The Roy Hargrove Big Band

A two-time Grammy winner, Roy Hargrove posthumously topped the 2019 DownBeat Readers’ Poll for his instrument.  Roy is widely acclaimed as one of the premier trumpet players of his generation.  He was a musician of wide tastes with a special gift for composition and melody. While always keeping one foot firmly planted in jazz, Hargrove’s career was one of exciting genre-crossing exploration, including collaborations with Herbie Hancock, Branford Marsalis, Christian McBride, Chucho Valdes, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Common and many others. He toured worldwide throughout his 30-year career with the Roy Hargrove Quintet, the Roy Hargrove Big Band, Roy Hargrove’s Crisol, the Jazz Networks, the Jazz Futures and his funk/jazz outfit, the RH Factor™, until his death in 2018 at age 49. He entered the DownBeat “Jazz Hall of Fame” in 2021.

Roy Hargrove is survived by his wife, Aida Brandes-Hargrove, and daughter, Kamala Hargrove, who in 2020 launched the company, Roy Hargrove Legacy LLC, to preserve and extend his legacy. The Roy Hargrove Big Band, which gives live performances featuring original band members and other musicians who supported Hargrove in his various ensembles was re-launched in 2022 by the Roy Hargrove Legacy. The RH Big Band continues to in concert performances and tours today across the USA and Internationally.

Over his 30-year career, Hargrove composed and recorded several original compositions, one of which, “Strasbourg-St. Denis”, has been characterized as reaching the status and recognition as a Jazz Standard.