Royce Campbell

Royce Campbell built his reputation on a blues-tinged, supremely laid-back approach to jazz guitar, securing praise both as a headliner and as a first-call studio player. Early on he crisscrossed the United States with Marvin Gaye’s band; Henry Mancini soon enlisted him, and Campbell remained in that orchestra for twenty years, his gentle, flowing swing supplying an understated foundation for the composer’s characteristically cinematic scores. Demonstrating equal ease across idioms, Campbell contributed his assured guitar work to sessions by artists ranging from Dave Brubeck to Liza Minnelli to Sarah Vaughan. During the 1990s he began issuing recordings under his own name, inaugurating the series with the dreamily melodic Nighttime Daydreams in 1990 and ultimately amassing several dozen albums.