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| Roy Hargrove |
Last night I went to the Roy Hargrove Big Band concert at Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music as part of the Toronto Jazz Festival. Roy Hargrove is one of today's top jazz trumpeters. But he is also known for trying different types of music and has had very successful Afro Cuban and Neo Soul groups. Now he is attempting to revive the big band sound. I'm not talking about the big bands of the 40s. I'm talking about more contemporary bands like the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra. Hargrove has admitted that it's a big financial risk to mount a tour like this. The concert was very good. It just didn't blow me away. I think he's doing this for nostalgiac reasons and that may be part of the problem. I guess I was looking for a new and innovative take on the big band. He's not doing that. We do get a change of pace when Italian born singer Roberta Gambarini joins the band for a few songs. And there are some excellent musicians in the band including drummer Montez Coleman, 23 year old pianist John de Batiste and baritone sax player Jason Marshall. The atmosphere at Koerner Hall was much more subdued than was experienced at the Main Stage so that didn't help the show. I like Roy Hargrove but I'm not crazy about his big band experiment. I was mildly disappointed but he will be returning to Koerner Hall for the Oscar Peterson tribute series. I would be interested in seeing that.
I have seen Roy Hargrove at the new morning concert on 16/07/2011 in Paris. It was a wonderful jazz around midnight night. I recommand it.
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