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Late Jazz Great Marcus Belgrave To Get Detroit Street

DETROIT (CBS DETROIT/ AP) — Late jazz trumpeting great Marcus Belgrave will be honored with a stretch of downtown Detroit street ceremonially renamed in his honor.

Marcus Belgrave
Marcus Belgrave. (credit: marcusbelgrave.net)

The sign will be unveiled Thursday before the launch of the Detroit Jazz Festival.

Belgrave's name will grace a block of Randolph Street where it abuts Madison Avenue, which also takes the name "Aretha Franklin Boulevard." Belgrave, who died in 2015, played with Franklin in her early days.

Belgrave came to Detroit in 1962 and became a Motown studio musician, and later co-founded Tribe Records. Belgrave also served as a professor or visiting artist at numerous institutions, including Detroit-area schools and Michigan State University.

Singer Joan Belgrave says in a statement she worked for two years on the effort on behalf of her late husband. She sees the street as a visual reminder of his legacy for those "whose lives he touched."

© 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this story. 

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