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Roy Hargrove Dead at 49

Winner of two Grammies played vast array of styles
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 3, 2018 5:10 PM CDT

Trumpeter Roy Hargrove, a prolific player who provided his jazz sound to records across a vast range of styles and won two Grammys, has died at age 49, his manager said Saturday. Hargrove died in New York on Friday of cardiac arrest stemming from a longtime fight with kidney disease, longtime manager Larry Clothier said in a statement, the AP reports. Clothier said Hargrove "was known just as intensely for his brimming fire and fury as he was for his gorgeous, signature balladry. Over and over, his sound attested to and sanctified his deep love for music. His unselfish timbre covered the waterfront of every musical landscape." Many of Hargrove's peers regarded him as the greatest trumpeter of his generation. Through his own bands and as a sideman, Hargrove brewed his jazz with African and Latin sounds, R&B, soul, pop, funk, and hip-hop.

He led the progressive, genre-melding group The RH Factor, played in sessions for Common, Erykah Badu, and D'Angelo, and collaborated with jazz giants including Herbie Hancock and Wynton Marsalis. A native of Waco, Texas, Hargrove was discovered by his fellow trumpeter Marsalis, went on to study in Boston and New York, and won Grammies with his Afro-Cuban band Crisol for its 1998 album Habana and another in 2002 for Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall. "He is literally the one man horn section I hear in my head when I think about music," Questlove, drummer and leader of the Roots, said on Instagram Saturday. "Love to the immortal timeless genius that will forever be Roy Hargrove y'all." (Recently, a blues legend who inspired huge acts died at 84.)

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