Roy Hargrove

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Template:Short description Template:Infobox musical artist Roy Anthony Hargrove (October 16, 1969 – November 2, 2018) was an American jazz musician and composer whose principal instruments were the trumpet and flugelhorn. He achieved critical acclaim after winning two Grammy Awards for differing styles of jazz in 1998 and 2002. Hargrove primarily played in the hard bop style for the majority of his albums, but also had a penchant for genre-crossing exploration and collaboration with a variety of hip hop, neo soul, R&B and alternative rock artists.<ref>“Flashback Soul: Roy Hargrove Tries to “Forget Regret” at SoulTracks.com” Retrieved December 14, 2021.</ref> As Hargrove told one reporter, "I've been around all kinds of musicians, and if a cat can play, a cat can play. If it's gospel, funk, R&B, jazz or hip-hop, if it's something that gets in your ear and it's good, that's what matters."<ref>”Roy Hargrove: Award-Winning Trumpeter Once Dubbed The Hottest Jazz Player in the World” Independent.co.uk, November 14, 2018. Retrieved January 30, 2022.</ref>

Biography

Early life and career

File:Roy Hargrove 1992.jpg
Roy Hargrove at Monterey Jazz Festival 1992

Hargrove was born in Waco, Texas, to Roy Allan Hargrove and Jacklyn Hargrove.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=nytimes>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="BIO1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> When he was 9, his family moved to Dallas, Texas.<ref name=nytimes/> He took lessons at school initially on cornet before turning to trumpet. One of Hargrove's most profound early influences was a visit to his junior high school by saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman, who performed as a sideman in Ray Charles's Band.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Hargrove's junior high music teacher, Dean Hill, whom Hargrove called his "musical father", taught him to improvise and solo.<ref>”Creative Spirit: Roy Hargrove” D Magazine, May 1992. Retrieved December 16, 2021.</ref> He was discovered by Wynton Marsalis when Marsalis visited the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas. Hargrove credited trumpeter Freddie Hubbard as having the greatest influence on his sound.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Hargrove continued his musical studies at Boston's Berklee College of Music,<ref name="berklee">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but soon transferred to The New School in New York,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> enabling Hargrove to frequent the Greenwich Village jazz clubs and participate in jam-sessions, most notably at Bradley's, where he played alongside many of his mentors and heroes.<ref name="russonello">Template:Cite news</ref> Hargrove's first studio recording after relocating to New York was with saxophonist Bobby Watson, for Watson's album No Question About It.<ref name="fordham">Template:Cite news</ref> Shortly thereafter, Hargrove recorded with the band Superblue featuring Watson, Mulgrew Miller, Frank Lacy, Don Sickler and Kenny Washington.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Hargrove's debut album as leader, Diamond in the Rough, was released on the Novus/RCA label in 1990.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This album, and the three succeeding recordings Hargrove produced for Novus with his quintet, were among the most commercially successful jazz recordings of the early 1990s and made him one of jazz's in-demand players. His burgeoning fame also propelled him to his first live national television performance in June 1993 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. It was during this time that Hargrove topped the category "Rising Star–Trumpet" in the DownBeat Critics Poll in 1991, 1992 and 1993<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and became associated with the "Young Lions", a group of rising jazz musicians — including, among others, Marcus Roberts, Mark Whitfield and Christian McBride — who, embracing the foundations of jazz, played principally bebop, hard bop and the Great American Songbook standards.<ref>”Jazz: The Young Lions Roar” Los Angeles Times, September 13, 1992. Retrieved December 25, 2021.</ref> A number of the "Young Lions", including Hargrove, formed Jazz Futures,<ref name="shearn">Template:Cite news</ref> which released one critically acclaimed album, Live in Concert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

As a side project to his solo and quintet recordings, Hargrove also was the leader of The Jazz Networks, an ensemble of American and Japanese musicians which released 5 albums between 1992 and 1996 and featured other notable jazz artists, including Antonio Hart, Rodney Whitaker and Joshua Redman.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> These albums were originally released in Japan and Europe only but, following Hargrove's death, arrangements were made by his estate for their release on US music streaming platforms.<ref>"Another Groove: Roy Hargrove & The Jazz Networks Brave A "Whole New World"" SoulTracks.com, July 12, 2022. Retrieved March 11, 2023.</ref> During this period, Hargrove also participated in several one-off ensemble recordings, including the albums "New York Stories" featuring Danny Gatton and Bobby Watson and "Pride of Lions" featuring Philip Bailey, Billy Childs and Tony Williams.<ref>""New York Stories"" AllMusic.com. Retrieved January 21, 2025.</ref>

Verve and EmArcy era

In 1994, Hargrove signed with Verve and recorded With the Tenors of Our Time featuring Joe Henderson, Stanley Turrentine, Johnny Griffin, Joshua Redman, and Branford Marsalis.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Soon afterwards, Hargrove released his second album for Verve, Family, which included his original song "Roy Allan", named after his father, which thereafter became a popular jazz composition for others.<ref name="mcbride">Template:Cite news</ref> That same year, in 1995, he experimented with a trio format on Parker's Mood, an album recorded with bassist Christian McBride and pianist Stephen Scott.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> The Penguin Jazz Guide identifies Parker's Mood as one of the "1001 Best Albums" in the history of the genre.<ref>Brian Morton and Richard Cook, The Penguin Jazz Guide: The History of the Music in the 1001 Best Albums (2010, 1st edn), p. 591.</ref>

Also in 1995, Hargrove formed the Roy Hargrove Big Band to perform at the Panasonic Village Jazz Festival in New York. The band would go on to record and perform worldwide and feature big band arrangements of Hargrove's own compositions as well as his favorite songs by respected contemporaries.<ref>"Roy Hargrove Big Band Biography" Roy Hargrove official.com, retrieved April 17, 2022.</ref>

As Hargrove toured more broadly outside the US, his popularity grew, especially in Europe, Japan and Latin America. In 1997, the Dutch public television station NPS Nederlandse Programma Stichting (now NPR) aired the documentary "Jazzportret ('Jazz Portrait'): Roy Hargrove" directed by Hans Hylkema, a respected Dutch filmmaker known for music documentaries. The documentary features extensive selections from Hargrove's live performance at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Hague in 1996 as well as interviews with Hargrove, his mother, managers and the music teachers in Dallas who guided him.<ref>”Roy Hargrove - Documentary 1997” YouTube.com, retrieved on August 4, 2025.</ref>

In 1998, Hargrove won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album for Habana with Roy Hargrove's Crisol, an ensemble of Cuban and American musicians which included Chucho Valdés, Russell Malone, Frank Lacy, Jose Luis "Changuito" Quintana and Miguel "Angá" Díaz, among others.<ref name="BIO1"/> That same year, Hargrove sat for an extended interview and performed duets with host Marian McPartland on her NPR program Piano Jazz. Hargrove recounted his Texas upbringing, his initial fascination with his father's cornet, his early influences and thoughts about arranging and more; the program also includes a rare and moving performance by Hargrove, on piano, of his composition "Ballad for the Children."<ref>Roy Hargrove on Piano Jazz, Npr.org, retrieved August 6, 2025.</ref>

Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, Hargrove collaborated with the Soulquarians, a collective of experimental jazz, hip hop and soul artists that included Questlove, D'Angelo, J Dilla, and others.<ref>How Roy Hargrove Served As The Soulquarians Melodic Backbone, Okayplayer.com, retrieved January 8, 2022.</ref> Hargrove added jazz and funk-influenced horns to D'Angelo's Grammy-winning album Voodoo<ref>Template:Citation</ref> and supported D'Angelo on tour as a member of the Soultronics, a backing "supergroup" featuring Questlove and Pino Palladino, among others. That same year, as part of the Soulquarians collective, Hargrove contributed horn performances for recordings by Common and Erykah Badu.

Also in 2000, as part of the Verizon Jazz Festival, Hargrove performed in Roz Nixon's musical production "Dedicated To Louis Armstrong" and released his first and only album backed by a string section, "Moment to Moment," featuring tasteful accompaniment by the Monterey Jazz Festival Chamber Orchestra.

In 2001, Hargrove was selected as a resident artist by the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal and performed in five different ensembles during the festival: As leader of his own quintet; as leader of a "special trio" with Christian McBride and Russell Malone; as a sideman with Monty Alexander and his band; with McBride in a duet; and with the I Musici de Montreal Chamber Orchestra, with which he performed his album, "Moment to Moment."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2002, Hargrove won his second Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall with co-leaders Herbie Hancock and Michael Brecker. Hargrove was nominated for four other Grammy Awards during his career.<ref>”Roy Hargrove Artist Profile” Grammy.com, retrieved on December 18, 2021.</ref>

Also in 2002, Hargrove collaborated with D'Angelo, Macy Gray, the Soultronics, and Nile Rodgers on two tracks for Red Hot & Riot, a compilation album in tribute to the music of afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. He also acted as a sideman for jazz vocalist/pianist Shirley Horn and supported singer Erykah Badu on her album Worldwide Underground.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

From 2003 to 2006, he released three albums as the leader of Roy Hargrove's The RH Factor, a group that blended jazz, soul, hip hop and funk idioms.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The band's debut album, Hard Groove, was hailed as "genre-busting" by critics and ushered in a new era of hip hop-accented jazz. The band's second album, Strength, was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Contemporary Jazz Album."<ref>"Roy Hargrove & The RH Factor", Grammy.com. Retrieved August 3, 2022.</ref>

After signing with Universal/EmArcy in 2008, Hargrove released Earfood, a quintet recording "steeped in tradition and sophistication," which Jazziz selected as one of the 5 "essential albums" of that year.<ref>”Essential Albums of 2008” Jazziz Magazine, March 25, 2020. Retrieved December 25, 2021.</ref> He followed in 2009 with "Emergence," an album recorded with the Roy Hargrove Big Band; he received a Grammy nomination for "Best Improvised Jazz Solo" for his performance on the track "Ms. Garvey, Ms. Garvey" on that record.<ref>"52nd Annual Grammy Award Nominees (2010)" Digitalhit.com, retrieved February 28, 2022.</ref> In 2010, Hargrove released "Live at the New Morning," a DVD of an intimate club performance with his quintet in Paris.<ref>"Roy Hargrove" Discogs.com, retrieved April 24, 2023.</ref> Thereafter, until his death in 2018, Hargrove did not release additional albums but toured extensively and appeared as a sideman on recordings by Jimmy Cobb, Roy Haynes, Cyrille Aimée, The 1975, D’Angelo, Johnny O'Neal, Kandace Springs and others.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Hargrove told KNKX radio in 2017 that recording albums no longer made "financial sense."<ref>"Roy Hargrove Live Studio Session" YouTube.com, retrieved February 20,2025.</ref>

Posthumous career

In July 2021, Hargrove's estate released posthumously via Resonance Records the double-album In Harmony, a live duet recording made in 2006 and 2007 with pianist Mulgrew Miller that returned Hargrove to the Top 5 of the Billboard jazz chart.<ref>“The Harmony of Roy Hargrove and Mulgrew Miller”, DownBeat Magazine, July 20, 2021. Retrieved on December 12, 2021.</ref> Slate selected In Harmony as one of the best jazz albums of 2021.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The Académie du Jazz awarded In Harmony its prize for "Best Reissue or Best Unpublished" album of 2021.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Hargrove was posthumously elected to the DownBeat Magazine "Jazz Hall of Fame" in November 2021.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In June 2022, the documentary Hargrove, filmed during the final year of his life, debuted at the Tribeca Festival.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Hargrove's estate issued a statement objecting to the film as not what he had envisioned when agreeing to participate.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Rio Sakairi, the Artistic Director of New York's "The Jazz Gallery," an art and performance space which Hargrove co-founded in 1995, also issued a statement objecting to accusations made in the film about Hargrove's managers.<ref>“A Rock and a Hard Place: On Hargrove Documentary", www.riosakairi.com, retrieved June 18, 2025.</ref>

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of its performance, in October 2023, Jazz at Lincoln Center released a live recording of Hargrove's original composition "The Love Suite: In Mahogany",<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> a five-movement piece which he did not play again live after its debut performance in 1993.<ref>Roy Hargrove's New "The Love Suite" Album Coming October 13, SoulTracks.com, September 18, 2023. Retrieved on October 4, 2023.</ref><ref name="hynes">Template:Cite news</ref> Jazziz Magazine called the album an "unearthed gem" that "showcases the much-missed trumpeter’s virtuosity and soulful songwriting ...."<ref>"Ella Fitzgerald, Roy Hargrove, Wes Montgomery & More: The Week in Jazz", Jazziz.com, October 3, 2023. Retrieved on October 17, 2023.</ref> Jazz critic Nate Chinen of NPR applauded the album as "a flat-out marvel — maybe the most vivid example we have of Roy's ability to marshal hard-bop fire in a new form, steeped in swinging tradition but sparking and crackling right now."<ref>"Remembering Roy Hargrove", The Gig, November 2, 2023. Retrieved on November 4, 2023.</ref>

A year later, in September 2024, Verve Records announced the release of a previously-unheard archival album titled "Grande-Terre" by Roy Hargrove's Crisol that had originally been recorded back in 1998.<ref>“New Roy Hargrove Album Announced”, Pitchfork.com, September 5, 2024. Retrieved on October 7, 2024.</ref> Music critic Sharonne Cohen of Everything Jazz praised the recording, noting that "Grande-Terre brims with Crisol's intricate and sophisticated arrangements, Hargrove's explosive, imaginative and soul-stirring playing, and the band's powerful, singular sound."<ref>Grande Terre: Roy Hargrove's Crisol in their Prime”, EverythingJazz.com, September 26, 2024. Retrieved on October 10, 2024.</ref> The New York Times was equally effusive about the album, noting that it "shows off the high-wire, from-the-gut jazz Hargrove played most nights of his life."<ref>“A New Roy Hargrove LP Reminds Us What the Trumpeter Left Behind", NYTimes.com, October 22, 2024. Retrieved on October 22, 2024.</ref> NPR Music included "Grande-Terre" among its "50 Best Albums of 2024," comparing it favorably to its predecessor Habana as "an even more fluent and focused celebration of Afro-Cuban musical lineage, with Hargrove and his Crisol band both in exceptionally strong form."<ref>“50 Best Albums of 2024", NPR.org, retrieved December 11, 2024.</ref>

Influence

Hargrove topped the trumpet category in the 2019 DownBeat Readers’ Poll.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In addition to the accolades he garnered on trumpet, music critics praised Hargrove's tone on flugelhorn and his gifted ways with a ballad. As the Chicago Tribune observed in 2010, "it's Hargrove's ballad playing that tends to win hearts, which is what happened every time he picked up his flugelhorn. We've been hearing Hargrove spin silk on this instrument for a couple of decades now, yet one still marvels at the poetry of his tone, the incredible slowness of his vibrato and the arching lyricism of his phrases."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>”At Roy Hargrove's Show, Don't Be Late” Los Angeles Times, February 15, 2002. Retrieved December 18, 2021.</ref><ref>”Lost Gem: Roy Hargrove & Larry Willis Explore “Ethiopia” SoulTracks.com, retrieved December 18, 2021.</ref>

Over his 30-year career, Hargrove composed and recorded several original compositions, one of which, "Strasbourg-St. Denis", has been characterized as reaching the status of a jazz standard.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Hargrove's continuing influence on jazz is underscored in a recent New York Times feature about his legacy. There, 13 contemporary musicians describe their favorite Hargrove compositions that left a lasting imprint upon them.<ref>”5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Roy Hargrove NYTimes.com, August 6, 2025, retrieved August 6, 2025.</ref>

Personal life and death

A quiet and retiring person in life, Hargrove struggled with kidney failure and substance abuse.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He died at the age of 49 of cardiac arrest brought on by a kidney disease on November 2, 2018, while hospitalized in New Jersey. According to his long-time manager, Larry Clothier, Hargrove had been on dialysis for the last 14 years of his life.<ref name=nytimes/>

Hargrove met his wife, Aida Brandes-Hargrove, in 2006 when working with jazz trombonist Slide Hampton; she was the daughter of one of Hampton's close friends.<ref>"Jazz Prodigy Roy Hargrove's Legacy Lives On Through His Music", www.DallasWeekly.com, retrieved August 20, 2025.</ref> In 2020, Brandes-Hargrove and daughter Kamala Hargrove launched the company Roy Hargrove Legacy LLC to preserve and extend his legacy.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2022, Roy Hargrove Legacy re-formed the Roy Hargrove Big Band, which gives live performances featuring original band members and other musicians who supported Hargrove in his various ensembles.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Discography

As leader/co-leader

  • 1989–90: Diamond in the Rough (Novus, 1990)
  • 1991: Public Eye (Novus, 1991)
  • 1991: The Tokyo Sessions with Antonio Hart alternatively titled "Straight to the Standards" (Novus, 1992)
  • 1992: The Vibe (Novus, 1992)
  • 1993: Of Kindred Souls: The Roy Hargrove Quintet Live (Novus, 1993)
  • 1993–94: Approaching Standards (BMG Music/Jazz Heritage, 1995) – compilation of tracks from 4 albums
  • 1994: The Roy Hargrove Quintet, With the Tenors of Our Time (Verve, 1994)
  • 1995: Family (Verve, 1995)
  • 1995: Parker's Mood with Christian McBride, Stephen Scott (Verve, 1995)
  • 1997: Roy Hargrove's Crisol, Habana (Verve, 1997) – Latin Jazz Grammy Winner
  • 1999: Roy Hargrove with Strings, Moment to Moment (Verve, 2000)
  • 2001: Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall with Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker (Verve, 2002) – live. Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group of 2003.
  • 2003: The RH Factor, Hard Groove (Verve, 2003)
  • 2004: The RH Factor, Strength EP (Verve, 2004) – includes unreleased Hard Groove (2003) sessions
  • 2005: Nothing Serious (Verve, 2006) – promo version released in 2005
  • 2006: The RH Factor, Distractions (Verve, 2006)
  • 2008: The Roy Hargrove Quintet, Earfood (EmArcy, 2008)
  • 2009: The Roy Hargrove Big Band, Emergence (Universal/Emarcy, 2009)
  • 2010: The Roy Hargrove Quintet, Live at the New Morning (Universal/Emarcy, 2010)(DVD only)

Posthumous release

  • In Harmony with Mulgrew Miller (Resonance, 2021) – recorded in 2006-07
  • The Love Suite: In Mahogany (Blue Engine Records, 2023) - recorded in 1993
  • Roy Hargrove's Crisol, Grande-Terre (Verve, 2024) - recorded in April 1998

As member

Superblue

  • 1988: Superblue (Somethin' Else [JP]; Blue Note, 1988)

Manhattan Projects
With Carl Allen, Donald Brown, Ira Coleman and Kenny Garrett

  • 1989: Dreamboat (Timeless, 1990)
  • 1989: Piccadilly Square (Timeless, 1993)

Jazz Futures
With Antonio Hart, Benny Green, Carl Allen, Christian McBride, Mark Whitfield, Marlon Jordan, Tim Warfield

  • 1991: Live in Concert (Novus [US], 1993)

The Jazz Networks

  • 1991: Straight to the Standards (Novus J/BMG Japan, 1992)
  • 1992: Beauty and the Beast (Novus [US]; Novus J/BMG Japan, 1993)
  • 1993: Blues 'n Ballads (Novus J/BMG Japan, 1994)
  • 1993–94: The Other Day (Novus J/BMG Japan, 1996)
  • 1994: In the Movies (Novus J/BMG Japan, 1995)

Buckshot LeFonque

  • 1994 Buckshot LeFonque (Columbia 1994)

As sideman

Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2 With D'Angelo

With Erykah Badu

With Jimmy Cobb

  • 2006: Cobb's Corner (Chesky, 2007)
  • 2008: Jazz in the Key of Blue (Chesky, 2009)
  • 2016: Remembering U (Jimmy Cobb World, 2019) – posthumous release

With Johnny Griffin

  • 1994: Chicago, New York, Paris (Verve, 1994)
  • 2008: Live at Ronnie Scott's (In+Out, 2008) – live

With Roy Haynes

With Shirley Horn

With Jimmy Smith

With The 1975

Template:Col-2 With others

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References

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