Bern is a revelation — a vivid reminder that we were in the presence of one of the great bebop trumpeters at the top of his game
Time Traveler Recordings
Roy Hargrove – trumpet, flugelhorn; Sherman Irby – alto saxophone; Larry Willis – piano; Gerald Cannon – bass; Willie Jone III – drums
Some recordings arrive like found treasure, and Bern is definitely that. Captured live at the International Jazz Festival in Switzerland on May 4, 2000, this never before released quintet date finds Roy Hargrove at the absolute height of his powers. At the time he was busy bridging jazz, hip-hop and R&B in ways nobody had before — but Bern reminds us that Hargrove was one of the best bebop trumpeters ever — in the same league as Clifford Brown and Freddie Hubbard.
A great hard bop intro from the whole band introduces “Stranded.” Hargrove comes out swinging with a lyrical solo interlaced with flights of rapid fire notes— he’ll hold back on some, squeezing the emotion out, then take off on another flight. Larry Willis does something unexpected with his piano solo — steps back from the fireworks and enters quietly, almost delicately, a meditative contrast to what preceded him. It’s a genuine tension builder, the listener leaning in, wondering if the song will stay in that reflective place or suddenly ignite. It does both. Willis eventually doubles the tempo, both hands pushing hard, and you can hear the crowd respond. The whole band surges back, Hargrove and Irby trading phrases, before landing the opening theme with a final blast from both horns.
Hargrove is a musician to marvel at. His tone is clear and bright, with staggering technique — sheets of notes in the upper register delivered without strain, phrases shaped with the instinct of a singer. That quality is never more apparent than on “Never Let Me Go,” where the flugelhorn follows the lyrics so closely it sounds like he’s singing them back to us. “Caryisms” finds him throwing out note clusters along with flowing legato lines, trading call and response with Irby’s alto in a loose, Horace Silver kind of groove. “Circus” closes the album with Hargrove’s repeated high note phrases pushing a hypnotic pulse, the whole band locking in before he takes off on another bravura solo, the band exploding one final time, then settling back into a relaxed hard bop groove to bid adieu.
None of this would soar the way it does without Gerald Cannon’s anchoring basslines and Willie Jones III’s in-the-pocket drumming holding everything together beneath it. Produced by Zev Feldman and James Batsford, with Hargrove’s widow Aida Brandes-Hargrove serving as Executive Producer, Bern arrives with the full weight of a significant archival event. Nate Chinen’s liner notes provide essential context, but the music needs no annotation. Every note here is its own argument.
We lost Hargrove in 2018 at just 49 years old, and every document of his artistry carries that shadow. Bern is a revelation — a vivid reminder that we were in the presence of one of the great bebop trumpeters at the top of his game. Hearing it now, the music feels both like a gift and an ache.
