Earfood (album) explained

Earfood
Type:Studio album
Artist:Roy Hargrove Quintet
Cover:Earfood (album).jpg
Released:June 2, 2008
Recorded:September 19–21, 2007
Studio:Capitol Studios, Los Angeles
Genre:Jazz
Length:01:07:19
Label:EmArcy
Producer:Larry Clothier, Roy Hargrove
Prev Title:Distractions
Prev Year:2007
Next Title:Emergence
Next Year:2009

Earfood is a jazz album by the Roy Hargrove Quintet, issued by the EmArcy record label in 2008.[1] The album was a return to Hargrove's enduring interest in hard bop,[2] following several albums in which he explored jazz within a hip-hop and R&B context.[3]

Earfood is notable for the inclusion of the composition, Strasbourg / St. Denis, which has since emerged as a modern-day jazz standard.[4] [5] [6] [7]

Reception

Critical perspectives of Earfood were largely positive upon its release.[8] [9] Writing for The New York Times, jazz critic Nate Chinen selected Earfood as his critics' choice. Chinen declared the album to "attest to a classic jazz ideal" while "rarely sound[ing] as if [Hargrove] stepped out of a time machine". Chinen attributed this to Hargrove's successful merging of his "hard-bop and groove-orientated sides". Hargrove's success at melding hard-bop with modern jazz was also observed in a positive AllAboutJazz review, which noted Hargrove's success was "redefining the hard bop of the 1950s and 1960s through the post bop lense of the 1980s and 1990s".

Some jazz critics, though enthused by Hargrove's approach to Earfood, were less so by its execution, with John Fordham from The Guardian describing the exceptional musicianship as creating an "atmosphere of infallibility" and giving the session an "unjazzy character". This criticism was noted elsewhere, with others assessing the overall feel of the album to be "too sterile".[10]

Track listing

All compositions by Roy Hargrove except as indicated.

  1. "I'm Not So Sure" (Cedar Walton)– 5:46
  2. "Brown" – 4:30
  3. "Strasbourg / St. Denis" – 4:38
  4. "Starmaker" (Lou Marini) - 7:54
  5. "Joy Is Sorrow Unmasked" – 4:46
  6. "The Stinger" - 4:57
  7. "Rouge" - 2:46
  8. "Mr. Clean" (Weldon Irvine Jr.)- 5:51
  9. "Style" - 6:35
  10. "Divine" – 5:10
  11. "To Wisdom The Prize" (Larry Willis) - 5:43
  12. "Speak Low" (Kurt Weill, Ogden Nash) – 5:16
  13. "Bring It On Home To Me (Sam Cooke) – 3:00

Personnel

Musicians

Production

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Earfood, Roy Hargrove . AllMusic . 2 May 2024.
  2. News: Chinen . Nate . CRITICS' CHOICE; New CDs - Roy Hargrove Quartet . The New York Times . July 28 . The New York Times Company . 2008.
  3. News: Schwartz . Danny . Send It On: Roy Hargrove’s Immaculate Blend of Jazz, Hip-Hop, and R&B . 2 May 2024 . Pitchfork . November 7 . Condé Nast . 2018.
  4. News: Parker . Jason . Song Of The Day: Roy Hargrove’s 'Strasbourg-St. Denis' . 2 May 2024 . Jazz24 . April 17 . npr . 2014.
  5. News: Kalia . Anmar . ‘We captured lightning’ – documenting jazz hero Roy Hargrove . 7 May 2024 . The Guardian . 1 Nov . Guardian News & Media Limited . 2022.
  6. Web site: Roy Hargrove . Arthur's Tavern . 2 May 2024.
  7. Web site: Bell . Shawn . How To Play Strasbourg St. Denis-Roy Hargrove Transcription Breakdown . YouTube . 2 May 2024.
  8. News: Tunis . Walter . Critic's pick: Ahmad Jamal and The Roy Hargrove Quintet . 3 May 2024 . Lexington Herald Leader . July 25 . McClatchy Media Network . 2008.
  9. News: Aaron . S. Victor . Roy Hargrove Quintet – Earfood (2008) . 3 May 2024 . Something Else! . July 30 . 2008.
  10. News: Trachtenberg . Jay . The Roy Hargrove Quintet . 3 May 2024 . The Austin Chronicle . Fri. Aug. 8 . The Austin Chronicle Corp. . 2008.

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