Roy Hargrove

Roy Hargrove was a highly regarded American jazz trumpeter known for his fluid and meticulous style who played with many other top jazz artists and led his own aggregations including quartets, quintets, big bands, an Afro-Cuban group called Crisol and a funk band he named the RH Factor. He died of a heart attack at the age of 49 in New York on 2nd November 2018.

Born in Texas, he played the trumpet from a young age and attended the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas where he was spotted and then mentored by jazz great Wynton Marsalis. After studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, he moved to New York and played in local venues before releasing his debut album 'Diamond in the Rough' in 1989. Several other albums followed including 'Public Eye' (1990), 'Beauty and the Beast' (1992) and 'With the Tenors of Our Time' (1994). In 1995 'Family' reached number 23 on Billboard's Jazz Albums Chart and 'Parker's Mood' with bassist Christian McBride and the Stephen Scott Trio went to number 33.

'Moment to Moment - Roy Hargrove With Strings' (2000) peaked at number 15 on the Jazz Albums Chart, 'Directions in Music - Celebrating Miles Davis & John Coltrane' (2002), with pianist Herbie Hancock and saxophonist Michael Brecker, hit number seven, 'Hard Groove: Roy Hargrove Presents the RH Factor' (2003) went to number two and number 32 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart while'Nothing Serious' (2006) and 'A Night in Monte Carlo' (2011), on which he and singer-guitarist Raul Midon were featured with bassist Marcus Miller and L'Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, both reached number 16 on the Jazz Albums Chart.

He was nominated for six Grammy Awards including wins for 'Habana' (1997) and 'Directions in Music' (2002). His most recent release was 'Live in Studio' in 2015 and he played on Johnny O'Neal's 2017 release 'In the Moment'. Over his career he collaborated with a wide variety of artists of different styles including jazz, R&B, Latin and hip-hop artists such as D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Common, Questlove, Shirley Horn, John Mayer, Sonny Rollins and Oscar Peterson. He was scheduled to appear with the RH Factor at Blues Alley in Washington at the time of his death.