Roy Hargrove

Trumpeter Roy Hargrove emerged in the late ’80s as one of jazz's sharp-dressed, hard-bopping "young lions". Born in Waco, Texas, in 1969, he attended Dallas’ Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where he was spotted by Wynton Marsalis in 1987 and invited to join an ensemble at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands. Hargrove headed to New York the following year and released his solo debut, Diamond in the Rough, in 1990. He combined cool attitude with prolific creativity, winning a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album in 1998 for Habana and another for Best Jazz Instrumental Album (with co-leaders Herbie Hancock and Michael Brecker) in 2002 for Directions In Music: Live At Massey Hall. Between 2003 and 2006, as leader of The RH Factor, Hargrove released three influential albums that married jazz, soul, funk and hip-hop. His sound embraced both warm flugelhorn ballads and the vibrant soul jazz of 2008’s Earfood, while 2009’s dynamic big-band album Emergence marked Hargrove's final release as a leader before his death in 2018.