Keyon Harrold

New York City serves as the home base for trumpeter, composer, arranger, and producer Keyon Harrold, whose jazz foundation has enabled him to move fluidly among acoustic post-bop, hip-hop, and R&B. Born in Ferguson, Missouri, in 1980, he was raised alongside nine siblings in a household filled with music. His first encounters with the trumpet occurred through the Memorial Lancers Drum & Bugle Corps, the ensemble his grandfather—a police officer—had established. Already known for discipline, the young Harrold maintained a strict practice routine that included sessions during school lunch breaks, emerging from high school as a polished player. He sharpened those abilities further through enrollment in the Mannes Jazz Program at New York’s New School.

After completing his studies, Harrold divided his schedule between jazz projects and work in R&B and hip-hop, collaborating onstage and in the studio with longtime mentor and fellow trumpeter Charles Tolliver, saxophonist James Carter, veteran organ giant Dr. Lonnie Smith, Common, Jay-Z, Erykah Badu, and additional artists. His own recording career began in 2009 with the Criss Cross debut Introducing Keyon Harrold, an album that included contributions from Tolliver, pianist Danny Grissett, and other musicians. Subsequent appearances followed on releases by Gregory Porter, Marcus Strickland, and Otis Brown III, while he also traveled with Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour. In addition, he performed every trumpet part on the Grammy-winning soundtrack for director Don Cheadle’s 2015 biopic Miles Ahead.

Harrold resumed solo activity in 2017 with the Legacy Recordings release The Mugician. The album blended orchestral arrangements, funk, jazz, and hip-hop, and featured guest spots from Robert Glasper, Bilal, Big K.R.I.T., Pharoahe Monch, Gary Clark, Jr., and others. That same year he mounted his own headline shows alongside guitarist Nir Felder and performed with DJ Logic’s Project Logic ensemble at the Newport Jazz Festival. After an extensive world tour, he joined Marcus Strickland Twi-Life as a core member for the acclaimed album People of the Sun and contributed both live and in the studio to projects involving Beyoncé and Snoop Dogg. Following tours, session dates, the pandemic period, and continued composing and arranging, he issued the single “Find Your Peace” in September 2023. The track previewed Foreverland, his third album, which appeared in early 2024 and enlisted Laura Mvula, Malaya, Chris Dave, Glasper, Common, PJ Morton, Jean Baylor, and Greg Phillinganes.