Celebrate the first-ever official release of “Bern”, Roy Hargrove’s legendary 2000 Bern Jazz Festival performance with an album release event and full concert film screening at The Jazz Gallery on April 28 at 7pm.
For the first time ever, Roy’s legendary 2000 performance at the Bern Jazz Festival arrives as an official release, restored from the original tapes and remastered for audiophile fidelity. Capturing Roy at the height of his powers with a stellar quintet - Larry Willis, Sherman Irby, Gerald Cannon, and Willie Jones - the set moves effortlessly from hard-swinging post-bop to Latin-inflected grooves and breathtaking ballads, bridging bebop tradition with 21st-century soul. The album will be released on vinyl on Record Store Day (April 18).
To celebrate the release, Roy Hargrove Legacy is hosting a special album release event and full concert-film screening at The Jazz Gallery on Tuesday, April 28 at 7pm. The evening begins with a panel discussion and Q&A featuring musicians and key collaborators behind the project, followed by the complete screening of the concert - an unforgettable chance to see the band play, interact, and communicate in real time and to experience the chemistry that makes this performance so electric.
**ONE NIGHT; ONE SET**
"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.
The ensemble embarked upon a monthly residency at The Jazz Gallery, in the Flatiron District of Manhattan beginning March 10th, 2022.
SPONSORSHIP
The Jazz Gallery is a not-for-profit arts organization presenting emerging artists who challenge convention, take creative risks, and lead their field as performers, composers and thinkers. We provide a platform for artists to discover their unique voice and a home for established musicians to continue to experiment and grow. At The Jazz Gallery, artists and audiences come together from around the world to explore new creative ideas, collaborate and celebrate jazz as a dynamic art form that reflects our ever-changing world.
We rely on the generosity of our members and community to keep the music playing, thank you for your continued and much appreciated support! If you would like to sponsor a Livestream Concert, please use the links above or be in touch with our Executive Director, Janet Luhrs, here.