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Royce Campbell
Royce Campbell, jazz guitarist, was a member of the Henry Mancini orchestra for twenty years and whose blues-influenced, jazz-guitar playing has earned him accolades as a solo performer and sought-after session musician. Born in North Vernon, Indiana with a stepfather who was career military, Campbell grew up in cities throughout the U.S. and the world. He started playing the guitar at 9 and the first jazz guitarist he was interested in was Wes Montgomery. By the time he finished high school in Spain in the early 1970s, he had decided to pursue a career in music. His uncle, pianist Carroll DeCamp, who had done arrangements for Stan Kenton and Les Elgart, invited him to Indianapolis to live and study. His uncle provided his education in music theory and composition and at 21, he toured with rhythm and blues (R&B) singer Marvin Gaye before spending twenty years as a member of the Henry Mancini orchestra until Mancini's death in 1994.
During the 1990s, Campbell recorded more as a leader. In 1993, he produced Project G-5: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery which also featured guitarists Tal Farlow, Jimmy Raney, Herb Ellis, and fellow Hoosier Cal Collins. His 1994 album 6x6 featured guitarists Pat Martino, John Abercrombie, Larry Coryell, Dave Stryker, and Bucky Pizzarelli. On Project G-5: A Tribute to Joe Pass (1999) he combined the talents of Charlie Byrd, Gene Bertoncini, Mundell Lowe, and John Pisano.
In addition to recording with many of the greats of the jazz guitar, Royce has had multiple tours in Europe and Japan as a soloist. Royce has also performed with many other jazz giants such as Mel Torme, James Moody, Nancy Wilson, Sarah Vaughn, Jack McDuff, Ray Brown, Dave Brubeck, Joe Williams, Cleo Laine, Eddie Daniels, Eddie Harris, Frank Morgan, Ken Poplowski, Gerry Mulligan, Houston Person, Freddy Cole, Vanessa Rubin, Jimmy Cobb, Fred Hersch, Rosemary Clooney, and Mose Allison.
Recording since 1983 and with more than 30 albums as a leader, Campbell has said he is most proud of his 2009 release Solo Mancini: A Solo Guitar Tribute to Henry Mancini.
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Royce Campbell: Solo Trane
by Jack Huntley
There are some albums which, on the very first listening, create an immediate auditory union with the musician. Credit ability, musicality, interpretation, song choice, or a blending of each, Royce Campbell's solo guitar tribute to the music of John Coltrane, Solo Trane, is one of those albums. It crackles with energy and creative force as Campbell winds his way through the Coltrane book, adding evocative originals along the way. Campbell, a Washington D.C.-based veteran guitarist whose albums are always musically ...
read moreRoyce Campbell: The Art of Chord Solo Guitar
by John Patten
Royce Campbell's The Art of Chord Solo Guitar extends his considerable collection of solo guitar releases, this time working on a series of standard tunes.
Campbell's extensive résumé includes stints with everyone from Marvin Gaye and Eddie Harris to Henry Mancini, and it's clear he's used his professional time to gain the skills necessary to create interesting and fresh arrangements on these tunes. Harmonizing such pearls as In a Sentimental Mood" or The Girl from Ipanema" requires an ...
read moreRoyce Campbell: Get Happy
by Jim Santella
Guitarist Royce Campbell collected songs with happy themes for this trio recording. Featuring violinist Joe Kennedy (1923-2004), the session swings in the mood intended, with an acoustic timbre and an open resonance to match. String jazz gets too little attention; yet, the violin has been with jazz since its inception. Guitar and double-bass remain integral elements of the jazz mainstream today, but violin has been removed far away to its peripheral edges.
One of the first violinists to ...
read moreRoyce Campbell: Elegy to a Friend
by Jim Santella
A versatile guitarist, Royce Campbell is equally at home with straight-ahead jazz and pure blues. When he got this group of Indianapolis jazz artists together in September 1990, it was to explore a different region altogether: jazz's modern mainstream. This allowed the quartet to explore, through original compositions, the more creative aspects of their music. Each musician stretches out considerably, and when they come together, it's with imaginative musical statements. Everybody solos prolifically.
The drummer for this session, ...
read moreRoyce Campbell: Gypsy Soul
by Jim Santella
In a program of originals that recalls the spirit of Django Reinhardt, the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, and other masters of early acoustic swing, guitarist Royce Campbell turns to the heartfelt spirit that feeds our soul.
Born in Indiana, Campbell issued his first recording in 1983. As Henry Mancini's guitarist, he toured and became acquainted with many aspects of songwriting. His work has always remained fresh and original. Campbell's discography, which includes tributes to Wes ...
read moreRoyce Campbell: Royce Campbell Plays for Lovers
by Jim Santella
Royce Campbell's warm interpretations of seven romantic jazz standards and two originals moves nice and slow, as the smooth edges from his guitar strings give his audience a natural timbre to soak up in time. Antony and Cleopatra must have enjoyed a similar experience, since Campbell's velvety-smooth guitar melodies sail gently as if on a warm ocean breeze. Of course, legendary characters from our literature didn't have the benefit of Bill Evans' Waltz for Debby or Royce Campbell's I Feel ...
read moreRoyce Campbell: Plays For Lovers
by Michael P. Gladstone
Guitarist Royce Campbell is a talented jazz player and composer whose accomplishments include organizing a series of Wes Montgomery tribute albums during the first half of the 1990s, as well as his own many recordings, which include last year's Six By Six, which paired Campbell in duet with guitarists John Abercrombie, Larry Coryell, Pat Martino, Bucky Pizzarelli, and Dave Stryker.
This album is clearly a mood jazz work with a heavy dependence upon string arrangements. All but two ...
read moreRoyce Campbell: Guitarist Extraordinaire
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
I've been familiar with Royce Campbell's music for nearly 30 years, ever since I bought his Tribute to Henry Mancini album in 1995. Royce played with Marvin Gaye, toured with Mancini for 19 years and has released more than 40 albums. Royce has a terrifically tasteful touch, he swings beautifully, his chord voicings are engaging and his jazz playing is sublime. He also has composed more than 1,000 songs. A couple of weeks ago, he sent along two of his ...
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Royce Campbell: Organ Trio
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
One of my favorite albums celebrating the music of Henry Mancini is guitarist Royce Campbell's Tribute to Henry Mancini, recorded in 1996. Royce marvelously captures Mancini's hip and gentle melody lines and his passion for space. Royce should know. He was Mancini's guitarist for 19 years. A year before this album, Royce recorded a solid organ-trio album with organist Melvyn Rhyne and drummer Jimmy Cobb. You don't climb into the proverbial ring with those guys unless you know exactly what ...
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Royce Campbell: Playing Pretty
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
As a jazz guitarist, it's not easy to play pretty. You have to worship harmony, you have to love the sound of the instrument, and you have to want to seduce audiences. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, guitarists like Barry Galbraith, Jimmy Raney, Chuck Wayne, Mundell Lowe, Wes Montgomery and others understood the conversational quality and beckoning nature of the instrument. One guitarist around today who is carrying that torch is Royce Campbell. Royce's name might not ring a ...
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Summary Judgment: Royce Campbell
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The Augmented Ear by John Patten
I just received a new CD from guitarist Royce Campbell, the third he's kindly sent me to review. While I owe him a longer writeup on his Movie Songs Project" with Phil Woods, I wanted to share his name and my thoughts on his music sooner than I'll be able to do otherwise.
Campbell's latest release is Solo Trane" (on Moon Cycle Records), a collection of John Coltrane tunes arranged for the guitar. Most musicians have enough trouble getting comfortable ...
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"Campbell is one of the few truly special guitarists left in jazz."
--American Jazz Symposium
"Every note Royce Campbell plays is perfect."
--Quincy Jones
"Royce Campbell is the most melodic soloist on any instrument in jazz today." --Jazz News