Roy Hargrove, born in Texas on October 16, 1969, was jazz giant despite his small physical stature. After being discovered as a teen (by Wynton Marsalis) at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Roy's music career began in earnest.  After a year at Berklee, he transferred to the New School in New York and made his first recordings, with Bobby Watson (No Question About It) then Superblue.  Starting in 1990 a series of recordings under his name on the Novus label (Diamond in the Rough, Public Eye, The Tokyo Sessions) were commercially succesful, introducing him to a wider audience world-wide.  There followed The Jazz Networks, The Jazz Futures and The Roy Hargrove Big Band.  In 1998, he won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album for his album Habana (with Russell Malone, Chucho Valdes, et al.); his second Grammy came in 2001 for Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall with Michael Brecker and Herbie Hancock.  Moving with the changes in modern music, he introduced Roy Hargrove's The RH Factor (in 2003) a group that blended elements of jazz with rhythms and effects from funk, hip-hop, soul and latin genres.  Grammy nominations ensued, as did a relentless schedule of touring and recording (despite kidney failure that required dialysis for the last 14 years of his life).  He died on November 2, 2018.

Anyone unfamiliar with Roy's playing (and personality) should listen to his appearance on Marion McPartland's Piano Jazz show from 1998.  Those who are familiar may get some surprises, all of them pleasant!