Theo Croker: On Creativity
Marianna
Do you have a routine for entering into a creative headspace?
Theo
Yes. I limit social media and phone use at the start of my day. I make sure that I’m not on my phone before I need to be creative, because it can be such a heavy negative influence. With social media, you are constantly bombarded with everything everyone is doing all the time. Plus, the algorithms are more successful when they are negative.
I try not to listen to other people or other people’s music when I am creating music unless I need inspiration…just so I can clear my mind. I try to get myself into a headspace of acceptance, with no expectations of what I’m about to create.
I don’t want to devalue what organically comes to mind when I’m creating. I don’t want to judge myself. I simply want to allow whatever is happening to happen and assess it later. As artists, we get too caught up in whether what we are doing is new, revolutionary, high quality…short answer, I try to keep my headspace as free as possible.
Marianna
Do you have habits you've built for yourself to foster creativity?
Theo
I start my day with gratitude and an assessment of how I feel. I make the conscious decision to not act upon how I feel, but rather what I know. I allow myself to feel things but not react to them. I use that to set the mood for the day. If I have to cultivate creativity to hit a deadline, then I definitely put myself in that open, non-judgemental space.
I try not to touch my phone for at least an hour or two. I read in the morning. Then I usually exercise, so I ride a bike seven or eight miles a day for cardio. I’m a trumpet player. I’m sure everyone during COVID has crazy work out routines [laughter].
I’m an emotional creature, and I’m somebody who has to keep my emotions understood, or overstood. I feel everything, even if I’m not supposed to, but I’m understanding now that I don’t need to react to it. It doesn't matter what people think, or even what I think. All that matters is that I'm being true to what the inspiration and vibrations inside of me are asking of me. And knowing when I shouldn’t be trying to create because I’m in the right headspace.
Marianna
What was your creative process like when you were still early in your career, practicing music as a young teenager? How have you seen your creative process change?
Theo
When I was 13 or 14 years old, I was trying to understand what the hell was going on with music. It was such a new language. Much of my understanding of music was so reactive. I played music by ear until my 20s. I couldn’t understand the theory and didn’t have the focus or concentration to understand it, but I did understand the vibrations when I played my instrument.
My creative process at the time was explorative. I didn’t yet have a good means of expressing myself at that age, so it was channeled into music. My creative process was trying to decode what I was hearing musically, how songs made me feel, and formulating what I liked and didn’t like to hear, which eventually led me to have my own sound.
Marianna
And fast-forward yourself 20 years, how do you see yourself creating now?
How has your creative process evolved?
Theo
Now creating is crazy, it’s nonstop. It’s been cultivated over so long, and I see it differently after spending six-seven months at home - there is so much that I’m already tapped into. It doesn’t need to be a deep dive and a deep dig in order to find something beautiful, something creative. Now it's being still and letting it flow through me. Turning on the valve and directing it.
Writing a song can take me ten minutes, it doesn’t need to take seven hours. When it comes to writing, for example, I hear an idea and I play with it for days - but I just let the idea exist. And eventually, another piece comes together.
All of the music I’ve created has brought me spiritual success, but the music that has brought me commercial success was something I thought wasn't good enough, and it turns out to be something that was more than enough.
One great idea is enough of an idea. It’s like going to a buffet, and only using the small plate and constantly going back to refill the small plate. You don’t need 50 ideas. Content is only worth its utilitarian use - if it’s art, how good can this one idea make somebody feel?
Marianna
I love that, and one great idea is enough of an idea. What can you tell me about your process behind creating your last album Star People Nation?
Theo
I took my time with it. I’ve been applying the things I learned on Star People Nation to what I’m working on now, and they have brought me great benefit.
I produced Star People Nation on my own. It was always up to me all the time, it was in my lap. That created pressure and made me super meticulous. I wanted it to be so many things, and I realized at one point, I had to decide what I specifically wanted it to be for it to take its full shape.
I surrendered six or seven things I wanted to do, and decided to make it an album where the trumpet was the narrator for the whole thing - and everything around it would change and morph and evolve, and the trumpet would connect every song as a thread and tell a story. Each track told a piece of a story. Once I had that down conceptually, I was able to focus all of my energy on supporting that quest.
It wasn’t simple. I met a lot of resistance with the cover, the layout, the tracks. The album got mixed three different times. In the end, it wasn’t the vision I had at the beginning, but I understood how accessible it was to the ear, so I accepted it. It wasn’t what I had sonically in mind, but it was the clarity I was looking for.
I realized I couldn’t have both, so I chose clarity. Sometimes it comes down to making those decisions so your creation can thrive.
Marianna
Absolutely. And since that album, you’ve been integrating and applying those lessons. How have you been channeling your creativity during and post quarantine?
Theo
I’m working on a new album. I’m always working on things. The album comes together when there’s a collection of work that makes sense together. There’s always a lot of things being worked on because sometimes it’s creating for creation's sake - not to make a product.
I learned so much from the last album - I got to work with Bob Powers (Grammy-winning and multi-platinum producer/engineer who worked with Erykah Badu, A Tribe Called Quest, D’Angelo), he was really a pioneer in that Hip Hop R&B Neo-Soul sound, sonically. I learned so many valuable things from him, I sat with him through every mix.
I immediately started to apply this to things I was creating during this period -and now I’ve started recording new material with the band. Because of that, and I keep using the same collection of people that have worked with me the last six, seven years, it’s growing really quickly… in three days we've been making 26 songs! I don’t feel like I’m making an album, but a catalog! Soon I’ll be sitting on 45…50 songs? That wasn’t the goal, but my formula now with studio and albums is very tight.
I want to clear out all of the creative residuals that are inside of me and cleanse myself creatively of them. Once I clear it out, I'll go on a soul journey to find something completely new. And I don’t know what that is, at all. But first, getting this material out of my head, out and archived. And then we will see what happens next.
Marianna
This sounds like such an incredibly efficient process. You have the process down, your own formula. Could you share a bit about what’s in that formula?
Theo
I’ve spent almost 100,000 hours on the last few records. I know how to get the most out of a band in a ten-hour session in a studio. Whatever you show up and play that day, that’s how good you sound. A lot of stuff for me is one take, two takes.
Since I don’t spend time trying to get perfection, I end up with a lot of good material and a band that isn’t exhausted. It becomes a creative game. I don’t want it to feel like work. So, always staggering things out.
When I have a creation, I start giving it the direction I want it to have right away. What I learned on the last album is - before getting into the studio, I no longer need to do a lot of production work to get the sound I want. Now, I’ll write out how I want the bass line on paper and hand it to a human being who will then give it all the things that would take me hours on the computer.
Generally, have a clear idea of what you want, trust the situation and people you are with, and instill in them confidence and responsibility to create something you didn’t know you wanted.
Marianna
What does your artist studio look like right now? Has it changed in the last few months with COVID?
Theo
The last album, I made it on my laptop and then rented studios when I needed them. So it hasn't changed much. But this year, because of lockdown and COVID, I started pulling equipment out of storage and buying new equipment and building a lab at home. Keyboards, piano, speakers… and turned it into a studio. Treated the walls. That gave me a focus for two, three months. Any time I ran into a block, I don't know how to do this, I had the time to get on the internet and find a solution to it. I learned a lot in a short amount of time.
It has had a huge effect on how I’m working on the record. It’s so easy because there's so much more I understand. Anything I didn’t understand, I had the time to learn during this period. I’ve had the time to really get what I’m looking for.
Marianna
What sources of inspiration do you use to foster creativity in your work?
Theo
I used to love going to museums, especially modern art. I like aerodynamics, architecture. I find nature super inspiring. Going out into the woods, forest, and beach and reconnecting with nature.
Also, spiritual practices like meditation, reading spiritual literature. Understanding how to accept and embrace myself as a person with all of my imperfections and show love to that person. That work has helped me be inspired to create anything.
Marianna
What unexpected turns did your life take to lead you to become who you are today?
Theo
My father died when I was 18, which made me become financially independent in the middle of school. I had to find work right away when I got out of school. I couldn't afford to be a student in New York City and I couldn’t afford to hang out.
I moved to China to take a job, and that turned out to lead me on a path to meet Dee Dee Bridgewater who became my mentor, and then I ran ensembles, had 1,000’s of hours playing… and then I got signed to Sony Records. That was all unexpected. I never thought I’d spend six years in and out of China. Totally unexpected.
Marianna
What creative project are you most proud of?
Theo
Whatever the last one is [laughter]. And I’ll be even more proud of the next one. I can’t line them up and judge them, they all reflect where I was when I made them. I plan on continuing that pattern.
Marianna
How do you make sense of chaos in your life?
Theo
I take a step back and take a breath, and remember everything is temporary. Nothing is final.
We are not defined by our circumstances. If I’m suddenly faced with chaos, I know immediately the best thing I can do is remain calm, focused, and attentive. It’s fleeting, transient. Allow it to pass. It’s best to be still.
Marianna
Where do you think ideas come from?
Theo
God. I don’t think God is whispering ideas, and I don’t mean a white male with a big white beard sitting in the clouds, but god energy. We are a piece of it, we possess it, we are all connected through it. I don’t think anyone is having original ideas, we are just framing ideas in a way that brings stimulation, pleasure, and enjoyment.
Marianna
What does creativity mean to you?
Theo
I like to live creatively. To me, creativity is the biggest gift we have, and I think we are here to enjoy it.
Marianna
Why do you think people get stuck on problems?
Theo
Because they don’t like the solution to it. And they have to accept that, and that’s difficult.
Marianna
What advice would you offer those struggling with their creative practice?
Theo
Whatever is blocking you, has probably nothing to do with your creativity. Look at your routines, find the root of it. If you're trying to do something creative, there's probably something non-creative in the way.
If you want to be more creative, you have to decide what aspect of being creative excites you.
You have to be willing to let yourself go outside of any type of box. Let go of any expectation of what you are creatively. Allow yourself to expand.
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About Theo Croker:
Theo Croker is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, producer, and vocalist. He is a Grammy Award nominee, a three-time Echo Award nominee, as well as a Theodore Presser Award recipient. Croker has released five studio albums —Fundamentals (2006), In the Tradition (2009), Afro Physicist (2014), Escape Velocity (2016), and Star People Nation (2019).
Born in 1985 in Leesburg, Florida, Croker began playing trumpet around age 11, inspired by his grandfather. By his teens, he was studying music at the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville. From 2003 to 2007, Croker attended the music conservatory at Oberlin College. While there, he was mentored by legendary trumpeter and educator Donald Byrd. Also during this time, he earned the Presser Music Foundation Award, which funded his debut album, 2006's Fundamentals. After graduating Oberlin, Croker relocated to China, where he took up residency at Shanghai's House of Blues. His 2009 album In the Tradition paid tribute to Cheatham.
In 2013, Croker began work on his third solo album, the Dee Dee Bridgewater-produced Afro Physicist. Released in 2014 on OKeh Records, the album found him branching out stylistically, weaving elements of funk, Latin jazz, and hip-hop into his sound. In 2016, he delivered Escape Velocity, which found him delving deeper into a genre-bending, spiritually enlightened, funk-influenced jazz sound. The hip-hop, R&B, and electronic fusion effort Star People Nation arrived in 2019 and was produced by Croker. It peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart and earned Croker his first Grammy nomination, for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.