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Rediscovery: The Freddie Hubbard And Woody BLOG ARCHIVE

Shaw Sessions ► 2023 (39)

On the eve of the first anniversary ► 2022 (26)

of trumpet great Freddie Hubbard’s ► 2021 (19)
death (December 29, 2008), it ► 2020 (4)
seems appropriate to pay tribute to
► 2011 (81)
this master who achieved much
greatness during the latter half of ► 2010 (179)
the twentieth century. I miss his ▼ 2009 (115)
presence in the world and the sad ▼ December (10)
fact that he can no longer Andy Warhol - The Record
contribute his very pleasurable Covers 1949-1987
music for our enjoyment.
Rediscovery: The Freddie
Hubbard And Woody Shaw
Freddie Hubbard sometimes joked how he played with all of the jazz Se...
greats and, while of course he had, he had also jettisoned into
Ithamara Koorax Interviewed at
significance on some of jazz history’s most notable recordings;
JazzWax
namely, Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz, Oliver Nelson’s The Blues And
The Abstract Truth (“Stolen Moments”), Coltrane’s Africa/Brass, Olé Christmas With Henry Mancini

Coltrane and, more remarkably, Ascension, Eric Dolphy’s Out To Christmas Listening
Lunch (and Outward Bound), Herbie Hancock’s Takin’ Off (with Why Is Everybody Picking On
“Watermelon Man”), Empyrean Isles (with “Cantaloupe Island”) and Tiger Woods?
Maiden Voyage and Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil. And all of this
Eat 'n Park Christmas Star
takes into consideration neither any of the session work the
Commercial
trumpeter was doing at the time nor the string of great Hubbard
Odds Against Tomorrow
performances that could be heard on the albums of Art Blakey or
Quincy Jones. Dave Grusin Soundtracks

Even More Mancini in the

It’s a shame that Freddie Hubbard even had to remind us of his Seventies
significance. In the sixties he recorded a slew of great post-bop

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records like Goin’ Up, Open Sesame and Ready For Freddie for the ► November (7)
Blue Note label, as well as a few nice dates for Impulse! that let him ► October (12)
stretch out a bit more.
► September (4)

By 1967, though, Hubbard switched over to the Atlantic label, ► August (9)

experimenting more (or “selling out” to some) with infusing “soul” ► July (6)
and “funk” into his playing. While the albums were critically rejected ► June (12)
at the time, nearly all hold up especially well. Backlash, High Blues
► May (15)
Pressure and The Black Angel are Hubbard’s best from his Atlantic
period. ► April (9)
► March (11)
Then in 1970 Freddie Hubbard recorded some of his most memorable ► February (15)
work at Creed Taylor’s CTI label, offering up the definitive Red Clay,
► January (5)
the excellent Straight Life, the Grammy Award winning First Light,
Sky Dive and the tremendous Keep Your Soul Together, not to ► 2005 (1)
mention headlining two live LPs recorded with Stanley Turrentine.

In 1974, Hubbard departed CTI for a multi-million dollar contract ABOUT ME

with the mighty Columbia Records, where he produced a great series D O UG L AS PAY N E
of records through 1980 including High Energy, Liquid Love,
V I EW M Y C OM P L ET E
Windjammer, Super Blue and The Love Connection. Unfortunately,
P RO F I L E
these records were critically reviled and did not sell nearly as well as
they should have (the majority of the Columbia albums were issued
for the first time on CD in 2009 by Wounded Bird).

In the 80s, Freddie Hubbard operated as more of a free agent than

before, recording prolifically – but not as consistently or as evenly as
before. Still, he recorded a set of stirring live performances on
Fantasy (A Little Night Music, Keystone Bop and Freddie Hubbard
Classics - all recorded in November 1981) and a rousing 1983 straight-
ahead date on Atlantic featuring Lew Tabackin, JoAnne Brackeen (!),
Eddie Gomez and Roy Haynes (Sweet Return).

Then the revered Blue Note label re-formed in the mid-eighties,

giving Freddie Hubbard yet another platform to prove – as if it was
necessary (and, indeed, it was at the time) – that he hadn’t sold out.

Double Take - Freddie Hubbard/Woody Shaw (Blue Note, 1985): In

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what qualifies as one of the strangest pairings of all time – or some

jazz-fan/marketing guy’s wet-dream – trumpeter Freddie Hubbard
and doomed trumpeter Woody Shaw (who’s been gone for 20 years
now!) were paired together for the first of two times in late 1985 on
this remarkably wonderful sextet album. Woody Shaw was
unquestionably one of the finest trumpeters of his generation. Always
in the shadows of Miles Davis (c. 1950), Freddie Hubbard (c. 1965)
and even, later, Wynton Marsalis, Shaw never deserved the second-
rate status he got. He was a fiercely straight-ahead player who had
waxed some definitive records of his own (namely Rosewood,
Stepping Stones and Woody III - all on Columbia, home to Miles,
Freddie – and even Wynton – at the time) and contributed some great
music to the jazz lexicon, before and after his Columbia sojourn.
Both trumpeters probably needed a high-profile gig like this at the
time – and both seemed game enough to do something seemingly
foolhardy like this. Strangely, it sounded pretty darned nice. Paired
with a rhythm section of extraordinarily talented upstarts like reed
player Kenny Garrett (who had recorded his solo debut album shortly
before this with Shaw and the pianist here – and plays un-credited
flute), pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Carl
Allen, one can’t help feel the planets aligned for this great little
straight-ahead fest. The program is mostly something a Blue Note
celebration with Blue Note trumpet covers of tunes by Clifford
Brown, Fats Navarro, Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham and Freddie
Hubbard himself. Not a bad thing, but not a great thing. Tribute
albums rarely become attributable themselves. The sound, caught by
master recordist Rudy Van Gelder, is a little too clean, crystalline and
crisp – Ajaxed jazz – a sound probably too much in vogue in this weird
decade (as far as jazz is concerned). But what is captured here is
definitely worth hearing, no matter how it was captured. The playing
sounds a bit tentative at first. Still, the groove gives it gusto. This is a
classic. Everybody is in good form here. And it’s a pleasure to listen
to, repeatedly. Surprisingly, it’s not a cutting contest, but something
where each of the leaders shares the front line in order to give it all
to some surprisingly fine melodies. Hubbard’s “Hub Tones,” arranged
particularly well by the album’s “arranger” Don Sickler, is the album’s
sole highlight and makes it all worth every second. It makes for
GREAT eighties jazz. And things get even better after this. Lee
Morgan’s “Desert Moonlight,” “Just A Ballad For Woody” and Kenny
Dorham’s “Lotus Blossom” remind you how wonderful straight-ahead
jazz could be – even in the dark days of the eighties. Very, very few
jazz guys can make jazz come this alive anymore. This is one to
savor.

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The Eternal Triangle - Freddie Hubbard/Woody Shaw (Blue Note,

1987): The second of two pairings of trumpeters Freddie Hubbard
and Woody Shaw didn’t seem very moving at the time, but it is
probably the better of the two albums the duo made. Perhaps the
familiarity of the tunes on the first set made that one more
immediately appealing. Here, Hubbard provides his little-known Blue
Note era tunes “Down Under” (from Art Blakey’s Mosaic) and
“Nostrand And Fulton” (from Hubbard’s Here To Stay). Shaw provides
his classic “The Moontrane” and “Tomorrow’s Destiny” to the
program. Each serves the case of good jazz, but there is (a little) less
of an effort to mine the depths of the Blue Note archives as obviously
as before. Yes, the covers are by Sonny Stitt (the title track,
originally from a 1957 Verve session), Lee Morgan (“Calling Miss
Khadija”), Kenny Dorham (“Sao Paulo”) and Bud Powell (“Reets And
I”). While there’s never a dull moment, the trumpeter’s take on the
moody “Sao Paulo” is, perhaps, the album’s highlight, followed
closely by “Down Under,” “Calling Miss Khadjia” and “Reets And I.”
The Double Take grouping is reformed for this 1987 recording except
bassist Cecil McBee is replaced here by Ray Drummond. Given that
this was a studio assemblage and not a working group, it’s amazing
the sense of cohesion and interplay the group achieves here. If the
group’s initial outing was marked by some awkward or clumsy
passages, this time they’re all on the same page – even the
trumpeter’s have developed a nice chemistry here. The aura of
timelessness is present here in this neo-bop setting that could have
easily emanated from 1962 as it did from 1987. Part of the group’s
success is getting caught marvelously in Rudy Van Gelder’s superb
sound structure, less like the pin-drop perfection of Double Take and
more like the sterling signature work he’s since done for so many
labels like Criss Cross, Venus, HighNote and others.

The Freddie Hubbard And Woody Shaw Sessions (Blue Note, 1995):

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The two Freddie Hubbard-Woody Shaw albums had been long out of
print – and, sadly, trumpeter Woody Shaw had also died in the interim
– when Blue Note paired both albums together on a 1995 CD titled
The Freddy Hubbard And Woody Shaw Sessions. By this time, even
Freddie Hubbard’s pace had slowed down considerably due to the
trumpeter suffering from a busted lip that made it excruciatingly
difficult to play. So this double-disc CD set was a pleasant look back
at two trumpet heroes at the very top of their game and a potent
reminder of their shared significance to the jazz language and the
musical lexicon. Like so many CDs that Blue Note issues, this one too
quickly went out of print and now the few copies that can be found
fetch big bucks. It’s a real shame because these two albums were
made to be heard together – and they sound better with each passing
year.

PO S T ED B Y DO UG L AS PAY NE AT 1 1: 29 A M

3 COMMENTS:

stringbender said...

I couldn't agree more - these sides are superb and should be

made available again.

1 0: 3 9 P M

Anonymous said...

Double Take is one of my all time favorites. I own on cassette

but wish I could buy the pair of CDs at a reasonable price.
Even on casette the trumpet conversation and the sensuous
musicality are amazing.

1 1: 5 0 A M

zeno.bardot said...

"attributable" and "jettisoned"...These words, I do not think

they mean what you think they mean.

1 :4 2 A M

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