The legendary trumpeter Roy Hargrove is usually – and justly – depicted as a generation-defining voice and a radiant, troubled genius. What gets lost in that characterization is Hargrove’s equally vital role as a mentor for younger musicians who shared his deeply felt commitment to exploring the full spectrum of jazz and in carrying the blazing torch of tradition determinedly forward.
Among those whose life and career were touched by Hargrove’s influence is the multi-instrumentalist and composer Michael Dease. With his enthralling new album Grove’s Groove – the second on which the acclaimed trombonist focuses solely on the baritone saxophone – pays tribute, says thanks, and bids farewell to one of modern jazz’s most iconic figures.
“After Roy passed, I found myself thinking a lot about him and about the enduring impact he made on me,” Dease says. “Roy gave me advice about how to stay away from uninspired playing and how to be authentic. I’m still learning from his life lessons, and I try to impart some of them upon my daughters.”
Due out August 23 via Le Coq Records, Grove’s Groove convenes a band full of Hargrove alumni, friends and devotees. Dease, trombonist Steve Davis, trumpeter Terell Stafford, bassist Rodney Whitaker and drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. player with Hargrove or were close to him. Only pianist Bill Cunliffe and guitarist/vocalist Jocelyn Gould lack a direct connection, though as a former student of Dease’s at Michigan State University Gould represents the next generation in the chain of tutelage passed on from the trumpeter.
The fact that Dease leaves his trombone in the case once again is just one aspect of his continually evolving career to which Hargrove can claim a degree of credit. Dease is a lifelong saxophonist, having started on alto during middle school before the discovery of Curtis Fuller on John Coltrane’s Blue Train redirected his passions.
He was discouraged from splitting his attention between multiple instruments early on by elders who claimed it would confuse audiences. But when Hargrove heard Dease’s sax playing he urged the trombonist to share his other talents with the world. Bolstered by the encouragement, Dease took a solo apiece on tenor and soprano on his 2010 album Grace, which also featured Hargrove on three tracks.
“One of the enduring impacts Roy made on me was to encourage me to work saxophone back into my life,” Dease recalls. “Roy being such a serious and dedicated musician, it really stuck with me that he realized that I wasn’t playing saxophone on a whim.”
The baritone is a more recent development. Dease made his debut on the instrument with three tracks on The Other Shoe, his 2023 album of compositions by Michigan-based composer Gregg Hill. Swing Low followed later that year with a total focus on the low horn. Grove’s Groove arrives to prove that the addition is no novelty. Dease has no intention of foregoing the trombone entirely, and has played both sax and trombone in bands led by David Sanborn and the late Claudio Roditi as well as his own.
It’s an awe-inspiring addition to the arsenal of a musician who is already regarded as one of the leading voices of his generation. Dease is a collaborator of choice with some of the most acclaimed and influential bandleaders in the music, ranging across generations, including Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride, Nicholas Payton, Charles Tolliver, Renee Rosnes, Bill Charlap and Lewis Nash, among others. He’s won the DownBeat magazine Critics Poll for “Best Trombonist” three years running, from 2020 through 2023.
The album opens with the slinky groove of Davis’ title track, which captures the sly soulfulness of its subject and prompts a blustery solo from Dease out of the gate that revels in the baritone’s gut-rumbling range. The classic “Tea for Two” follows, the first of two standards on the album, both of which Hargrove taught Dease after hours at the piano at Smalls. “Never Let Me Go,” which Dease explains was the trumpeter’s favorite ballad, follows later in the program. Both also feature the warm, unadorned vocals of Gould, who has gone on from Dease’s tutelage to become a Juno-winning artist in her own right.
Mentorship is a recurring theme throughout the album. Whitaker is renowned as a jazz educator as well as a revered bassist with such legends as Wynton Marsalis, Pat Metheny and Hargrove. Dease’s “Father Figure,” the title track of his 2016 album, was originally penned in response to Whitaker’s nurturing of bassist Endea Owens (who played on the album); here the mentor offers his own version, which expands to pay tribute to Hargrove’s guidance as well.
Cunliffe provides a lovely, introspective opening to “Decisions,” which is reprised from Dease’s 2015 album of the same name. The engaging ballad reflects on a turbulent period when the composer found himself at a crossroads in a romantic relationship; as the tune’s radiant charm suggests, the story has a happy ending, with Dease and his now wife due to celebrate their tenth anniversary this August.
Dease and Davis trade off the punchy melody to “Broadway,” showcasing the rare opportunity for a trombonist of Dease’s caliber to play alongside one of his contemporaries. “Steve is undoubtedly one of my biggest influences as a trombonist,” Dease raves. “He’s a great in his own right, but he’s also in the lineage of Slide Hampton, J.J. Johnson and Curtis in the same way that I am. We’re brother disciples of that trinity.”
The first of two tracks adding Stafford to complete a stunning Jazz Messengers-caliber frontline, “Minor Funk” adds the voice of another Hargrove alum, composer/pianist Cyrus Chestnut. Dease’s “Seiko Time” pays homage to the composer’s time in Japan, whose passion for jazz he also discovered via Hargrove. The album ends with Charles McPherson’s fiercely funky “The Viper,” adding organist Jim Alfredson, trombonist Eli Howell and percussionist Alex Acuña to the band.
“We all loved Roy,” Dease says, confident in speaking for himself and his bandmates. “I think we all feel touched by his genius.”