Strength [EP] [EP] by Roy Hargrove (CD, Sep-2004, Verve)

Album Features
UPC:	602498633489
Artist:	Roy Hargrove
Format:	CD
Release Year:	2004
Record Label:	Verve
Genre:	Jazz General

Track Listing
1. Rich Man's Welfare
2. Bob Drop
3. Strength
4. Listen Here
5. For Fun - (special bonus mix)
6. Universe - (remix, bonus track)

Details
Producer:	Roy Hargrove
Distributor:	Universal Distribution
Recording Type:	Studio
Recording Mode:	Stereo
SPAR Code:	n/a

Album Notes
The RH Factor: Roy Hargrove (vocals, trumpet, flugelhorn, keyboards, bass instrument, percussion, background vocals); Renee Neufville (vocals); Keith Anderson (saxophone); James Poyser, Bernard Wright, Bobby Sparks (keyboards); Pino Palladino, Reggie Washington (bass instrument); JT , Willie Jones (drums).Additional personnel: Rhian Ayanna (background vocals).Though it's billed as an EP, STRENGTH is 45 minutes long, and certainly has enough content to qualify for full-length status. RH Factor is jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove's electric jazz-funk alter-ego; under this moniker, the erstwhile straight-ahead jazzman neatly solves the problem that's been plaguing musicians since the early 1970s--how do you mix jazz with funk and electric instruments without sounding like Miles Davis? While the roiling R&B grooves and percolating keyboard riffs that frame Hargrove's terse trumpet lines are somewhat in the lineage of ON THE CORNER, JACK JOHNSON, et al, there's a distinctly contemporary feel to STRENGTH. There's as much Earth, Wind & Fire and hip-hop showing in Hargrove's roots here as Miles; much of this disc wouldn't sound out of place in the middle of a particularly progressive dance-club mix. Nevertheless, Hargrove generates enough fire and genuine melodic development to underscore the fact that he's a master improviser first and foremost.