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Freddie Hubbard: Here to Stay
by Norman Weinstein
This album has certainly had a sad history. It was left in the Blue note vaults for fourteen years. Then it was reissued in a double-vinyl set with Hub Cap, a coupling that doesn't reveal either session in the best light.Then a decade later, it finally was released as a single album. And that brings us to the present version, on which occasion the devout Bob Blumenthal seems to say in his liner notes (well, he hedges around the fact) ...
Continue ReadingFreddie Hubbard: The Artist Selects
by Russ Musto
Blue Note's The Artist Selects series offers a valuable insight into some of the jazz greats who recorded for the label by having the musicians themselves select and sequence songs to be reissued on a single disc. In the case of Freddie Hubbard, the choices are especially interesting because they are culled from a particularly diverse and voluminous discography, with only one selection (Kenny Dorham's Karioka ) replicating the previously assembled Jazz Profiles compilation. The remaining eight numbers, all originals ...
Continue ReadingFreddie Hubbard: Four From Freddie
by AAJ Staff
By Francis Lo Kee
Freddie Hubbard has led a productive and interesting recording career that has gone through various phases, showing up on revolutionary records of the '60s (with Ornette, Dolphy and Coltrane) and some of the best hard bop, keeper-of-the-flame sessions, too (as a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers). Ready for Freddie (1961) was made while Hubbard was working with Blakey and his playing here is on fire. Birdlike (a blues in F, later renamed Byrdlike ...
Continue ReadingFreddie Hubbard: Hub Cap (RVG Edition)
by Robert Gilbert
As was customary with Blue Note releases during the 1950s and '60s, the names of the musicians performing on Hub Cap are listed on the album’s front cover. The name of Freddie Hubbard, the leader, is--not surprisingly--most prominent. However, the factor that elevates Hub Cap a notch above similarly styled LPs released at the time is the fifth name listed under Hubbard’s: drummer “Philly” Joe Jones.Within a minute of the opening title song, Jones has made his presence ...
Continue ReadingFreddie Hubbard: Hub Cap (RVG Edition)
by Richton Guy Thomas
Freddie Hubbard brought a beautiful tone and an instinct for swing to Hub Cap. This record came out in 1961, three years before Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch and four years before Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage : two significant titles in the library of America's improvised music which feature a consequential role by Hubbard.Freddie Hubbard leads a particularly talented sextet on this reissue. Four of the six compositions are Hubbard originals; two numbers were composed by Cedar Walton, ...
Continue ReadingFreddie Hubbard: Red Clay
by David Rickert
Like Stanley Turrentine, Freddie Hubbard's best work was always in the service of others until he signed with Creed Taylor's CTI label. He then released a trio of albums that represents his crowning achievement as a leader. Red Clay finds him in the company of Herbie Hancock, who played a large part in defining jazz fusion, as well as heavyweights like Ron Carter, Joe Henderson, and Lenny White. The title track kicks off the record with a funky ...
Continue ReadingFreddie Hubbard: Open Sesame
by Craig Jolley
Open Sesame (1960) was Freddie Hubbard’s first record as a leader. If it was his only record it would be legendary, but within two years he had recorded four better ones. What raised the other records above Open Sesame was the drummers: Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones, and Louis Hayes. There is nothing wrong with Clifford Jarvis—he swings, he interacts with the other players, and he fits the band’s conservative concept. But on his best records Hubbard fed off his ...
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