Roy Hargrove Quintet – Ear Food for the Soul at Yoshi’s San Francisco By Dinah deSpenza

January 18, 2012

 

With piercing high notes and a keen sense of rhythm, trumpeter, Roy Hargrove stepped onto Yoshi’s San Francisco’s stage on January 12^th blowing straight ahead with no stops.

Hargrove, a rare jazz trumpeter of his generation never fails to deliver.

“He’s a hell of a horn player,” says Sonny Buxton, KCSM’s Jazz 91’s Mid-Day Jazz Co-Host.

Flexing his chops with crisp, old-fashioned rigor, Hargrove expresses tradition, lineage, and legacy with surprising freedom.

This sort of freedom erases styles and makes note choices less important than the bravura of the improvisational act.

According to Jeffry Glenn, a San Francisco attorney, “this is exactly the music that I like.”

Hargrove, a native of Waco, Texas was a trumpet prodigy inspired by gospel, R&B and funk.

Wynton Marsalis discovered Hargrove before he finished high school at Booker T. Washington School for the Performing Arts in Dallas. Hargrove’s talents quickly led him to Boston’s famous Berkelee College of Music, and also to recording his first album when he was just 20.

Hargrove made a name for himself when he hit the New York City jazz scene in the late ‘80s and performed all over the world with many of the greats of jazz.

Still standing 20 years later, Hargrove's quintet exudes the confidence to establish its own straightforward voice in a well-worn genre.

The high energy – interactive quintet he brought to Yoshi’s SF included Justin Robinson, Sullivan Fortner, Ameen Saleem, and Montez Coleman.

Justin Robinson, alto saxophonist, honed his sound while attending the High School of Music and Arts at LaGuardia High School in New York. Crafting his own distinctive sound, Robinson has collaborated with eminent artists such as the Harper Brothers, Abbey Lincoln, Diana Ross, Kenny Barron, Little Jimmy Scott and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band.

If any one piano player represents well on stage with Hargrove, it’s Sullivan Fortner. This native of New Orleans was playing for various church choirs around New Orleans by age 9. Fortner has been privileged to study, perform, and record with Wynton Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, Slide Hampton, Jimmy Heath, Theodore Croker, Bill Lee, Marcus Belgrave, Peter Martin, Victor Goines, Albert “Tootie” Heath, and Benny Powell.

“The piano player just knocks me out,” says Buxton.

Seasoned bassist, Ameen Saleem, is known for mixing his jazz education with his ear for the street to form cutting edge rhythms. Originally from Washington, DC, Saleem graduated from Duke Ellington School of the Arts.

Saleem has two degrees in Music Performance. A Bachelor’s Degree from North Carolina Central University and a Master’s Degree from CUNY Queens College in Flushing, New York.

Known as the man who propels the quintet, drummer, Montez Coleman is a native of East St. Louis. Coleman is associated with Wynton Marsalis, Russell Gunn, and 

Peter Martin. Coleman is also featured on Russell Malone’s 2010 MAXJAZZ release, Triple Play.

“Roy Hargrove and his quintet were superb,” says Michel Rabouin of San Jose.

As a recording artist, Hargrove’s output is as remarkable as his live performances.

Hargrove’s recording projects range from Latin jazz to a Charlie Parker tribute. Hargrove has worked with others artists that range from Dave Brubeck to Erykah Badu.

According to NPR, RH Factor, Hargrove’s fusion project that merged R&B and hip-hop mainstream with jazz created a lot of buzz.

Hargrove’s past and current works are more Dizzy Gillespie than Ice-T.

Hargrove has received two Grammy Awards. His Cuban-based band Crisol with piano legend Jesus “Chucho” Valdes and drummer Horatio “El Negro” Hernandez won the Best Latin Jazz Performance Grammy in 1997, and Directions in Music with Herbie Hancock and Michael Brecker won Best Instrumental Jazz Album in 2002.