Gregory Charles Royal
Gregory Charles Royal ( born October 10, 1961 in Greensboro, North Carolina ) is an American jazz trombonist and author of jazz musicals.
Life and work
He is the son of a composite inter alia through bone marrow transplantation research-based African-American couple biologists George C. Royal ( b. 1921 ), professor at Howard University, and Gladys W. Royal ( 1926-2001 ). He grew up in Washington, D.C. and played trombone as a teenager in the DC Youth Orchestra Program, as well as at clubs in the city. At 15, he studied at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Fellow students were Wallace Roney and Geri Allen, with whom he played in the Howard University Jazz Ensemble. 1978 invited him to Art Blakey 's Jazz Messengers in the one and the same year he graduated from Howard University ( Master's in Jazz Studies ).
In 1979 his debut album Dream Come True with Geri Allen and Clarence Seay (also a classmate ). In 1982, he was informed by Slide Hampton. He was himself a teacher at high schools and played semi-professional American football. In 1989 he moved to New York and joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra under Mercer Ellington at, where he remained until 2000.
He then played in 2001 in the Art Blakey Jazz Messenger Revue at Birdland and processed this to his musical It'sa Hardbob Life, as the off- Broadway play at the JVC Jazz Festival in 2004 had premiere. The performers were all professional jazz musicians, including Royal, Billy Harper, Chris Albert, Andy McCloud, Marcus Persiani and Ken Crutchfield. He also worked as a studio musician for various television and film productions. In 2008 he was one of the judges in the TV talent show America 's Hot Musician (in cable channel Lifetime Real Women ) in which instrumentalists competed against each other.
In 2009 he was one of the plaintiffs against the Alaska governor Sarah Palin, because she only reluctantly implemented the recognition of Juneteenth (June 19 ) as a public holiday to commemorate African American emancipation from slavery. 2012 came his off- Broadway play God Does not Mean You Get To Live Forever, has the gospel to the topic.