Roy Hargrove is a
hard bop-oriented musician (and acclaimed "Young Lion") who became one of America's premier trumpeters during the late 1980s and beyond. A fine, straight-ahead player who spent his childhood years in Texas,
Hargrove met trumpet virtuoso
Wynton Marsalis in 1987, when the latter musician visited
Hargrove's high school in Dallas. Impressed with the student's sound,
Marsalis allowed
Hargrove to sit in with his band and helped him secure additional work with major players, including
Bobby Watson, Ricky Ford,
Carl Allen, and the group Superblue.
Hargrove attended Berklee for one (1988-1989) before decamping to New York City, where his studio career took flight.
In 1990, the young
Hargrove (he was only 20 at the time) released his first of five recordings for Novus. He often toured with his own group, which for several years including
Antonio Hart. In addition to Novus,
Hargrove also recorded for Verve and served as a sideman with quite a few notable figures, including
Sonny Rollins, James Clay, Frank Morgan, and
Jackie McLean, and the ensemble Jazz Futures. His Verve album roster includes 1995's
Family and
Parker's Mood.
Habana (a Grammy-winning album of Afro-Cuban music) and
Moment to Moment followed at the end of the decade.
Hargrove also went on to contribute to well-received
R&B albums by
Erykah Badu and
D'Angelo, but he also remained indebted to
hard bop with such albums as 2008's Earfood. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
