“There’s nothing like the feeling you get when you’re hearing your compositions and arrangements played by a wall of sound.”

– Roy Hargrove

Originally started in the rehearsal space that would later become The Jazz Gallery, the Roy Hargrove Big Band had its inaugural performance at the Greenwich Village Jazz Festival in 1995. Since then, the band has toured domestically and internationally and has played everywhere from the Blue Note Tokyo to the Hollywood Bowl. Roy conducted the big band while also playing trumpet and flugelhorn and lending his vocal, most famously, on the fan favorite “September in the Rain”. The arrangements comprised of Roy’s original compositions, standards, and new music by band members and other contemporaries whom he respected. They released one album, Emergence, under Roy’s leadership in 2009.

As with everything Roy, his broad musical range is evident in his big band. Nate Chinen’s description of a big band concert at WBGO aptly captures that diversity: “Beginning with “Roy Allan,” a blaring, groove-fortified piece named after Hargrove’s father, the set moves into an original ballad titled “Trust.” Then Jon Batiste plays the elaborative piano introduction to “Mambo For Roy,” a Chucho Valdés composition originally featured on the album Habana. And this selection of excerpts concludes with a Hargrove original, “Tschpiso.” (Listen here)

Roy Hargrove Legacy LLC, the company founded by his wife, Aida Brandes-Hargrove and daughter, Kamala, has re-launched The Roy Hargrove Big Band to honor Roy’s legacy and the big band sound that he loved. Performances will feature musicians who played with Roy in the big band and in his other ensembles. Ms. Brandes-Hargrove is the band’s Executive Director, and Mr. Bruce Williams, lead alto and big band member from 1997 until Mr. Hargrove’s death in 2018, is Music Director. Mr. Jason Marshall, baritone saxophonist and also long-time member of the big band, serves as Assistant Music Director.