Roy Hargrove

Roy Anthony Hargrove (born October 16, 1969) is an American jazz trumpeter. He won worldwide notice after winning two Grammy Awards for differing types of music, in 1997 and in 2002. Hargrove has played primarily with jazz musicians including Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock and Robert Stewart (saxophonist).
Hargrove was the bandleader of the progressive group The RH Factor, which combined elements of jazz, funk, hip-hop, soul, and gospel music. Its members have included Chalmers "Spanky" Alford, Pino Palladino, James Poyser, Jonathan Batiste and Bernard Wright.

Hargrove was born in Waco, Texas, United States, to parents who early in his childhood discovered his musical potential, and with lessons on the trumpet, was discovered as a potential jazz talent when trumpet player Wynton Marsalis visited his high school, Dallas's Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. One of his influences was saxophone player David "Fathead" Newman, who performed in Ray Charles's Band at Hargrove's junior high school.

Hargrove spent one year (1988–1989) studying at Boston's Berklee College of Music, but could more often be found in New York City jam sessions, and finally transferred to the New School, in New York. His first recording there was with the saxophonist Bobby Watson. Shortly afterwards he made a recording with Superblue featuring Watson, Mulgrew Miller, and Kenny Washington. In 1990 he released his first solo album, Diamond in the Rough, on the Novus/RCA label, along with four other albums.

Roy Hargrove at Aalener Jazzfest 2008

In 1993 he was commissioned by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and wrote The Love Suite: In Mahogany.

In 1994, after he moved to Verve, he took the opportunity to record with some of the major jazz musicians on With the Tenors of Our Time, including Joe Henderson, Stanley Turrentine, Johnny Griffin, Joshua Redman, and Branford Marsalis.

Hargrove recorded Family in 1995, and then experimented with a trio format on the album Parker's Mood in 1995, with Verve artists bassist Christian McBride and pianist Stephen Scott.

Hargrove won his first Grammy Award in 1998 for the album Habana with the Afro-Cuban band he founded, Crisol. He went on to win a second Grammy Award in 2002 for Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall with co-leaders Herbie Hancock and Michael Brecker.

In 2000, Hargrove used a jazz sound with a lot of groove and funk, performing and recording with neo soul singer D'Angelo, resulting in Voodoo.

In 2002, he collaborated with D'Angelo and other soul artists, Macy Gray, the Soultronics, and Nile Rodgers, on two tracks for Red Hot & Riot, a compilation CD in tribute to the music of afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti.

He acted as sideman for jazz pianist Shirley Horn, rapper Common, on the album Like Water for Chocolate and in 2002, with singer Erykah Badu on Worldwide Underground.

Roy Hargrove continues to tour to festivals and clubs in various parts of the world with the Roy Hargrove Quintet and the Roy Hargrove Big Band.

As leader

• 1990: Diamond in the Rough (Novus)
• 1991: Public Eye (Novus)
• 1992: Tokyo Sessions, Roy Hargrove and Antonio Hart (Novus)
• 1992: The Vibe (Novus)
• 1993: Jazz Futures: Live in Concert (Novus)
• 1993: Of Kindred Souls: The Roy Hargrove Quintet Live (Novus)
• 1993: Beauty and the Beast – The Jazz Networks (Novus)
• 1994: Blues 'n Ballads – The Jazz Networks (Novus)
• 1994: Approaching Standards – compilation of tracks from 4 albums (BMG Music/Jazz Heritage 1995)
• 1994: With the Tenors of Our Time – The Roy Hargrove Quintet (Verve)
• 1995: Family (Verve)
• 1995: Parker's Mood – with Christian McBride (bass), and Stephen Scott (piano) (Verve)
• 1997: Habana – Roy Hargrove's Crisol (Verve), Latin Jazz Grammy Winner
• 2000: Moment to Moment – Roy Hargrove with Strings (Verve)
• 2002: Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall – co-led by Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker (Verve), Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group 2003
• 2003: Hard Groove – The RH Factor (Verve)
• 2004: Strength – The RH Factor (EP, Verve)
• 2006: Distractions – The RH Factor (Verve)
• 2006: Nothing Serious (Verve)
• 2008: Earfood – The Roy Hargrove Quintet (EmArcy)
• 2009: Emergence – The Roy Hargrove Big Band (Groovin' High)

As sideman

• 1988: Superblue – Superblue (Blue Note)
• 1989: Ricky Ford – Hard Groovin' (Muse)
• 1991: Sonny Rollins – Here's to the People (Milestone), on "I Wish I Knew" and "Young Roy" only
• 1992: Jackie McLean – Rhythm of the Earth
• 1992: Danny Gatton, Joshua Redman, Bobby Watson, Franck Amsallem, Charles Fambrough, Yuron Israel – New York Stories (Blue Note)
• 1993: Bob Thiele Collective – Lion Hearted
• 1993: Steve Coleman – The Tao of Mad Phat (Novus)
• 1995: Shirley Horn – The Main Ingredient (Verve)
• 1995: Christian McBride – Gettin' to It
• 1995: Jimmy Smith – Damn!
• 1996: Jimmy Smith – Angel Eyes: Ballads & Slow Jams
• 1996: Cedar Walton – Composer (Astor Place Records)
• 1996: Oscar Peterson – Meets Roy Hargrove and Ralph Moore (Telarc), with Ralph Moore, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Lewis Nash
• 2000: Ray Brown Trio – Some of My Best Friends Are... The Trumpet Players (Telarc)
• 2000: Erykah Badu – Mama's Gun
• 2000: D'Angelo – Voodoo
• 2000: Common – Like Water for Chocolate
• 2001: Roy Haynes – Birds of a Feather: A Tribute to Charlie Parker
• 2003: Erykah Badu – Worldwide Underground
• 2003: Shirley Horn – May the Music Never End (Verve)
• 2006: John Mayer – Continuum
• 2007: Jimmy Cobb Quartet – Cobb's Corner
• 2008: John Beasley – Letter to Herbie
• 2008: Roy Assaf & Eddy Khaimovich Quartet – Andarta (Origin)
• 2009: Jimmy Cobb Quartet – Jazz in the Key of Blue, with Russell Malone (guitar) and John Webber (bass)
• 2010: Marcus Miller with L'Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo – A Night in Monte Carlo (Dreyfus Jazz/Concord Jazz), with Raul Midón
• 2010: Angelique Kidjo – Õÿö, on "Samba pa ti" only
• 2011: Cyrille Aimée – Cyrille Aimée & Friends (Live at Smalls)
• 2014: D'Angelo – Black Messiah

• Ron Wynn. "Superblue - Superblue | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-02-07.