Rob Crocker, whose smooth, distinctive voice was a mainstay for more than five decades on a variety of radio stations, both in New York City and abroad, died on March 7 at his apartment in Manhattan. He was 78.
Crocker’s transition was confirmed by his brother Steve Crocker. No cause of death was given.
The jazz radio host, programmer, and producer’s broadcasting career stretched across three continents (Japan, Europe and United States). He is best known for his last three decades as the hip on-air host of Newark’s 24-hour jazz radio station WBGO-FM. He inspired his listening audience with great music while sharing his extensive knowledge of the genre, peppered with humor and tidbits until his untimely death.
Crocker has the singular distinction of being the longest-running jazz disc jockey in the history of New York City radio. In 2020, the mid-Manhattan branch of the NAACP presented its Roy Wilkins Award to him, citing this singular distinction. “Rob Crocker was a WBGO employee from the very early days. He was an asset because he was already a familiar voice on radio, having worked at several stations before; especially WRVR. I have many fond memories of him,” said Dorthaan Kirk, NEA Jazz Master.
Crocker’s transition brings in a new era for WBGO; he was the last of the senior air personalities since the recent passing of Michael Bourne and Bob Porter. Grammy Award-winning bassist Ron Carter praised both Crocker’s mood-inducing announcer’s voice and what he did with it. “He brings in the listener in a way that makes it seem you’re right there with him.”
Aside from his radio responsibilities, Crocker established himself as a record producer, having produced CDs such as “Alto Memories,” which featured Gary Bartz, Sonny Fortune, Kenny Barron, and Jack DeJohnette; “UK Underground” from Japanese alto saxophonist Malta; two CDs from Japan’s premier jazz vocalist and trumpeter Toku (whom Crocker discovered in Tokyo); “Philly Sounds” (with Randy Brecker, Jay Hoggard, Joe Ford, Uri Caine, Buster Williams, Nabaté Isles, and Grady Tate) and “Dread Rooster,” Babi Floyd’s reggae CD featuring Keith Richards on guitar.
As a New York City-based jazz programmer, Crocker designed musical concepts for cultural organizations: the Burgess Collection of Fine Art, National Museum of Sports, Brooklyn Museum, and “Roy DeCarava: Light Break” exhibition at the David Zwirner gallery in 2009. He also penned lyrics for many CDs by Brazilian artist Tania Maria.
Robert Crocker was born on November 1, 1945, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Estelle and Philip Crocker. It seems Crocker was slated for a career in jazz dating back to elementary school. “My uncle George ‘Buster’ Taylor gave me my first jazz LP, “Sonny Rollins Plus 4” and my uncle Jack Hickman introduced me and my cousin Jerry to Max Roach,” he said. “Max lived around the corner from us in Bed-Stuy and [when I was} a newspaper boy, Freddie Hubbard was on my newspaper route.”
By the time Crocker entered junior high school and started in the band with music instructor Mr. Yearwood, he was already listening to Thelonious Monk and the Modern Jazz Quartet. While attending Boys High School in Brooklyn (known as the High), Crocker played clarinet, flute, and oboe under the direction of music instructor Bernie Fishenfeld, who taught jazz and classical music.
“I loved the sound of the oboe and flute,” said Crocker. He became proficient enough to join a Latin Jazz Band and an Afro-Cuban Jazz Band. “The first time I went to see Rahsaan Roland Kirk play flute, I refused to play my flute for a week,” Crocker said during an interview with this writer and publication in 2022.
After graduating from Boys High, Crocker joined a list of alumni that includes Brooklyn native greats Randy Weston, Max Roach, Cecil Payne, Dewey Redman, and radio personality Vaughn Harper.
After graduation, Crocker served two tours in Vietnam (in the central highlands, with both the 25th Infantry Division and the 155th Assault Helicopter Company). He was also a musician whose career took a turn toward broadcasting when injuries sustained in the Vietnam War cut short his future as a performer. He started his broadcasting career as a programmer in Europe; he co-hosted the Holland-based show “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” by Radio Free America.
After returning to New York, while driving a NYC taxi at night and hanging out at Slug’s Jazz Club in the East Village and the Village Vanguard, Crocker met Bobby Hutchinson, Clifford Jordan, Joe Chambers, and Cedar Walton. “I usually drove many of the guys home after the gig,” he said during a 2010 interview with the AmNews. He bonded with jazz radio DJ and writer Ed Williams, who (along with pianist Dr. Billy Taylor, the first Black on-air radio personality at WNEW), encouraged him to consider a career in radio.
Poet Julius Lester was instrumental in getting Crocker a position at WBAI-FM as a reporter. “It was music programmer Bob Fass who influenced me to leave news and move to music,” said Crocker during an AmNews interview in 2022. He then began swinging with the jazz DJs (Les Davis and Felipe Luciano) at NYC’s premiere jazz station, WRVR-FM, before its demise to country music. “I learned so much about programming and presentation while working with Hank Spann, Gary Byrd, and Jeff Troy at WWRL-AM.”
He later joined General Manager Barry Mayo at KISS-FM. Crocker introduced the pop audience to jazz in the late 1980s. He was instrumental in bringing back the captivating beat of Brazilian music to New York during the ’70s.
Crocker worked at the smooth jazz station CD101 before extending his radio experience to the Far East by working at INTER-FM, the first English-speaking radio station in Tokyo. He also worked radio in Yokohama. He lived in Japan for eight years before returning to NYC in 2000.
In 2002, Crocker was asked to sit in for Kenny Washington at WBGO-FM. It wasn’t long before he was offered a regular spot on the jazz station.
“‘Radio’ Rob Crocker has left an indelible mark in the world of radio,” noted Sheila Anderson, WBGO on-air person. “Not only was Rob a colleague, he was also a generous and giving friend who had a great sense of humor and kept us in stitches.”
During my interview with Crocker, he said with a smile, “I’m one of the few guys from Brooklyn who can’t dance.” Maybe he couldn’t dance, but every weekend (Saturday Evening Jazz from 6–9 p.m. and Afternoon Jazz on Sundays from 2–6 p.m.).
Today, radio is a hardcore business and the freedom that radio personalities had back in the day is long gone. As Crocker pointed out, “If the human element is missing, then I’m not interested.”
As a radio personality, Crocker was often out and about at jazz clubs. He selflessly gave his name and time to hosting fundraisers and major jazz events in Harlem, Brooklyn, and throughout the city. After Japan’s disastrous tsunami, he didn’t hesitate to host vocalist Okaru Lovelace’s fundraiser for her native homeland. He was often the in-house emcee for musicians’ memorials at St. Peter’s Church.
Among the many jazz clubs in New York City, Crocker had two main hangouts. He could be found at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club on Manhattan’s upper westside. “The sound of Rob’s voice was the sound of jazz in many ways. But he also had an unmatched passion for and knowledge about the music, and he was generous with both. He was always at Smoke and was one of our most important supporters and advisors,” said Paul Stache and Molly Sparrow Johnson of Smoke Jazz Club NY.
Sista’s Place in Brooklyn was also his home. “Rob Crocker was family at Sista’s Place. Just a few Sundays ago, he was running back and forth at the music tribute to Sista’s Place founder Viola Plummer, keeping the show lively,” said Colette Pean of Sista’s Place. “Rob was the voice you waited to hear on the radio; he was the glue hosting tributes to Pharoah Sanders and Jim Harrison and many other programs at Sista’s Place. We have lost a brother. And we will celebrate him soon.”
He was our hip orator, a wordsmith of improvisation whose words fit the music he played and matched any musician he referenced like a swinging Count Basie tune. You could always hear his voice on the radio or wherever this great man of the airways was needed.
Crocker was loved in and out of the jazz community. He was a jazz instigator, a cool gentleman with a joke to share or some little-known gem about a jazz musician. When Crocker called me on the phone, his greeting was “What’s happening, poppa?” and he closed with “Talk to you later, poppa.” Rob Crocker, later “poppa,” we are going to miss you much!
Crocker is survived by his father Philip Crocker and siblings Kenny Crocker, NYC; Larry Crocker, NYC; Steve Crocker, Alabama; Scott Crocker, Maryland; Donna Crocker, NYC; and Sharon Crocker-Riddick, NYC, as well as numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.
As of March 10, funeral arrangements are still being arranged by the family.