I never missed an opportunity to see either trumpeter Roy Hargrove or pianist Mulgrew Miller when they came to town. I took in Miller with Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, with Ron Carter and countless other trios, quartets and duos. Every gig with Hargrove would have me ask “What else do you want from a trumpeter?” as his sets were always filled with variety, lyricism and classy majesty.
Both are now gone to their eternal reward, but they’ve left us a two disc legacy of a gorgeous summit meeting that took place back in 2006 at Merkin Hall in NYC. What a fitting testimony of what talent borrowed from God can produce.
Hargrove mostly plays the trumpet, but pulls out his flugelhorn for a wonderfully fluffy “Never Let Me Go” and “This Is Always”. There are 13 songs on this two disc set, and the moods and delivery vary like pitches from Mariano Rivera. Miller shows warm catcher’s mitt hands on “What Is This Thing Called Love?” and caresses the ivories under Hargrove for “This Is Always”. His fingers dance like Baryshnikov on the intro to “Triste” and bops with joy on “Ow!”. The two converse together like long time friends, allowing each other to finish the sentence, anticipating one’s answer. Hargrove, the master of melody, gives some funky soul to “Fungi Mama” under Miller’s jabs, and effortlessly changes range and dynamics like a trapeze artist on”Ruby My Dear” while giving clever splats and splutters on “Monk’s Dream”. This is music that is timeless and for the ages. Imbibe slowly.