Roy Hargrove

 ( 1969 Births ) 

Hargrove continued his musical studies at Boston's Berklee College of Music, but soon transferred to The New School in New York, 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. Hargrove's first studio recording after relocating to New York was with saxophonist Bobby Watson, for Watson's album No Question About It. Shortly thereafter, Hargrove recorded with the band Superblue featuring Watson, Mulgrew Miller, Frank Lacy, Don Sickler, and Kenny Washington. 1992|267x267px]]Hargrove's debut album as leader, Diamond in the Rough, was released on the Novus Records label in 1990. 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 1992 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 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.” Jazz: The Young Lions Roar” Los Angeles Times, September 13, 1992. Retrieved December 25, 2021. A number of the "Young Lions", including Hargrove, formed Jazz Futures, which released one critically acclaimed album, Live in Concert.

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. 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." Another Groove: Roy Hargrove & The Jazz Networks Brave A "Whole New World"" SoulTracks.com, July 12, 2022. Retrieved March 11, 2023. 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." "New York Stories"" AllMusic.com. Retrieved January 21, 2025.

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." Roy Hargrove Big Band Biography" Roy Hargrove official.com, retrieved April 17, 2022.

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 Nederlandse Programma Stichting (now Omroep NTR) aired the documentary "Jazzportret: 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.” Roy Hargrove - Documentary 1997” YouTube.com, retrieved on August 4, 2025.

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, Changuito, and Miguel "Angá" Díaz, among others. 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". Roy Hargrove on Piano Jazz, Npr.org, retrieved August 6, 2025.

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. How Roy Hargrove Served As The Soulquarians Melodic Backbone, Okayplayer.com, retrieved January 8, 2022. Hargrove added jazz and funk-influenced horns to D'Angelo's Grammy-winning album Voodoo 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 Montreal International Jazz Festival 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 Montréal Chamber Orchestra, with which he performed his album, Moment to Moment.

In 2002, Hargrove won his second Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for with co-leaders Herbie Hancock and Michael Brecker. Hargrove was nominated for four other Grammy Awards during his career.” Roy Hargrove Artist Profile” Grammy.com, retrieved on December 18, 2021.

Also in 2002, Hargrove collaborated with D'Angelo, Macy Gray, The Soultronics, and Nile Rodgers on two tracks for , 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.

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. 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"." Roy Hargrove & The RH Factor", Grammy.com. Retrieved August 3, 2022.

In 2007, Hargrove participated as a sideman in the first of two albums he recorded with Jimmy Cobb's Quartet, Cobb's Corner, a collection of 10 standards including "Never Let Me Go", a track that Hargrove often played in live performances with his own quintet. Two years later, Hargrove added his signature sound again to Cobb's quartet on the album Jazz in the Key of Blue, another collection of standards, this time also featuring Russell Malone on guitar." Jimmy Cobb Quartet Discography" Discogs.com, retrieved December 8, 2025. (left), at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley, Seattle, in 2012]]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 five "essential albums" of that year.” Essential Albums of 2008” Jazziz Magazine, March 25, 2020. Retrieved December 25, 2021. 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." 52nd Annual Grammy Award Nominees (2010)" Digitalhit.com, retrieved February 28, 2022. In 2010, Hargrove released Live at the New Morning, a DVD of an intimate club performance with his quintet in Paris." Roy Hargrove" Discogs.com, retrieved April 24, 2023. 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. Hargrove told KNKX radio in 2017 that recording albums no longer made "financial sense"." Roy Hargrove Live Studio Session" YouTube.com, retrieved February 20,2025.

Hargrove was posthumously elected to the DownBeat Magazine "Jazz Hall of Fame" in November 2021.

In June 2022, the documentary Hargrove, filmed during the final year of his life, debuted at the Tribeca Festival. Hargrove's estate issued a statement objecting to the film as not what he had envisioned when agreeing to participate. 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. “A Rock and a Hard Place: On Hargrove Documentary", www.riosakairi.com, retrieved June 18, 2025.

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of its performance, in October 2023, Jazz at Lincoln Center released a live recording of Hargrove's original composition , a five-movement piece which he did not play again live after its debut performance in 1993. Roy Hargrove's New "The Love Suite" Album Coming October 13, SoulTracks.com, September 18, 2023. Retrieved on October 4, 2023. Jazziz Magazine called the album an "unearthed gem" that "showcases the much-missed trumpeter’s virtuosity and soulful songwriting"." Ella Fitzgerald, Roy Hargrove, Wes Montgomery & More: The Week in Jazz", Jazziz.com, October 3, 2023. Retrieved on October 17, 2023. 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"." Remembering Roy Hargrove", The Gig, November 2, 2023. Retrieved on November 4, 2023.

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.“ New Roy Hargrove Album Announced”, Pitchfork.com, September 5, 2024. Retrieved on October 7, 2024. 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." Grande Terre: Roy Hargrove's Crisol in their Prime”, EverythingJazz.com, September 26, 2024. Retrieved on October 10, 2024. 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".“ A New Roy Hargrove LP Reminds Us What the Trumpeter Left Behind", NYTimes.com, October 22, 2024. Retrieved on October 22, 2024. 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".“ 50 Best Albums of 2024", NPR.org, retrieved December 11, 2024.

In November 2025, Roy Hargrove Legacy announced Live at KNKX, an EP of live radio performances recorded at Seattle public radio station KNKX in 2009 and 2017. Released on January 7, 2026, it features four Hargrove originals: "Top of My Head", which was also issued as an advance single, "The Seattle Vibe", "Angels", and "Soulful", none of which were included on any of his studio albums. SoulTracks praised the EP as revealing "the artistry, emotional depth and spontaneity that made Hargrove one of the defining jazz voices of his generation."“ Hargrove Estate Issues Stunning Live Seattle Set", SoulTracks.com, retrieved January 11, 2026. "Top of My Head" received significant airplay on jazz radio, drawing in a new generation of fans.

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."” At Roy Hargrove's Show, Don't Be Late” Los Angeles Times, February 15, 2002. Retrieved December 18, 2021.” Lost Gem: Roy Hargrove & Larry Willis Explore “Ethiopia” SoulTracks.com, retrieved December 18, 2021.

Over his 30-year career, Hargrove composed and recorded several original compositions, some of which, including most notably "Strasbourg-St. Denis" and "Roy Allan", have been characterized as reaching the status of a jazz standard.

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.” 5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Roy Hargrove NYTimes.com, August 6, 2025, retrieved August 6, 2025.