JAZZ REVIEW : Hargrove Falls Short of His Promise

After several albums, trumpeter Roy Hargrove still hasn’t lived up to his promise. Where’s the trailblazer who was so dazzling on his first album in 1990? That Hargrove certainly didn’t show up Tuesday at Catalina.

Nothing he played, with a group featuring tenor saxman Ron Blake and pianist Marc Carey, showed that spark of originality that was so prominent in his work a few years ago. At times Hargrove fell short on two fronts--tonal interest and continuity. These shortcomings were evident on “Re-Evaluation,” which was composed by Blake, who spruced it up with effectively quirky phrases.

In the up-and-down set, Hargrove played ferociously on the opening tune but a ballad medley of “Everything I Have Is Yours” and “Dedicated to You” was a throwaway. Hargrove performs much better at restrained tempo, which is why he excelled on “Mothered,” composed by bassist Rodney Whitaker. It helped that Hargrove switched to the more mellow fluegelhorn for this tune. Switching back to trumpet, Hargrove paid a short visit to the be-bop past with Dizzy Gillespie’s “Blue ‘n’ Boogie.” This worked well enough, since Hargrove confined himself to trading short solos with Blake. Gregory Hutchinson on drums had a couple of crowd-pleasing solos.

All in all it was a passable set, but with none of the jolts you’d expect from someone of Hargrove’s potential.