Hargrove was the bandleader of the progressive group The RH Factor, which combined elements of jazz, funk, hip-hop, soul, and gospel music. Its members have included Chalmers "Spanky" Alford, Pino Palladino, James Poyser, Jonathan Batiste and Bernard Wright.
Born in Waco, Texas, he took lessons on trumpet and was discovered by Wynton Marsalis when Marsalis visited the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas. One of his influences was saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman, who performed in Ray Charles's Band at Hargrove's junior high school.
Hargrove spent one year (1988–1989) studying at Boston's Berklee College of Music but could more often be found in New York City jam sessions. He transferred to the New School in New York. His first recording there was with the saxophonist Bobby Watson. Shortly afterwards he made a recording with Superblue featuring Watson, Mulgrew Miller, and Kenny Washington. In 1990 he released his first solo album, Diamond in the Rough, on the Novus/RCA label. He was commissioned by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and wrote The Love Suite: In Mahogany which premiered in 1993.
In 1994, now contracted to Verve, he recorded With the Tenors of Our Time, with Joe Henderson, Stanley Turrentine, Johnny Griffin, Joshua Redman, and Branford Marsalis. He recorded Family in 1995, then experimented with a trio format on the album Parker's Mood in 1995, with bassist Christian McBride and pianist Stephen Scott.
Hargrove won his first Grammy Award in 1998 for the album Habana with Crisol, the Afro-Cuban band he founded. He won a Grammy Award in 2002 for Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall with co-leaders Herbie Hancock and Michael Brecker.
In 2000, Hargrove used a jazz sound with a lot of groove and funk, performing and recording with neo soul singer D'Angelo, resulting in Voodoo. Hargrove also performed the music of Louis Armstrong in Roz Nixon's musical production "Dedicated To Louis Armstrong" as part of the Verizon Jazz Festival. In 2002, he collaborated with D'Angelo and Macy Gray, the Soultronics, and Nile Rodgers, on two tracks for Red Hot & Riot, a compilation album in tribute to the music of afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. He acted as sideman for jazz pianist Shirley Horn and rapper Common on the album Like Water for Chocolate and in 2002 with singer Erykah Badu on Worldwide Underground.
Hargrove passed away on November 2, 2018.
Discography
As leader
1990: Diamond in the Rough (Novus)
1991: Public Eye (Novus)
1992: Tokyo Sessions, Roy Hargrove and Antonio Hart (Novus)
1992: The Vibe (Novus)
1993: Jazz Futures: Live in Concert (Novus)
1993: Of Kindred Souls: The Roy Hargrove Quintet Live (Novus)
1993: Beauty and the Beast – The Jazz Networks (Novus)
1994: Blues 'n Ballads – The Jazz Networks (Novus)
1994: Approaching Standards – compilation of tracks from 4 albums (BMG Music/Jazz Heritage 1995)
1994: With the Tenors of Our Time – The Roy Hargrove Quintet (Verve)
1995: Family (Verve)
1995: Parker's Mood – with Christian McBride (bass), and Stephen Scott (piano) (Verve)
1997: Habana – Roy Hargrove's Crisol (Verve), Latin Jazz Grammy Winner
2000: Moment to Moment – Roy Hargrove with Strings (Verve)
2002: Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall – co-led by Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker (Verve), Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group 2003
2003: Hard Groove – The RH Factor (Verve)
2004: Strength – The RH Factor (EP, Verve)
2006: Distractions – The RH Factor (Verve)
2006: Nothing Serious (Verve)
2008: Earfood – The Roy Hargrove Quintet (EmArcy)
2009: Emergence – The Roy Hargrove Big Band (Groovin' High)
As sideman
1988: Bobby Watson & Horizon – No question about it
1988: Superblue – Superblue (Blue Note)[2]
1989 Manhattan Projects – Dreamboat
1989: Carl Allen & Manhattan Projects – Piccadilly Square
1989: Ricky Ford – Hard Groovin' (Muse)
1990: Ralph Moore – Furthermore
1991 Antonio Hart – For the First Time
1991: Charles Fambrough – The Proper Angle
1991: Jazz futures – Live in concert (Novus)
1991: Sonny Rollins – Here's to the People (Milestone), on "I Wish I Knew" and "Young Roy" only
1992: Jackie McLean – Rhythm of the Earth
1992: Jazz Networks – Beauty And The Beast (BMG)
1992: Danny Gatton, Joshua Redman, Bobby Watson, Franck Amsallem, Charles Fambrough, Yuron Israel – New York Stories (Blue Note)
1993: Bob Thiele Collective – Lion Hearted
1993: Steve Coleman – The Tao of Mad Phat (Novus)
1993: Jazz Networks – Blues 'N Ballads (BMG)
1994: David Sanchez – Sketches of Dreams
1994: Johnny Griffin – Chicago-New york-Paris
1994: Marc Cary – Cary On
1994: Rodney Kendrick – The Secrets of Rodney Kendrick
1995: Shirley Horn – The Main Ingredient (Verve)
1995: Christian McBride – Gettin' to It
1995: Jimmy Smith – Damn!
1996: Jimmy Smith – Angel Eyes: Ballads & Slow Jams
1996: Cedar Walton – Composer (Astor Place]])
1996: Oscar Peterson – Meets Roy Hargrove and Ralph Moore (Telarc), with Ralph Moore, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Lewis Nash
2000: Ray Brown Trio – Some of My Best Friends Are... The Trumpet Players (Telarc)
2000: Erykah Badu – Mama's Gun
2000: D'Angelo – Voodoo
2000: Common – Like Water for Chocolate
2001: Roy Haynes – Birds of a Feather: A Tribute to Charlie Parker
2003: Erykah Badu – Worldwide Underground
2003: Shirley Horn – May the Music Never End (Verve)
2006: Anke Helfrich – Better Times Ahead
2006: John Mayer – Continuum
2006: Steve Davis – Update
2007: Jimmy Cobb Quartet – Cobb's Corner
2007: Randal Corsen – Armonia
2008: John Beasley – Letter to Herbie
2008: Johnny Griffin – Live At Ronnie Scott's
2008: Roy Assaf & Eddy Khaimovich Quartet – Andarta (Origin)
2009: Jimmy Cobb Quartet – Jazz in the Key of Blue, with Russell Malone (guitar) and John Webber (bass)
2010: Marcus Miller with L'Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo – A Night in Monte Carlo (Dreyfus/Concord Jazz), with Raul Midón
2010: Angelique Kidjo – Õÿö, on "Samba pa ti" only
2011: Cyrille Aimée – Cyrille Aimée & Friends (Live at Smalls)
2011: Roy Haynes – Roy-Alty
2011: Stan Killian – Unified
2014: D'Angelo – Black Messiah
2015: Ameen Saleem – The Grove Lab
2017: Johnny O'Neal – In The Moment
Ballad for the Children
Roy Hargrove Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I need your guidance,
I can't swim through the see of fire alone,
That's why I need you to hold my hand
Throw away all the memories,
It's time to wake up and fight,
Burn all of the photographs,
No matter how many times we fall,
Our only hope is to fight,
Dreams can be contagious
Spreading all over please make it stop
I can't sleep with all of this strangling me,
Never let it control you say your prayer,
Lets die tonight,
(Die with dignity),
Lets hold our hands,
(We're in this together),
We're falling apart,
It's time to... wake...
Nothing can stop us now,
The wind is changing,
Moving towards the light,
All I can see everyone's staring at me,
Rise, it's time for us to rise,
Come on.
Awakening!
We could be,
The ones who lose in this battle
Scream our lungs out,
Well I told you,
Not to be scared
I can't sleep with all of this strangling me,
Never let it control you say your prayer,
Lets die tonight (Die with dignity),
Lets hold our hands (We're in this together),
We're falling apart,
It's time to wake.yeaaahh.
We are stronger than ever
Wake me up, tell me it's the beginning.
The lyrics of Roy Hargrove's song Ballad for the Children portray a sense of desperation and the need for guidance and support. The singer is overwhelmed and lost in what seems to be a sea of fire and needs someone to hold his hand to navigate through it. He suggests throwing away all the memories and burning all of the photographs to wake up and fight. They are still breathing, and no matter how many times they fall, he believes their only hope is to keep fighting. The singer wants to wake up and start anew and is willing to die with dignity as long as it is together. He believes that they are strong enough to face the battle and scream their lungs out while they rise to awaken.
The phrase "We're in this together" reiterates the need to have a support system and to not go through the struggles alone. The lyrics suggest that the battle is internal and that the dream is contagious and can make things worse. It can have a negative impact on the mind and cause them to feel helpless. However, the singer believes that they are stronger than ever and that nothing can stop them now as they are moving towards the light.
Line by Line Meaning
Just wake me up and tell me it was over,
Please wake me up and let me know this nightmare is done.
I need your guidance,
I need your help and support to overcome this.
I can't swim through the see of fire alone,
I can't go through this alone, it's too hard.
That's why I need you to hold my hand
I need you to be there for me and guide me through this.
Throw away all the memories,
Forget the past, it's time to move forward.
It's time to wake up and fight,
We need to wake up and start fighting for our future.
Burn all of the photographs,
Destroy any reminders of the pain and suffering we've endured.
This doesn't end here and we're still breathing,
We're not defeated yet, we're still alive and can keep going.
No matter how many times we fall,
Even if we keep failing, we can still keep trying.
Our only hope is to fight,
The only way forward is to keep fighting for what we want.
Dreams can be contagious
One person's aspirations can impact many others.
Spreading all over please make it stop
If these dreams are harmful, we need to stop them from spreading.
I can't sleep with all of this strangling me,
It's impossible for me to relax with all of this weighing me down.
Never let it control you say your prayer,
We need to stay in control and remain focused on our goals.
Lets die tonight,
Let's put an end to the pain and start over.
(Die with dignity),
Let's end things in a respectable way.
Lets hold our hands,
We need to support each other through this difficult time.
(We're in this together),
We're all in this situation together and we need to overcome it together.
We're falling apart,
Things are falling apart and we need to do something to fix it.
It's time to... wake...
We need to wake up and start taking action.
Nothing can stop us now,
We're unstoppable at this point.
The wind is changing,
The situation is evolving and we need to adapt to it.
Moving towards the light,
We're moving towards a better future.
All I can see everyone's staring at me,
I feel like everyone is watching and judging me.
Rise, it's time for us to rise,
We need to rise up and take control of our lives.
Come on.
Let's do this together.
Awakening!
We're starting to see things from a new perspective.
We could be,
We have the potential to be great.
The ones who lose in this battle
We could end up as the losers if we don't fight hard enough.
Scream our lungs out,
We need to make our voices heard and fight with passion.
Well I told you,
I warned you about this situation before.
Not to be scared
Do not be afraid, we will overcome this.
We are stronger than ever
We've been through a lot and have still come out stronger.
Wake me up, tell me it's the beginning.
Let's start fresh and work towards a bright future.
Contributed by Jonathan L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.