At 36, trumpeter Roy Hargrove has firmly established himself as among the premier players in jazz and beyond. Ever-stretching into more challenging and colorful ways to flex his musical chops, Hargrove has left indelible imprints in a vast array of artful settings. During his tenure on the Verve label alone, he has recorded an album with a hand-picked collection of the world’s greatest tenor saxophonists “With the Tenors of Our Time”, an album of standards with strings (“Moment to Moment”) and, in 2003, introduced his own hip hop/jazz collective The RH Factor with the groundbreaking CD “Hard Groove” (swiftly followed by the limited edition EP, “Strength”). Hargrove has also won Grammy® Awards for two vastly different projects. In 1997, Roy’s Cuban-based band Crisol (including piano legend Jesus “Chucho” Valdes and wonder drummer Horatio “El Negro” Hernandez) won the Best Latin Jazz Performance Grammy for the album “Habana”. And in 2002, Hargrove, Herbie Hancock and Michael Brecker won Best Instrumental Jazz Album, Individual or Group, for their three-way collaboration “Directions in Music”.

 

Hargrove, who was born in Waco, Texas, was discovered when Wynton Marsalis visited his high school. He has recorded with a wide range of musicians, including: Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, Michael Brecker, Jackie McLean, Slide Hampton, Natalie Cole and Diana Krall to name a few. Hargrove's clean, soulful styling punctuated with dazzling solo flourishes are the result of his unique interpretation of the many forms of music encountered throughout his life.

 

Widely recognized as one of the top improvising trumpeters touring today - he has not only wowed crowds throughout the world as he leads what is arguably one of the hardest working and most exciting bands in jazz, but has also impressed critics. On his recordings Hargrove creates classics that are as beautiful as they are transcendent.The music world would be hard pressed to find another ambassador capable of traversing the worlds of straight ahead swingin’ and the funky underground better than Brother Hargrove.