Roy Hargrove
Diamonds In The Rough

LA RECENSIONE

Album from 1989 and first recording as a leader for Roy Hargrove, then a twenty-year-old emerging jazz trumpet talent.

Even after so many years, it is still a beautiful and enjoyable album that allows us to appreciate his qualities as a soloist with a rich, agile tone in articulation, with a certain "scent" of Clifford Brown: just to mention, I would say «A New Joy» - my favorite track - and also «Confidentiality» and «All Over Again». These are his own compositions, and I would rank them a notch above the others. I found him less effective, however, in the reinterpretation - elegant, but perhaps a bit academic - of the two standards present in this collection, «Ruby My Dear» and «Easy To Remember», and in the bop piece «Wee» that closes the album.

As for the supporting musicians, there are two formations intertwining, and there's no need to go too much into detail: I would just highlight - for a closer listen - pianist Geoffrey Keezer (here also the author of «Proclamation»; «Premonition» and «BHG») and alto saxophonist Antonio Hart. The overall result of this debut recording by young Roy aligns with the mainstream "jazz-messengers" style, which was one of the jazz trends of the late eighties, perhaps borrowed from his mentor and discoverer Wynton Marsalis.

Good Hargrove would give his best in the later years of his career, and in those years - paraphrasing the album title - he was still a "diamond in the rough". An album, therefore, called DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH that interests enthusiasts, especially from the historical perspective of a stylistic starting point.

As for the graphic part, the album offers us two beautiful photos of our Roy, on the cover and inside the folder, but is rather lacking in information (the authors of the tracks need to be read directly on the label) and favors listening on YouTube or a purchase in the immaterial format, which is at least less expensive.