Gregory Charles Royal

Gregory Charles Royal at the 2016 Harlem International Film Festival

Gregory Charles Royal, also known as Chuck Royal, is an American musician, trombonist, composer, writer, co-founder of The BeBop Channel Corporation, the former parent owner of JazzTimes.[1] [2] founder of the New York Jazz Film Festival, a former judge on America's Hot Musician.[3][4] and the former artistic director of the American Youth Symphony (AYS) in Washington, D.C.[5]

Early life and education

As a student at Howard University,[6] he received the 1982 DownBeat Magazine Student Music Award for Jazz Vocal Group: Graduate College Outstanding Performance in the Jazz Instrumental Soloist Category.[7] He graduated from Howard University with a Master of Music in Jazz Studies.[5]

Career

Royal played with the Duke Ellington Orchestra (1989–99), Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers,[8] Slide Hampton and his World of Trombones[9] and Howard University Jazz Ensemble.[10] He has appeared onstage as a trombonist with the Broadway shows Five Guys Named Moe[11] and Jelly's Last Jam.[12]

Royal has also written and appeared in a play God Doesn't Mean You Get To Live Forever, presented in March 2012 at the Baruch Performing Arts Center,[13] and in 2022 at Theatre Row on 42nd Street in New York.[14] The December 2012 production was mounted as a series of performances in New York at the Baruch Performing Arts Center starring Gregory Charles Royal, Frenchie Davis (in the role of "Reese Noel") and The Reverend Dr. James A. Forbes Jr. as himself. "God Doesn't Mean You Get To Live Forever delves into the notion that belief in God may not translate into the eventuality of everlasting life and the conflict such a notion brings upon a gospel musician."[15]


Royal wrote and appeared in the short film World's Not for Me, in which he plays a jazz musician who awakens from a near 30 year coma to find a world he no longer recognizes musically, culturally or financially. The film won the Harlem Spotlight Best Narrative Short Award at the Harlem International Film Festival in September, 2016.[16]

References

  1. ^ "'BeBop' Acquires Madavor Media - JazzTimes, Outdoor Photographer and Other Leading Media Properties". OTC Markets. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  2. ^ [1],"Blacknews.com", May 20, 2018,
  3. ^ "Battling Rap Culture and Digital Sampling, The America's Hot Musician Finals Set to Air on Lifetime Real Women Saturday, July 12, 2008". PRWeb. July 8, 2008. Archived from the original on January 24, 2009. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  4. ^ "The Judges". America's Hot Musician. Archived from the original on September 12, 2017. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Gregory Charles Royal: Jazz in 'Grave' Danger". Jazz News. 2005. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  6. ^ Booker, Simeon (February 7, 1980). "Ticker Tape USA". Jet. p. 11. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  7. ^ "Awards". Howard University Jazz Ensemble. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  8. ^ Bock, Gordon (January 10, 1979). "College kids discover Jazzman Art Blakey". Nashua Telegraph. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  9. ^ Wilson, John S. (October 8, 1982). "Slide Hampton's Trombone World". New York Times. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  10. ^ "Members". Howard University Jazz Ensemble. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  11. ^ "Gregory Charles Royal". IDBD Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  12. ^ Taylor, Markland (November 13, 1994). "Review: 'Jelly's Last Jam'". Variety. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  13. ^ "WMCI and American Youth Symphony present A Red Carpet Benefit Gala and Premiere of the new Musical 'God Doesn't Mean You Get To Live Forever'". Baruch College. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  14. ^ "Theatre Row Onstage". Theatre Row. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  15. ^ American Youth Symphony website http://www.americanyouthsymphony.org Archived July 12, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ "2016 Awards", Harlem International Film Festival.

Bibliography

  • Scott Harris, "Prince of the Pick up Picks Up The Pieces", Los Angeles Times, February 11, 1997
  • Leonard Feather, Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz, Oxford University Press, 1999
  • RPM Magazine, Volume 62, No. 10, October 9, 1995
  • Life 1999 Universal Pictures