Commercial jazz trumpet style: A comparison of leading trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Roy Hargrove

Abstract

Freddie Hubbard was possibly the most influential trumpet and flugelhorn player of all time, although, he was not recognized by his contemporary critics as such. A testament to his contribution to the development of jazz and commercial trumpet playing is documented in excess of three hundred recordings. Hubbard developed instantly recognizable technical devices and harmonic vocabulary. His popularizing of trumpet and flugelhorn in crossover music genres is mirrored in the vocabulary used by most contemporary jazz trumpet players.

Current jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove has taken the identifiable components of Hubbard's playing and now envelops them in his own decisive sound. The diversity of Roy Hargrove's musical material and developmental possibilities are made possible, in large part, due to the expansion in performance parameters established by Hubbard.

The support for my report, lies in the evidence from in interviews found in professional journals, historical reference literature and online sources particular to the artists concerned, and all media pertaining to live recording of their work.