Booker T. Alum Roy Hargrove Prepares For His Emergrence

By Pete Freedman Fri., Jul. 24 2009 at 2:59 PM

Categories: DFW Music News

The Waco-born and Booker T. Washington-educated two-time Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove has announced the details of his next album, a disc called Emergence, which will see the light of day a month from tomorrow, on August 25.

The disc is a little bit of a departure for Hargrove, but a pretty exciting one nonetheless--and one that should further cement Hargrove's status as one of the more innovative modern jazz players of today. The idea's pretty simple: It's a big band record, featuring 16 players, with Hargrove serving as the band leader, playing trumpet, flugelhorn and, on one track, even singing lead vocals (on the standard "Septemebr in the Rain")--which is to say that it's a pretty far cry from the Hargrove's previous award-winning outfit, the Roy Hargrove Quintet.

According to the press release announcing the new album, the idea's been a long time coming for Hargrove--since 1995, actually, when he lead his first big band in a performance at a New York City jazz festival.

"The small group has been such a big deal for so long in jazz that people forget where the small groups came from," says Hargrove. "There's nothing like the feeling you get when you're hearing your compositions and arrangements played by a wall of sound. I'm just trying to make some music that's fun to hear and play."

I caught Hargrove performing a little over a year ago at the Booker T. Washingon re-opening celebration, and--here's a shocker--the guy can play a trumpet. So, here's looking forward to the disc.