Roy Campbell, Jr.

Roy Campbell Jr.
Photo by Bogdan Dimitriu
Background information
Birth name	Roy Sinclair Campbell Jr.
Born	(1952-09-29)September 29, 1952 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	January 9, 2014(2014-01-09) (aged 61) The Bronx, New York
Genres	Free jazz, funk, R&B
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Trumpet
Associated acts	Yusef Lateef, Woody Shaw, Jemeel Moondoc, Ellen Christi, Cecil Taylor, David Murray, Matthew Shipp, Billy Bang, Carlos Garnett, William Parker,

Roy Sinclair Campbell Jr. (September 29, 1952 – January 9, 2014) was an American trumpeter frequently linked to free jazz, although he also performed rhythm and blues and funk during his career.

Born in Los Angeles, California, in 1952, Campbell was raised in New York City. At the age of fifteen he began learning to play trumpet and soon studied at the Jazz Mobile program along with Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan and Joe Newman. Throughout the 1960s, still unacquainted with the avant-garde movement, Campbell performed in the big bands of the Manhattan Community College. From the 1970s onwards he performed primarily within the context of free jazz, spending some of this period studying with Yusef Lateef.

In the early 1990s Campbell moved to the Netherlands and performed regularly with Klaas Hekman and Don Cherry. In addition to leading his own groups, he performed with Yo La Tengo, William Parker, Peter Brotzmann, Matthew Shipp, and other improvisors. Upon returning to the United States he began leading his group Other Dimensions In Music and also formed the Pyramid Trio, a pianoless trio formed with William Parker. He performed regularly as part of the Festival of New Trumpet Music, which is held annually in New York City.