Artist: Roy Hargrove

Roy Anthony Hargrove was an American jazz musician and composer whose principal instruments were the trumpet and flugelhorn.

One of his 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.  Hargrove credited trumpeter Freddie Hubbard as having the greatest influence on his sound. Hargrove was discovered by Wynton Marsalis when Marsalis visited the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas.

Hargrove spent a year (1988–1989) studying at Boston's Berklee College of Music but could more often be found playing in New York City jam sessions. He transferred to the New School in New York. His first studio recording there 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. 

In 1990, Hargrove released his debut solo album, Diamond in the Rough, on the Novus/RCA label. In 1994, Hargrove moved to Verve and recorded With the Tenors of Our Time, with Joe Henderson, Stanley Turrentine, Johnny Griffin, Joshua Redman, and Branford Marsalis. He followed with Family in 1995, and then experimented with a trio format that same year on the album Parker's Mood, with bassist Christian McBride and pianist Stephen Scott. 

In 1995, Hargrove first assembled the Roy Hargrove Big Band to perform at the Panasonic Jazz Festival in New York. The band would go on to perform worldwide and feature big band arrangements of Hargrove's own compositions as well as his favorite songs by respected contemporaries. 

Hargrove won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album in 1998 for Habana with Crisol, an Afro-Cuban band that he founded. He won his second Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album in 2002 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. 

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Hargrove was also a member of the  Soulquarians, a collective of experimental jazz, hip hop and soul artists that included Questlove, D’Angelo, Common and others. In 2000, Hargrove added jazz and funk-influenced horns in support of D'Angelo on his Grammy-winning album Voodoo.