Jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard died Dec. 29, 2008, at the age of 70. In this story from 2001, he talks about attempting a comeback after a series of personal setbacks.
Freddie Hubbard is a legendary name in jazz. In the 1960s, he was a popular and critically acclaimed trumpeter and bandleader. But by the 1980s, he had all but disappeared from the jazz scene. Now, he's attempting a comeback.
Hubbard says that the low point in his career came in the early 1990s. After he split his lip and lost the ability to play, he started drinking, suffered an ulcer and almost died.
“I started drinking Jack Daniel's to feel good, you know? Jack Daniel's and Coca-Cola," Hubbard says. “And I had an ulcer. I went over in London and I fell out. I've never passed out, but I lost four pints of blood. And the doctor said, 'You're going to clean up your body, because otherwise you're looking to go.' So I said, 'Well, I'm not ready to go, so let me cool out.' “
Hubbard's decline is more startling when you consider the heights from which he fell. In the early 1970s, Hubbard supplanted Miles Davis as the top jazz trumpeter in polls of fans and critics. Then he won a Grammy for his album First Light.
Critic Stanley Crouch calls Hubbard one of the most important and original jazz trumpeters of the last 40 years.
“From the moment he played one note," Crouch says, “you knew that was Freddie Hubbard. So he had a sound that was distinctive as Miles Davis, as Louis Armstrong, as Clifford Brown. I mean, he's one of those trumpet players.
“He's also an extraordinary powerful player — great stamina, great range," Crouch says. “He swung very hard, was a beautiful ballad player and seemed to have very few limitations in terms of getting through material, whether the material was very simple material or very complex material. He was quite a musician."
Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis says that Hubbard was one of his main influences.
“All the trumpet players in the '70s, you can hear Freddie Hubbard's sound and everything worth playing," Marsalis says. “He's such a phenomenal trumpet player — just the largeness of his sound, the velocity and the swing."
Hubbard was a little-known bebop player imitating Miles Davis solos when he dropped out of college in Indianapolis and moved to New York. In the late 1950s, the 20-year-old trumpeter shared an apartment with saxophonist and flutist Eric Dolphy, and he quickly established himself at jam sessions across the city. Hubbard says he was playing with John Coltrane at Birdland one night when Davis dropped by.
Freddie Hubbard is a legendary name in jazz. In the 1960s, he was a popular and critically acclaimed trumpeter and bandleader. But by the 1980s, he had all but disappeared from the jazz scene. Now, he's attempting a comeback.
Hubbard says that the low point in his career came in the early 1990s. After he split his lip and lost the ability to play, he started drinking, suffered an ulcer and almost died.
“I started drinking Jack Daniel's to feel good, you know? Jack Daniel's and Coca-Cola," Hubbard says. “And I had an ulcer. I went over in London and I fell out. I've never passed out, but I lost four pints of blood. And the doctor said, 'You're going to clean up your body, because otherwise you're looking to go.' So I said, 'Well, I'm not ready to go, so let me cool out.' “
Hubbard's decline is more startling when you consider the heights from which he fell. In the early 1970s, Hubbard supplanted Miles Davis as the top jazz trumpeter in polls of fans and critics. Then he won a Grammy for his album First Light.
Critic Stanley Crouch calls Hubbard one of the most important and original jazz trumpeters of the last 40 years.
“From the moment he played one note," Crouch says, “you knew that was Freddie Hubbard. So he had a sound that was distinctive as Miles Davis, as Louis Armstrong, as Clifford Brown. I mean, he's one of those trumpet players.
“He's also an extraordinary powerful player — great stamina, great range," Crouch says. “He swung very hard, was a beautiful ballad player and seemed to have very few limitations in terms of getting through material, whether the material was very simple material or very complex material. He was quite a musician."
Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis says that Hubbard was one of his main influences.
“All the trumpet players in the '70s, you can hear Freddie Hubbard's sound and everything worth playing," Marsalis says. “He's such a phenomenal trumpet player — just the largeness of his sound, the velocity and the swing."
Hubbard was a little-known bebop player imitating Miles Davis solos when he dropped out of college in Indianapolis and moved to New York. In the late 1950s, the 20-year-old trumpeter shared an apartment with saxophonist and flutist Eric Dolphy, and he quickly established himself at jam sessions across the city. Hubbard says he was playing with John Coltrane at Birdland one night when Davis dropped by.
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