I thought it was about time I reactivated things (and this series in particular) as I take a listen to a bunch of recordings I have next to my CD player. And while the original plan was to sit down and listen to these accompanied by a beer it ended up being a green tea instead.
I have a handful of Freddie Hubbard’s albums as a leader for Blue Note, but as a general rule prefer his work as a sideman during the same period... Wayne Shorter’s ‘Speak No Evil’, Herbie Hancock’s ‘Maiden Voyage’ and ‘Empyrean Isles’, Eric Dolphy’s ‘Out To Lunch’, and Art Blakey’s ‘Free for All’ come to mind. Maybe it’s not just Hubbard’s playing but these sessions and compositions, seem to full out stronger performances (from all personnel) than on Hubbard's own albums. Or maybe I’m just more familiar with those albums... I don’t know.
Anyway....earlier in the week I was listening to ‘Hub-tones’ but tonight I turned my attention to ‘Here to Stay’ a session from December 1962 (unreleased until 1962) that was new to me. I was drawn to ‘Here to Stay’ by the pairing of Hubbard and Wayne Shorter, but the thing that stood out to me were the standards, “Body and Soul” and “Full Moon and Empty Arms”. Adding “You’re My Everything” from ‘Hub-Tones’ and they’re my favourite tracks from across the two albums. When I gave it a second spin I was getting into it much more than the first time around but then it is hard to beat Hubbard’s combination of tone and time – so full-bodied, expressive, and swinging! Plenty of swagger without going overboard in terms of bravado. Just really strong line playing. To wrap things up I gave a couple of tracks from ‘Hub-Tones’ another spin tonight too... in fact, I gave the entire album another run, I just couldn’t help it. Some things are just unavoidable. And it’s a really solid album, and maybe my favourite of his a leader that I have (I still haven’t managed to check out ‘Breaking Point’... add it to the list). I prefer Herbie Hancock on piano over Cedar Walton, and Clifford Jarvis plays really well on this album making it quite the rhythm section along with Reggie Workman who is on both albums. There’s something to be said about the LP length – it’s nice to be able to give things multiple listens without it taking 160 minutes. All in all it was a fun night of ‘Hub-Tones’ and ‘Here to Stay’, Freddie Hubbard remains one of my favourite trumpeter players (not that that was ever in doubt) and his work as a sideman still holds up as my favourite of his recordings I’ve heard to date but I’m always open to recommendations though.
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