Roy Hargrove Quintet
This evening, Soulcamp and I went to Yoshi’s in Oakland to attend the early show of the Roy Hargrove Quintet. Possibly the best known jazz instrumentalist under the age of 40, Roy Hargrove has been recording since he was a teenager. His group has a mature, experienced sound that makes for a good evening of instrumental jazz.
Roy came out and he and his band started out with a Red Garland tune called “Blues By Five”, which was an uptempo bop blues that showed off his chops, as well as those of his sidemen, Justin Robinson (alto sax) and Gerald Clayton (piano). Another midtempo blues tune followed, “Bohemia After Dark”, an Oscar Pettiford composition.
Hargrove brought his flugelhorn out for a beautiful rendition of “Never Let Me Go”, a great standard. A playful mambo showed off his drummer and bass player while the trumpet man danced around at the back of the stage. After a relaxed soul groove let everyone have a chance to take a solo or two, the ensemble closed us out with a blistering rendition of “The Theme”, a classic Miles Davis composition.
What a great show. This is a great group. If you like jazz, you should check them out whenever you can.
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