Roy Hargrove (1969–2018) was a Texas-born jazz trumpeter, discovered in high school by Wynton Marsalis, who bridged hard bop and neo-soul like few others. Habana (1997) won the Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Performance, and Hard Groove (2003, as the RH Factor) shows the D'Angelo–Soulquarians side. Browse Roy Hargrove vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Roy Anthony Hargrove was born in Waco, Texas on October 16, 1969 and raised in Dallas. He was discovered by Wynton Marsalis when Marsalis visited his Dallas high school in 1987. He attended Berklee College of Music briefly before launching his recording career. His 1990 debut Diamond in the Rough on Novus Records established him as one of the most important contemporary jazz figures of the early 1990s - part of the Young Lions / Marsalis-era hard bop revival generation. His 1997 album Habana - recorded with Cuban musicians under the Crisol band name - won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Performance in 1998. His 2003 album Hard Groove (as the RH Factor) established his parallel R&B / funk / soul / jazz fusion ensemble (work with D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Common, and the broader Soulquarians collective). He has collaborative work as a sideman across the catalog - work with D'Angelo (Voodoo 2000), the Soulquarians, Common, Erykah Badu, and dozens of other contemporary artists. He died of cardiac arrest from chronic kidney failure on November 2, 2018 at age 49. His foundational influence on contemporary jazz, R&B, and broader popular music is widely cited.
Roy Hargrove's sound combines jazz, hard bop, contemporary jazz, Afro-Cuban jazz, Latin jazz, R&B influences, soul jazz, and post-bop with his distinctive lyrical trumpet phrasing, integration of multiple subgenres across his catalog, and arrangements drawing on classic 1960s hard bop alongside contemporary jazz and R&B/soul influences. His foundational influence on the contemporary hard bop revival and the broader Soulquarians-era neo-soul / jazz fusion is widely documented.
Original Novus and Verve Records pressings of the Roy Hargrove catalog are foundational items in contemporary jazz collecting.
Listeners new to Roy Hargrove typically start with Habana (1997) or Hard Groove (2003).
