The RH Factor

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. 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."

Biography

Early life and career

Hargrove was born in Waco, Texas, to Roy Allan Hargrove and Jacklyn Hargrove. When he was 9, his family moved to Dallas, Texas. 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. Hargrove's junior high music teacher, Dean Hill, whom Hargrove called his "musical father", taught him to improvise and solo. 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.

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.

Hargrove's debut album as leader, ''Diamond in the Rough'', was released on the Novus/RCA 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. 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. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. The Penguin Jazz Guide identifies ''Parker's Mood'' as one of the "1001 Best Albums" in the history of the genre.

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.

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.

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, Common, and others. 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."

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."

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.

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''.

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."

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. 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. In 2010, Hargrove released "Live at the New Morning," a DVD of an intimate club performance with his quintet in Paris. 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."

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. Slate selected ''In Harmony'' as one of the best jazz albums of 2021. The Académie du Jazz awarded ''In Harmony'' its prize for "Best Reissue or Best Unpublished" album of 2021.

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.

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", a five-movement piece which he did not play again live after its debut performance in 1993. ''Jazziz Magazine'' called the album an "unearthed gem" that "showcases the much-missed trumpeter’s virtuosity and soulful songwriting ...."
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."

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. 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." ''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." '' 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."

Influence

Hargrove topped the trumpet category in the 2019 ''DownBeat'' Readers’ Poll.

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."

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.

Personal life and death

A quiet and retiring person in life, Hargrove struggled with kidney failure and substance abuse. 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. He is survived by his wife, Aida Brandes-Hargrove, and daughter, Kamala Hargrove, who in 2020 launched the company Roy Hargrove Legacy LLC to preserve and extend his legacy. In 2022, Roy Hargrove Legacy re-launched the Roy Hargrove Big Band, which gives live performances featuring original band members and other musicians who supported Hargrove in his various ensembles.

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 P 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 S 1993)

The Jazz Networks
* 1991: ''Straight to the Standards'' (Novus J/BMG Japan, 1992)
* 1992: ''Beauty and the Beast'' (Novus S 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

With D'Angelo
* 1998–99: '' Voodoo'' ( Virgin, 2000)
* 2002–14: '' Black Messiah'' ( RCA, 2014)

With Erykah Badu
* 1998–2000: '' Mama's Gun'' ( Motown, 2000)
* 2001–03: '' Worldwide Underground'' (Motown, 2003)

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
* '' Birds of a Feather: A Tribute to Charlie Parker'' ( Dreyfus Jazz, 2001)
* ''Roy-Alty'' (Dreyfus Jazz, 2011)

With Shirley Horn
* 1995: '' The Main Ingredient'' (Verve, 1996)
* 1997: '' I Remember Miles'' (Verve, 1998)
* 2003: '' May the Music Never End'' (Verve, 2003)

With Jimmy Smith
* 1995: '' Damn!'' (Verve, 1995)
* 1995: '' Angel Eyes: Ballads & Slow Jams'' (Verve, 1996)

With The 1975
* 2015: '' I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It'' ( Dirty Hit, 2016)
* 2017-18: '' A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships'' (Dirty Hit, 2018)
* 2018-20: '' Notes on a Conditional Form'' (Dirty Hit, 2020) – posthumous release

With others
* 1988: Bobby Watson & Horizon, ''No question about it'' ( Blue Note, 1988)
* 1989: Ricky Ford, '' Hard Groovin''' (Muse, 1989)
* 1990: Ralph Moore, '' Furthermore'' (Landmark, 1990)
* 1990: Frank Morgan, '' A Lovesome Thing'' (Antilles, 1991)
* 1991?: Antonio Hart, ''For the First Time'' (Novus, 1991)
* 1991?: Charles Fambrough, ''The Proper Angle'' (CTI, 1991)
* 1991: Sonny Rollins, '' Here's to the People'' ( Milestone, 1991) – 2 tracks "I Wish I Knew" and "Young Roy"
* 1992?: Jackie McLean, ''Rhythm of the Earth'' (Birdology, 1992)
* 1992?: V.A., ''New York Stories'' (Blue Note, 1992)
* 1992: Philip Bailey, Billy Childs, Bobby Watson, Tony Williams, "Pride of Lions" (Sony Masterworks, 1992)
* 1992: Diana Ross, '' Stolen Moments: The Lady Sings... Jazz and Blues'' (Motown, 1993) – live
* 1993: Bob Thiele Collective, ''Lion Hearted'' (Red Baron, 1993)
* 1993: Steve Coleman, '' The Tao of Mad Phat'' (Novus, 1993)
* 1993: Rodney Kendrick, ''The Secrets of Rodney Kendrick'' (Verve, 1993)
* 1994: David Sanchez, ''Sketches of Dreams'' (Columbia, 1995)
* 1994: Marc Cary, ''Cary On'' (Enja, 1995)
* 1994: Christian McBride, '' Gettin' to It'' (Verve, 1995)
* 1994: Abbey Lincoln, '' A Turtle's Dream'' (Verve, 1995)
* 1996: Cedar Walton, ''Composer'' ( Astor Place, 1996)
* 1996: Various Artists, "Dream Session: The All-Stars Play Miles Davis Classics" (Milestone/Fantasy)
* 1996: Oscar Peterson, ''Meets Roy Hargrove and Ralph Moore'' ( Telarc, 1996)
* 1997?: Kitty Margolis, ''Straight up with a Twist'' (Mad-Kat, 1997)
* 1997: Fred Sanders, ''East of Vilbig'' (Leaning House Jazz, 1997)
* 1999: Curtis Lundy, '' Against All Odds'' (Justin Time, 1999)
* 1999–2000: Common, '' Like Water for Chocolate'' ( MCA, 2000)
* 2000: Ray Brown Trio, ''Some of My Best Friends Are... The Trumpet Players'' (Telarc, 2000)
* 2001: Phil Woods, ''Voyage'' ( Chiaroscuro, 2001)
* 2001?: Boz Scaggs, '' Dig'' ( Virgin, 2001)
* 2002: Natalie Cole, '' Ask a Woman Who Knows'' (Verve, 2002) – 1 track "I'm Glad There Is You"
* 2003 John Mayer, Heavier Things
* 2003?: Randal Corsen, ''Armonia'' (AJA, 2003)
* 2005: Anke Helfrich, ''Better Times Ahead'' (Double Moon, 2006)
* 2005: Steve Davis, ''Update'' (Criss Cross Jazz, 2006)
* 2006: John Mayer, '' Continuum'' ( Aware, 2006)
* 2008?: John Beasley, ''Letter to Herbie'' ( Resonance, 2008)
* 2008?: Roy Assaf & Eddy Khaimovich Quartet, ''Andarta'' ( Origin, 2008)
* 2008: Marcus Miller, ''A Night in Monte Carlo'' (Dreyfus/ Concord Jazz, 2010) – live
* 2010?: Angelique Kidjo, ''Õÿö'' (Razor & Tie, 2010) – 1 track "Samba pa ti"
* 2010: Cyrille Aimée + Friends, ''Live at Smalls'' ( SmallsLIVE, 2011) – live
* 2011: Laïka Fatien, ''Come A Little Closer'' (Universal Music, 2012)
* 2011?: Stan Killian, ''Unified'' (Sunnyside, 2011)
* 2003–11: Jim Martinez and Friends, ''He Keeps Me Swinging - Jazz Praise IV'' (Invisible Touch, 2011)
* 2015?: Ameen Saleem, ''The Grove Lab'' (Jando Music S.r.l., 2015)
* 2017: Johnny O'Neal, ''In The Moment'' (Smoke Sessions, 2017)
* 2018?: Kandace Springs, ''Indigo'' (Blue Note, 2018) – 1 track "Unsophisticated"

References

External links

*
Roy Hargrove
at Emarcy Records.
Roy Hargrove
at Verve Records.
Roy Hargrove
at Jazz Trumpet Solos.
''Roy Hargrove Quintet: Earfood''
album review at AllMusic
''Hard Groove''
album review in '' Vibe magazine''.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hargrove, Roy
1969 births
2018 deaths
20th-century African-American musicians
21st-century African-American musicians
African-American jazz musicians
American jazz trumpeters
American male jazz musicians
American male trumpeters
Berklee College of Music alumni
DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame members
Grammy Award winners
Hard bop trumpeters
Jazz musicians from New York (state)
Jazz musicians from Texas
Jazz trumpeters
Latin jazz trumpeters
Mainstream jazz trumpeters
Musicians from Dallas
Musicians from Waco, Texas
Post-bop trumpeters
Soulquarians members
Superblue (band) members
The New School alumni
The Soultronics members
Verve Records artists
WJ3 Records artists