Freddie Hubbard

Freddie Hubbard – Red Clay (1970/2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 39:19 minutes | 1,49 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © CTI

This may be Freddie Hubbard’s finest moment as a leader, in that it embodies and utilizes all of his strengths as a composer, soloist, and frontman. On Red Clay, Hubbard combines hard bop’s glorious blues-out past with the soulful innovations of mainstream jazz in the 1960s, and reads them through the chunky groove innovations of ’70s jazz fusion. This session places the trumpeter in the company of giants such as tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Lenny White. Hubbard’s five compositions all come from deep inside blues territory; these shaded notions are grafted onto funky hard bop melodies worthy of Horace Silver’s finest tunes, and are layered inside the smoothed-over cadences of shimmering, steaming soul. The 12-minute-plus title track features a 4/4 modal opening and a spare electric piano solo woven through the twin horns of Hubbard and Henderson. It is a fine example of snaky groove music. Henderson even takes his solo outside a bit without ever moving out of the rhythmatist’s pocket. “Delphia” begins as a ballad with slow, clipped trumpet lines against a major-key background, and opens onto a midtempo groover, then winds back into the dark, steamy heart of bluesy melodicism. The hands-down favorite here, though, is “The Intrepid Fox,” with its Miles-like opening of knotty changes and shifting modes, that are all rooted in bop’s muscular architecture. It’s White and Hancock who shift the track from underneath with large sevenths and triple-timed drums that land deeply inside the clamoring, ever-present riff. Where Hubbard and Henderson are playing against, as well as with one another, the rhythm section, lifted buoyantly by Carter’s bridge-building bassline, carries the melody over until Hancock plays an uncharacteristically angular solo before splitting the groove in two and doubling back with a series of striking arpeggios. This is a classic, hands down.

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Freddie Hubbard – Ready For Freddie (1961/2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 41:59 minutes | 1,69 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Note Records

Ready For Freddie is Hubbard’s 1961 masterpiece and most iconic recording as a bandleader. Joined by an all-star lineup, which includes Bernard McKinney, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Art Davis and Elvin Jones, the album is widely considered one of the greatest releases in jazz history. Ready For Freddie includes the standouts “Marie Antoinette” and “Weaver Of Dreams.” Ready For Freddie is an absolute vital addition to your music library.

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Freddie Hubbard – Polar AC (1975/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 40:25 minutes | 1,51 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © CTI Records

Warm and wonderful work from Freddie Hubbard – a killer of an album recorded for CTI, and one of his most soulful efforts for the label! The album’s got a bit more of a human heart than some of the more cosmic sessions Freddie cut at the time – a bit more contemplative and introspective, but no less open-minded and electrically charged. The assortment of players is all top-shelf – with Billy Cobham, Airto, Lennie White, George Cables, Hubert Laws, and George Benson all backing Freddie up on the set – and titles include a great take on “People Make the World Go Round”, plus “Naturally”, and “Son of Sky Dive”, which grooves just like its papa!

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Freddie Hubbard – Pinnacle, Live and Unreleased from Keystone Korner (2011)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:04:11 minutes | 421 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Resonance Records

Captured live at San Francisco’s historic Keystone Korner Jazz Club in 1980, trumpet master Freddie Hubbard was at the top of his game. Hubbard is joined by an all-star cast, who perform his most challenging repertoire. This is a funky, sophisticated and melodic outing that is sure to please Hubbard fans and audiophiles. The album features previously unreleased material. It also includes the only known recording of Hubbard performing Coltrane’s massive hit “Giant Steps”.

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Freddie Hubbard – Live In Warsaw 1991 (Live at the Jazz Jamboree Warszawa, 24/10/1991) (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:04 minutes | 1,00 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © FUZZY LEMONS ENTERTAINMENT GROUP LTD

The great trumpeter’s set here was recorded live at the Warsaw Jamboree Jazz Festival in 1991 with Michael Urbaniak on violin, Donald Braden on tenor sax, Ronnie Matthew on piano, Jeff Chambers on bass and Ralph Penland on drums.

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Freddie Hubbard – Life Flight (1987/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 41:47 minutes | 1,65 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Note Records

Life Flight is a later album by Freddie Hubbard and was recorded in 1987, when the trumpeter was 48 years old. Still in peak form, the album is an excellent example of Hubbard’s musicianship and mastery of his instrument.

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Freddie Hubbard – Keep Your Soul Together (1973/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 38:38 minutes | 1,43 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | ©

Keep Your Soul Together is an album recorded in 1973 by jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. It was his fifth studio album released on Creed Taylor’s CTI label and features performances by Hubbard, Junior Cook, George Cables, Aurell Ray, Kent Brinkley, Ron Carter, Ralph Penland and Juno Lewis.

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Freddie Hubbard – Hub-Tones (1962/2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 38:43 minutes | 1,67 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Note Records

Originally released as Blue Note BLP 4115 (mono) and BST 84115 (stereo)

“In preparing these hi def remasters, we were very conscientious about maintaining the feel of the original releases while adding a previously unattainable transparency and depth. It now sounds like you’ve set up your chaise lounge right in the middle of Rudy Van Gelder’s studio!” – Blue Note President, Don Was.

Hub-Tones features trumpeter Freddie Hubbard leading a quintet in a rolicking one-day session. Included on the album are Hubbard originals “Lament for Booker” and “Hub-Tones”, as well as an innovative and unusual version of the standard “You’re My Everything.” A standout among Hubbard’s excellent Blue Note albums.

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Freddie Hubbard – Hot Horn (1981/2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 47:33 minutes | 869 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Archive of Folk & Jazz Music

The album jacket of this budget LP contains many mistakes (Cedar “Watton” on piano?) and the recording quality of the live (bootleg?) session is erratic but trumpeter Freddie Hubbard was at the peak of his powers in the early ’70s, making this set worth picking up by his true fans. Hubbard stretches out on long versions of “Intrepid Fox” and “Pensativa” with his quintet (which includes Junior Cook on tenor, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Wayne Dockery and drummer Billy Hayes) and the rhythm section led by Watton, uhh Walton gets The Beatles’ “Yesterday” as a feature.

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Freddie Hubbard – High Blues Pressure (1968/2011)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 41:24 minutes | 1,69 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino Atlantic

“High Blues Pressure” is the thirteenth album by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. It was his second release on the Atlantic label and features performances by Hubbard, James Spaulding, Bennie Maupin, Herbie Lewis, Roman “Dog” Broadus, Weldon Irvine, Kenny Barron, Freddie Waits, Louis Hayes, Howard Johnson, and Kiane Zawadi.

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Freddie Hubbard – First Light (1971/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 36:10 minutes | 1,36 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © CTI Records

In the pantheon of jazz trumpeters, Freddie Hubbard stands as one of the boldest and most inventive artists of the bop, hard-bop and post-bop eras. Although influenced by titans like Miles Davis and Clifford Brown, Hubbard ultimately forged his own unique sound – a careful balance of bravado and subtlety that fueled more than fifty solo recordings and countless collaborations with some of the most prominent jazz artists of his era.

After a series of strong releases on Blue Note and a stint with the Jazz Messengers in the ’60s, Hubbard enjoyed his greatest popular success in the 1970s with a series of crossover albums on Atlantic and CTI Records. His early ‘70s jazz albums for CTI – Red Clay (1970), Straight Life (1970) and First Light (1971) – were particularly well received with the latter taking home a Grammy for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance.

First Light finds the trumpeter joined by guitarists Eric Gale and George Benson, pianists Herbie Hancock and Richard Wyands, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Jack DeJohnette and percussionist Airto Moreira amidst elegant string arrangements by Don Sebesky, a first for Hubbard thus the title. From the sizzling title track to a melodic take on Paul and Linda McCartney’s “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” to a lovely rendition of the Mancini/Mercer standard “Moment To Moment,” First Light is first-rate.

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Freddie Hubbard – Breaking Point (1964/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 40:11 minutes | 1,59 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Note Records

One of the most exciting trumpeters of all time, Freddie Hubbard ranks right up there with Lee Morgan as the most vital trumpet player of the 1960s. An absolute powerhouse on his instrument, Freddie became renown for his fearless and fiery playing and his courageous and dramatic solos. Hubbard recorded many definitive albums for Blue Note during the first half of the ’60s including the 1964 gem Breaking Point! which finds the jazz master leading a rock solid quintet that includes James Spaulding (alto saxophone/flute), Ronnie Mathews (piano), Eddie Khan (bass) and Joe Chambers (drums) on a powerful and progressive 5-song set of four of his own originals and the Chambers classic “Mirrors.”

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Freddie Hubbard – Blue Spirits (1965/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 44:47 minutes | 1,58 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Note Records

One of the acknowledged giants of jazz trumpet, Freddie Hubbard recorded many albums for Blue Note in the 1960s including the 1965 hard bop gem, Blue Spirits, which found him in three different ensembles – an octet with congas and a euphonium, a septet with McCoy Tyner (piano), and a sextet with Herbie Hancock (piano, celeste) and Elvin Jones (drums) – and served as his last studio effort for the label. Also featured intermittently are Joe Henderson (tenor saxophone), Hank Mobley (tenor saxophone), Reggie Workman (bass) and Pete La Roca (drums) among others. The set is comprised of five diverse Hubbard originals including the Latin tinged “Soul Surge” and “Cunga Black” and the brooding numbers “Blue Spirits” and “Jodo.”

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