Hubbard of (Blue) Note

WHICH ARTIST IS BEST? Which album? Which movie? The lamentable practice of ranking artistic achievements one against the other has boomed in the Internet Age, with Top Ten lists swelling into the hundreds as paid-by-the-word scribblers duck the process of actual criticism and offer up rankings instead. Thus with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard: How does he rank against Clifford Brown or Miles Davis? The answer: Stop ranking. He is a giant who sits alongside those other giants in his own original way.

Mosaic Records has collected the ten albums recorded under Hubbard’s name as leader for Blue Note and Impulse between 1960 and 1966, a varied array of sessions and sidemen showcasing the amazing versatility of Hubbard’s tone and technique. He was 22 during the first of these sessions, already making a name for himself in New York through performances with Sonny Rollins and Eric Dolphy, among others. And he would soon nab a steady gig with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers.

The first session on this set, for the Blue Note release “Open Sesame,” serves as a kind of launching pad for what’s to follow. “But Beautiful” gives us Hubbard’s sleek, soulful ballad sound, while “Hub’s Nub” is all about Hub’s bop voice, his cascading lines nicely supported by a rhythm section of pianist McCoy Tyner, Clifford Jarvis (drums), and Sam Jones (bass). “Gypsy Blue” settles into an amiable Latin groove, with Hubbard in harmony with saxist Tina Brooks for the theme statements, and swapping solos with him elsewhere (and throughout the five other selections).

For the record, the other albums captured in these seven CDs are “Goin’ Up” and “Hub Cap” (Blue Note, 1961), “Ready for Freddie” (Blue Note, 1962), “The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard” (Impulse, 1963), “Here to Stay” (Blue Note, recorded in 1962 but released in 1976), “Hub-Tones” (Blue Note, 1963), “The Body and the Soul” (Impulse, 1964), “Breaking Point” (Blue Note, 1964), and “Blue Spirits” (Blue Note, 1967).

McCoy Tyner is back for the “Goin’ Up” session in November 1960. “Asiatic Raes,” an up-tempo Kenny Dorham number kicks it off gleefully, with long bowed solo by Paul Chambers towards the end. Hank Mobley is on tenor for this session, with Philly Jo Jones on drums. When we get to “Hub Cap,” recorded five months later, four of the six tracks are a variety of Hubbard arrangements. “Luana,” the centerpiece of this album, has a “Green Dolphin Street” feel to the melody, but this Hubbard original wends through a brilliant array of sound combinations as the expanded personnel of Jimmy Heath (tenor), Julian Priester (trombone), Cedar Walton (piano), Larry Ridley (bass), and Philly Jo Jones (drums) enjoy their featured moments. Randy Weston’s “Cry Me Not” gets a touch of the Debussy with Walton’s arpeggios, while Walton’s “Plexus” plays engagingly with time and form and catchy melodic gestures.

All of which portends what’s to come. Personnel shifts and expands; by the time we get to “Hub-Tones,” which makes up much of disc five, Herbie Hancock is in the piano chair, and new-arrival James Spaulding is blending with Hubbard in effortless ways on both alto and flute – listen to the combination in Hubbard’s “Prophet Jennings.” The album, opens with Harry Warren’s “You’re My Everything.” a medium tempo ballad that shows the beauty of Hubbard’s lyrical chops as well as his ability to fire off captivating runs of notes galore. It’s a calculated entry point to the remaining four cuts, all Hubbard originals. The title track fakes you out for a moment with a false ending a scant few seconds after it begins, then it takes off at a brisk tempo to give the players some fingerbusting challenges that always pay off.

That’s also the case with “Philly Mignon,” the flag-waver that closes the album “Here to Stay,” which didn’t see release until 1976. It’s a nice finish to a journey that begins with the Rachmaninoff-borrowed ballad “Full Moon and Empty Arms,” which keeps its beauty intact even as its sappiness is removed.

Three 1963 sessions went into the Impulse LP “The Body and the Soul,” the first putting Hubbard in a 12-piece band augmented by a string section, with Wayne Shorter setting aside his sax to arrange and conduct the selections. Try to recognize Ellington’s “Chocolate Shake”as it meanders through that big strings-and-brass section with Hubbard doing all he can to prove that the number works just as well as a slow ballad. “Skylark” sounds more at home in that setting, especially with the flute accents in the orchestra.

The song “Body and Soul” itself will ever and always go up against Coleman Hawkins, but Hubbard shows how to re-rhythm a versatile melody into inventive bop phrases, with Eric Dolphy’s flute buoying the small accompanying group of Jazz Messengers (sans Blakey).

Two Blue Note releases would follow. “Breaking Point” again put Hubbard in a small-group setting, this time a quintet featuring James Spaulding (alto and flute) in four Hubbard originals and a tune by session drummer Joe Chambers. “Blue Spirits” required two dates, and eventually would also include the two tracks recorded by another Hubbard line-up in 1966 just before Blue Note was acquired by Liberty Records, which eventually would phase out the Blue Note line (until it was revived in 1985 by EMI Manhattan Records). These sessions show Hubbard at his most inventive yet, experimenting with time (as in the 7/4 “Soul Surge”) and the mix of players, exemplified by an octet that included Spaulding, Joe Henderson on tenor, pianist Harold Mabern, Kiane Zawadi on euphonium, bassist Larry Ridley, Clifford Jarvis on drums, and Big Black on congas.

Bob Blumenthal’s liner notes are as thorough and information-rich as we’ve come to expect from Mosaic, and the booklet is set off by wonderful Francis Wolff photographs that capture the adventurous, thoughtful spirit of the sessions. Much of this material has been available elsewhere, but not in this quality of remastered sound. It’s an important set that rewards repeated listening.

The Complete Freddie Hubbard Blue Note & Impulse Studio Sessions (7 CDs)
Mosaic Records