Roy Hargrove
Roy Hargrove wrapped up his two-week "New Year's" engagement at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase today. It was a packed house. With Hargrove were Justin Robinson on alto saxophone, Quincy Phillips on drums, Ameen Saleem on bass, and Tadatako Uno on piano.
I last saw Hargrove in 1995 at Ravinia, when Ravinia still had a long-weekend devoted to jazz. Hargrove was the new kid on the block, sharing the bill with 90-year old Doc Cheatham and Harry "Sweets" Edison, two extraordinary trumpet players. Supporting the effort were Louie Bellson on drums, bassist Rufus Reid, and pianist James Williams. The group was offering a tribute to the master of the trumpet, Louis Armstrong. Dave Brubeck and company also were on the bill. Not too shabby.
I must confess, Hargrove is not my favorite trumpet player, although today's performance won me over, particularly Hargrove's ballads on the flugelhorn, his singing, and the closing number of an almost two-hour set. For me, the earlier material in his set was not to my taste: The staccato hard bop notes. I prefer more of a blues feel, or else subtle tones from the trumpet (Miles comes to mind)
One thing is for sure: As a photographer, you got a love Hargrove. He dresses for the occassion.
Photographer's Note: This was the first time I used the my Sony R7iii to photograph a performance. Sony has vastly improved the ISO. Normally, I don't go above ISO 3,200, but at times I was shooting at ISO 10,000. The files have nice grain and the edges did not suffer from unacceptable softening. A very impressive camera. particularly given the 1.5 to 2 stops of ISO improvement.
I should add: Normally I would have been tempted to convert the photographs to monochrome, but the colors were so lovely I didn't.
Leaning Back
Roy Seranades Duke
Tadataka Unno on Piano
RH
Trumpet and Hands
Justin Robinson on Saxophone
Bigger Valves
Listening Intensely
Sitting It Out
Directing the Audience in a Sing-along
Relaxing
Ameen Saleem with a Young Student
