JAZZ SPOTLIGHT : Roy Hargrove Showcases His Overextended ‘Family’

ROY HARGROVE

“Family”

Verve

* * 1/2

Talk about concept albums. After making his Verve debut last year with a recording in which he was teamed with several tenor saxophonists, young trumpet star Roy Hargrove now appears in yet another carefully planned production--one that embraces players from every stage of his brief but impressive career.

The array of musical associates ranges from David (Fathead) Newman and veteran bassist Walter Booker to Wynton Marsalis and former Miles Davis drummer Jimmy Cobb, and the program includes compositions by, among others, Newman, Larry Willis, Cedar Walton, Christian McBride and Stephen Scott.

Perhaps appropriately, however, given the album’s title, the music begins with Hargrove’s three-part trilogy--”Valera,” “Roy Allan” and “Brian’s Bounce”--dedicated, respectively, to his mother, father and younger brother. These tracks, among several recorded by Hargrove’s working group without benefit of all-star augmentation, are the most cohesive on the entire CD. Performed with some regularity in his live gigs, the pieces are noteworthy examples of Hargrove’s growing ability to create a seamless connection between his composing and soloing skills.

Traces of Freddie Hubbard, Fats Navarro and, at times, Miles Davis still course through the 25-year-old trumpeter’s playing. But there are other times--especially in the soaring improvisation on “Another Level,” the moody duet with Booker on “Ethiopia,” his stretched-out chorus on “Firm Roots” and the delightful exchanges with Marsalis on Navarro’s classic be-bop line “Nostalgia”--when Hargrove shows serious signs of an emerging voice that is very much his own.

Typically, he is extremely generous with his allocation of solo space. As a result, the recording is filled with individually fascinating contributions from other players. Among the highlights: pianist Stephen Scott’s work throughout, and notably on “Another Level” and “Firm Roots”; Newman’s gorgeously understated tenor solo on “The Nearness of You”; McBride’s playing on his “A Dream of You,” and Hicks’ invigorating piano on “Pas de Trois.”

If the album has a problem, it traces to concept rather than execution. There simply is too much, rather than too little--an overabundance of styles and soloists that never quite allows Hargrove to come to the forefront in the way he should.

To his credit, the solid sense of togetherness he has constructed with his regular group provides a foundation for many of the tracks. But pieces such as the Lincoln Center-commissioned “The Trial” suggest that Hargrove should consider bypassing the conceptual approach for his next outing--and offer instead a broader, in-depth look at his own emerging creativity.

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