A Tribute to Roy Hargrove, 1969–2018

Berklee remembers the jazz horn innovator through his genre-busting music.

November 8, 2018

From the almost mythic moment of Roy Hargrove's discovery by Wynton Marsalis, when Hargrove was in high school, up until his recent passing, the Grammy-winning trumpeter and Berklee alumnus expressed his love of all music through the diverse tunes and collaborations he created. Whether it was taking solos onstage with Herbie Hancock or arranging and playing for Erykah Badu and D'Angelo, Hargrove's passion and musical curiosity shined through. "Whatever you play is kind of what you’re living," he said in a 2013 interview. "If you love the music, it’s gonna come out."

In this playlist, you can hear that love, whether in the joy of a track like "Strasbourg / St. Denis" or the pensive melancholy of "When We Were One." And, lucky for us, that sound will continue to echo through the music he made and inspired.

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