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Theo Croker

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Website https://theocroker.com/

Latest Release : BY THE WAY

BY THE WAY
Released 17 Jun 2022
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Biography

Theo Croker is a storyteller who speaks through his trumpet. […]
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Theo Croker is a storyteller who speaks through his trumpet. A creative who refuses boundaries, the GRAMMY®️ Award-nominated artist, composer, producer, thought leader, and influencer projects his voice through the music. After seven years of sojourn in Shanghai, Croker crash-landed with a simmering original sound on the 2014 Dee Dee Bridgewater-assisted album AfroPhysicist. Following the success of Escape Velocity in 2016, he ascended to a new stratosphere with Star People Nation in 2019. The record garnered a nomination in the category of “Best Contemporary Instrumental Album” at the 62nd GRAMMY®️ Awards. It attracted widespread critical acclaim including Stereogum, Paste, and The New York Times who called it “an album that gallivants from swirling, left-field hip-hop beats to propellant swing to entrancing passages of African percussion. Through it all, Croker’s understated trumpet playing holds his small band together with swagger and poise.” Along the way, he also lent his sound to platinum-selling albums by everyone from J. Cole to Ari Lennox while touring his band across the globe many times over. In 2020, he hunkered down at his childhood home in the midst of the global pandemic and wrote his sixth full-length album BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST (Sony Music Masterworks), enlisting a star-studded group of featured artists including Wyclef Jean, Ari Lennox, Gary Bartz, Charlotte Dos Santos, Iman Omari, Malaya, and Kassa Overall across the album’s 13 tracks. Upon release in September 2021, Theo made his late-night TV debut with a performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.  Widespread critical acclaim followed, with The New York Times including the “smoldering neo-jazz collection” as Fall preview pick and CLASH simply declaring the album “a vital experience” and Croker’s “finest moment yet.”  In 2022, Croker released the follow-up album, LOVE QUANTUM, featuring Jill Scott, Jamila Woods, and Teedra Moses, to name a few, which made Stereogum’s Best Jazz Albums of 2022.  Croker kicks off 2023 with a new track “THEO SAYS” featuring UK Jazz / Soul singer-songwriter Ego Ella May, which debuted on top of Apple Music’s New Music Daily Playlist. The song is the first to be released from Croker’s forthcoming EP, BY THE WAY, featuring Ego Ella May, and arrives February 17, 2023.

 

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Press Release

THEO CROKER – BY THE WAY 5-TRACK EP FEATURING UK SINGER-SONGWRITER EGO ELLA MAY AVAILABLE NOW

GRAMMY®-nominated artist THEO CROKER today debuts his new collaborative EP alongside UK singer-songwriter EGO ELLA MAY entitled BY THE WAY – LISTEN HERE. An exploration of love, heartbreak and self-discovery, the 5-track collection combines Croker’s genre-fluid instrumentation with May’s compelling lyricism and vocals to create a distinct yet universally resonant collection of music. Making its […]
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GRAMMY®-nominated artist THEO CROKER today debuts his new collaborative EP alongside UK singer-songwriter EGO ELLA MAY entitled BY THE WAY – LISTEN HERE. An exploration of love, heartbreak and self-discovery, the 5-track collection combines Croker’s genre-fluid instrumentation with May’s compelling lyricism and vocals to create a distinct yet universally resonant collection of music. Making its debut alongside the EP is the official, AI-generated music video for “Slowly” – watch here. Through a delicate process of curatorial experimentation and refining, the AI-fed prompts were inspired by the track’s lyricism to mimic the stream-of-conscious style writing, creating a visual as striking as the song itself.

 

The By The Way EP release also arrives alongside Croker’s first-ever NPR Tiny Desk concert, released today as part of NPR Music’s celebration of Black History Month. The multitalented trumpeter, vocalist, producer, and composer performs selections across 4 of his most recent albums and is joined by special guest vocalist MALAYA to deliver a rousing rendition of their 2021 collaboration “Happy Feet (for dancers)” – check it out here.

 

First working with Ego Ella May on his 2021 full-length album, BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST, followed by his 2022 LP, LOVE QUANTUM, Theo Croker created five distinct soundscapes for May to explore on the new EP, BY THE WAY. Alongside frequent collaborator and producer D’LEAU, each track was envisioned, in Croker’s words, as a “little vignette” for May’s lyricism and vocal stylings to flourish. From the breeziness of lead single “Theo Says” and the continuous loop of positive vibes in “Good Day” to the cinematic evolution of “Slowly,” the alternative-leaning “If I Could I Would” and the Black rock music-inspired “Something,” the EP manages to traverse a range of traditions, genres and approaches while remaining grounded by May’s deeply moving vocals.

 

Looking ahead, Croker is set to hit the stage at the Moroccan Lounge in Los Angeles, CA on Monday, February 27th. Doors open at 6:30pm.  Tickets available HERE.

 

THEO CROKER – BY THE WAY EP: LISTEN HERE

TRACKLIST:

  1. THEO SAYS
  2. SLOWLY
  3. IF I COULD I WOULD
  4. GOOD DAY
  5. SOMETHIN’ (Extended Take)
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