioned a lot of names of local musicians but do you want to name anyone else who you think is doing good work in the Shanghai scene?

TC: Alec Haavik, I’m a big fan of Alec. Honestly, the music he plays I think this guy is really out there. But that’s what I really like about it. He keeps developing his music. At no point is it good enough, and that’s something I really respect and admire. He’s a great performer. In terms of Chinese artists I really respect Cui Jian. I know he’s huge but we’ve hung out a lot and his music reflects exactly who he is. It’s not an act, it’s not a product. Artistically that’s who he is, emotionally and socially, and that’s something that’s really cool.

CW: You find it easy to be yourself in Shanghai?

TC: I find it easy to be myself anywhere. I find it easy to make enemies in Shanghai – not make enemies, but easy to turn people off – but if I’m being myself I feel no remorse.