The Artistry of… Roy Hargrove

The Artistry of… series is sponsored by the Alzheimer Society Music Project.

He played jazz with the sweetness of a vocalist. He took the time when making music. Whether swinging or lyrically offering up a tune his playing was a kind of intimacy. His music bridged genres with a gentle defiance. He could as easily groove in With the Tenors of Our Time as he did in Common’s Like Water for Chocolate. In many Latin American countries, hot chocolate is made with water instead of milk. The phrase has Spanish roots. Imagine the imagery of someone who has reached their boiling point, like water for chocolate. To paraphrase Common the album’s name comes from the movie Like Water for Chocolate. In the film the main character is a good cook who puts a lot of emotion in her cooking. When people ate they were able to feel the same emotions. Roy Hargrove played and was so very simply as engaged and as engaging as the cook. Like water for chocolate, people feel his emotions.

https://soundcloud.com/jazz-fm91/artistry-of-roy-hargrove