Marcus Robinson
Last Saturday, one of my musical friends passed away in Texas. He was not well known, but he was someone that inspired me back in the day. His name, Marcus D. Robinson, aka Fingers McGuirk.
Back in 1972 when I first got into music seriously, he was already an established player. He had all the connections to the people like Chaka Khan, when she was in the group, Family of Max, and all the top jazz players who came thru Milwaukee. He was the guy everyone wanted in their group and hearing him on piano and Hammond, I knew I would always be in his shadow. He was born to be who he was. Noone sounded like him and no one sounded better than he did. He could play it all from funk to hard core be-bop.
The only luck I had in Milwaukee was that I joined a fusion group and he continued to play straight ahead. He studied at the Conservatory of Music with Tony King and he played with the top jazz players in Milwaukee like Manty Ellis and Berkely Fudge. The now known trumpeter Brian Lynch played with him and Dave Hazeltine could only listen to him in awe.
But something happened. He eventually went to Texas and I came to NYC. He would wind up playing in local jazz clubs there and playing in the church and I would start working with legends that we had heard when we grew up. To me, it was always the wrong outcome. Marcus should have come to NYC and then everyone would have know what I always knew about him... that he was one of the best piano players in the World.
I had to work at what I gained. He would have breezed thru it. I have tried to explain why it happened that way, but it is still hard to realize how many people were deprived of hearing someone who could play Stevie Wonder and EW&F songs like they were nothing. He could decipher the complex voicings and play all the parts. He dragged that Hammond around and played it like no one else could. Every piano player wanted to play like Marcus. He knew he was at the top of the food chain.
I faced great odds coming to NYC. I took a gamble and the advice of Eddie Harris. Other Milwaukee musicians came to NYC. Some stayed, some had to leave. Marcus never came. He chose to live in the Dallas area. Many stayed in Milwaukee and only dreamed of coming to NYC. Some still think they would make it , if they had come. But they never made that choice.
It has not escaped me that many of the music legends did not grow up in NYC. They had the dream and came here. Why? Because it was the center of the recording industry. And we all know that without a recording, most people will never know who you are.
And that was Marcus' fate. He was never a part of any of the great recordings. So few know who he is. Few have heard what he could do on the piano. He told me he had stopped playing the Hammond. Strange, because now I play the Hammond a lot. I know who Marcus is because our paths crossed in Milwaukee. I have not seen him since we were teens. I can only imagine how many others are out there like him, that are only know by those around them.
He and I had lost touch, but then by some twist of fate, we got back in touch with each other a few years ago. That is why I love the Internet. We were able to keep in touch until he had his stroke. I had just e-mailed him something on the Hammond, not knowing he had slipped into a coma.
A few months back , he had done something I kept after him to do. He had recorded some tracks and he send me a rough copy of them. He still had not done the final mix or even decided the final list of songs, but we discussed some suggestions I had for what I heard. We even discussed why he had named it "Fingers McGuirk". I had him sign what he sent and what he wrote will always touch me. He said " Friends are the family we choose for ourselves". We had never really discussed being friends. We had always just felt we were. Often rivals for the same gigs, there was always a great deal of respect for each other.
I had just played in Dallas this summer , but we could never coordinate our schedules. I was just there to do a private concert and then I had to leave early that next morning to try to see my Mom in Milwaukee. He was unable to attend.
I want all of you to know who he was. And although you did not know him, he was one of "us". He was a musician of the highest spiritual order. I also want you to think about the choices we make. How his choices took him to Dallas and not the prominence that he could have had coming to NYC. A great gift is now silenced. No doubt they loved him at the church, but so many others could have also loved him. I am so proud and blessed that he touched my life and lit the fire under me to achieve my best.
We may take each other for granted. I will never take any of you for granted. I appreciate the time we have shared and the time we may share. I will treasure the time that Marcus and I had to share our thoughts before he passed.
And I will continue to fight the racism that keeps a musician like Marcus from being recorded and promoted like he should have been. That may have forced him to work in local clubs rather than be known on the world stage. That may have been part of the reason, he chose Dallas over NYC.
He and I talked about that racism. He talked about how hard it was to get work even with his superior talent in Dallas. Marcus was the alpha male on those keys. You always wished you could play like that. I just want to make some noise and give a shout out for someone I looked up to as a player. To widen the footprint of his life , so that all of you could know we shared this time and space.
I still wonder how he managed to keep his hair and not put on the weight like I did. Marcus was the MAN. I will miss you , my friend, but your Spirit will always be with me.
The Professor
Greg Woods, Keyboards
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