Freddie Hubbard

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Freddie Hubbard
Rochester, New York, 1976
Background information
Birth name Frederick Dewayne Hubbard
Born April 7, 1938 (1938-04-07) (age 70)
Origin Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Genre(s) Jazz
Bebop
Hard bop
Post bop
Occupation(s) Musician
Bandleader
Instrument(s) Trumpet
Years active 1950's – present
Label(s) Atlantic, Columbia, CTI, Blue Note

Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (born April 7, 1938 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 60's up until today. In 2006, The National Endowment for the Arts honored Hubbard with its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award, along with a $25,000 fellowship award.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Harry Abraham and Freddie
Harry Abraham and Freddie

Hubbard started playing the mellophone and trumpet in his school band, studying at the Jordan Conservatory with the principal trumpeter of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. In his teens Hubbard worked locally with brothers Wes and Monk Montgomery and worked with bassist Larry Ridley and saxophonist James Spaulding. In 1958, at the age of 20, he moved to New York , and began playing with some of the best jazz players of the day, including Philly Joe Jones, Sonny Rollins, Slide Hampton, Eric Dolphy , J. J. Johnson, and Quincy Jones. In June 1960 Hubbard made his first record as a leader, Open Sesame, with saxophonist Tina Brooks, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Clifford Jarvis. Hubbard recorded his second album, Goin' Up, with saxophonist Hank Mobley and a rhythm section consisting of Tyner, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones. His third album, Hub Cap, featured trombonist Julian Priester and saxophonist Jimmy Heath. Then in May of 1961, Hubbard played on Ole Coltrane, John Coltrane's final recording session with Atlantic Records. Together with Eric Dolphy, Hubbard was the only "session" musician who appeared on both Ole and Africa Brass, Coltrane's first album with ABC/Impulse! Later, in August 1961, Hubbard made one of his most famous records, Ready For Freddie, which was also his first collaboration with saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Hubbard would join Shorter later in 1961 when he replaced Lee Morgan in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Hubbard remained with Blakey until 1966, leaving to form the first of several small groups of his own, which featured, among others, pianist Kenny Barron and drummer Louis Hayes.

It was during this time that he began to develop his own sound, distancing himself from the early influences of Clifford Brown and Morgan, and won the Downbeat jazz magazine "New Star" award on trumpet.[1]

Throughout the 1960s Hubbard played as a sideman on some of the most important albums from that era, including, Oliver Nelson's The Blues and the Abstract Truth, Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage, and Wayne Shorter's Speak No Evil.[2] He recorded extensively for Blue Note Records in the late 1950s and 1960s: eight albums as a bandleader, and twenty-eight as a sideman.[3] Though Hubbard never fully embraced the free jazz of the '60s, he appeared on several landmark albums in the genre: Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz, Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch, and John Coltrane's Ascension.

Hubbard achieved his greatest popular success in the 1970s with a series of albums for Creed Taylor and his record label CTI Records. Although his early 1970s jazz albums Red Clay, First Light, Straight Life, and Sky Dive were particularly well received and considered among his best work, the albums he recorded later in the decade were bashed by critics for their commercialism. First Light won a 1972 Grammy Award and included pianists Herbie Hancock and Richard Wyands, guitarists Eric Gale and George Benson, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Jack DeJohnette, and percussionist Airto Moreira. [4] In 1994, Freddie, collaborating with Chicago jazz vocalist/co-writer Catherine Whitney, had lyrics set to the music of First Light. [5]

During 1970-1974 Hubbard was the biggest star of the CTI label, overshadowing Stanley Turrentine, Hubert Laws, and George Benson.[6] Columbia's VSOP: The Quintet, album was recorded from two live performances, one at the Hearst Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, on July 16, 1977, the other at the San Diego Civic Theatre, July 18, 1977. Musicians joining the trumpeter for this landmark performance were the members of the mid-sixties line-up of the Miles Davis Quintet (except the leader): Herbie Hancock on keyboards, Tony Williams on drums, Ron Carter on bass, and Wayne Shorter on tenor and soprano saxophones.

In the 1980s Hubbard was again leading his own jazz group, attracting very favorable notices for his playing at concerts and festivals in the USA and Europe, often in the company of Joe Henderson, playing a repertory of hard-bop and modal-jazz pieces. Hubbard played at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival in 1980 and in 1989 (with Bobby Hutcherson). He played with Woody Shaw, recording with him in 1985, and two years later recorded Stardust with Benny Golson. In 1988 he teamed up once more with Blakey at an engagement in Holland, from which came Feel The Wind. In 1990 he appeared in Japan headlining an American-Japanese concert package which also featured Elvin Jones, Sonny Fortune, pianists George Duke and Benny Green, bass players Ron Carter, and Rufus Reid, with jazz and popular music singer Salena Jones. He also performed at the Warsaw Jazz Festival at which Live At The Warsaw Jazz Festival (Jazzmen 1992) was recorded.

Following a long setback of health problems and a serious lip injury in 1992 where he ruptured his upper lip and subsequently developed an infection, Hubbard is again playing and recording occasionally, even if not at the high level that he set for himself during his earlier career. [7] His best records rank with the finest in his field.[8]

[edit] Discography

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Year Title Notes Label Billboard
1992 Live at Fat Tuesday Jazz Music Masters # -
1989 Times Are Changin' Jazz Blue Note # -
1982 Ride Like the Wind Jazz Elektra/Asylum Records # -
1981 Outpost Kenny Barron, Al Foster, Buster Williams Enja Records # -
1980 Skagly Jazz Columbia # -
1979 The Love Connection Jazz Columbia # -
1978 Super Blue Jazz Columbia #131
1977 Bundle of Joy Jazz Columbia #149
1976 Windjammer Jazz CTI #85
1975 Polar AC Jazz CTI #167
1975 Liquid Love Jazz Columbia #149
1974 Keep Your Soul Together Jazz Columbia #186
1974 High Energy Jazz Columbia #153
1973 Sky Dive Jazz CTI #165
1971 First Light Jazz CTI -
1970 Straight Life Hard bop, Fusion CTI -
1970 Red Clay Hard bop, Fusion CTI -
1969 The Hub of Hubbard Jazz MPS/BASF -
1969 A Soul Experiment Soul Jazz Atlanic -
1966 Backlash Hard bop, Avant-garde Atlantic -
1965 Speak No Evil Hard bop, with Wayne Shorter Blue Note -
1965 Blue Spirits Post-bop, Hard bop Blue Note -
1964 Breaking Point Post-bop, Hard bop Blue Note -
1963 The Body & the Soul Post-bop, Hard bop Impulse! -
1962 Hub-Tones Post-bop, Hard bop Blue Note -
1962 The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard Post-bop, Hard bop Impulse! -
1962 Caravan Hard bop Impulse! -
1961 Ready for Freddie Hard bop Blue Note -
1961 Minor Mishap Hard bop Black Lion -
1961 Here to Stay Hard bop Blue Note -
1961 Hub Cap' Hard bop Blue Note -
1960 Ballads Bop Blue Note -
1960 Goin' Up Hard bop Blue Note -
1960 Open Sesame Hard bop Blue Note -

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.nea.gov/national/jazz/jazz06/hubbard.html 2006 Fellowship Recipient: Freddie Hubbard]
  2. ^ Larkin, Colin. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Guinness, page 2018-2019, (1995) - ISBN 1561591769
  3. ^ Freddie Hubbard: The Blue Note Years 1960-1965
  4. ^ Allmusic.com: First Light
  5. ^ [Website: http://www.gopammusic.com/catalogs/hubtones.htm]
  6. ^ Yanow, Scott. Jazz on Record: The First Sixty Years, Backbeat Books, page 821, (2003) - ISBN 0879307552
  7. ^ .Freddie Hubbard at All About Jazz
  8. ^ Yanow, Scott. Jazz: A Regional Exploration, Greenwood Press, page 184, (2005) - ISBN 0313328714

[edit] External links