Roy Hargrove was born in Waco, Texas, on October 16, 1969. Inspired by the gospel music he heard in church on Sundays and the R&B and funk music that played on the radio, Roy began learning the trumpet in the fourth grade. Somewhat of a prodigy, he was playing at an advanced level of proficiency by the time he reached junior high school. During that time, jazz saxophone legend David "Fathead" Newman performed at his school. After that, all Roy wanted to do was improvise like him.

By age 16, he was studying music at Dallas's prestigious Booker T. Washington School for the Visual and Performing Arts (fellow alumni: Erykah Badu and Norah Jones). Midway through his freshman year, Roy was "discovered" by Wynton Marsalis, who was conducting a jazz clinic at the school. Greatly impressed by youngblood's skills, Marsalis facilitated an audition with Fort Worth's Caravan of Dreams Performing Arts Center where he ended up supporting Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie and Herbie Hancock. During his senior year, Roy was hired by Frank Morgan for a European tour.

In 1988, the trumpet phenom moved east to study music at Boston's Berklee. He lasted but a year -- spending more of his time bumrushing NY jam sessions and gigging with Bobby Watson, Ricky Ford, Carl Allen and Superblue than hitting the books. In 1990 he released his major label solo debut, RCA/Novus's Diamond In The Rough. Four albums/years later, Roy released his Verve debut, the critically acclaimed With the Tenors of Our Time (featuring Joe Henderson, Stanley Turrentine, Johnny Griffin, Redman and Branford Marsalis). Stylistically, every album Roy has released on Verve has been different from the one preceding it. Family, Habana, Moment to Moment - each has been Grammy nominated for artistic/critical/commercial triumphs. In 2005, Roy, Herbie Hancock and Michael Brecker won a Grammy award for Best Instrumental Jazz Album for Directions In Music.

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Musicians

• Roy Hargrove: trumpet

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