Freddie Hubbard's Greatest

Hi everyone. I tried this poll at PA and not sure enough of the Jazz fans there saw it (or it sucked) and wanted to try here.

I'm interested to hear what everyone thinks is Freddie's greatest album as a leader. (as a sideman might be a future poll ie: his great work on Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage) And any 'other' albums you might care to add would be fine too. I've stuck mostly to his early work (and most of his CTI output too) though one of his 80s albums, Outpost is supposed to be great so I threw that in there though I've never heard it.

The challenge can be, when you justify your vote (if you've got time) try and limit yourself to less than 3 reasons.

I'll kick off with First Light (I know, obvious choice) for the following reasons:

1. A mix of relaxed and more energetic soloing from Hubbard
2. A fine cast of backing musicians
3. Highly influential (on the 'smooth jazz' genre for instance (sadly perhaps) but this album is in no way bland for me)

Love Red Clay - especially the live version on the CD. The band is in fine sync and hearing the crowd (or each other) egg them on is super. And I think Billy has a little extra snap to his playing on that track, compared to Lenny's studio take.

Excellent, I will Black Angel and Sing Me a Song... now, especially interested to see how Freddie sounds on a avant-garde album.

I always like work in the 60's that Freddie Hubbard did. Of course, the album announced by CTI might be high-quality. I go to First Light if it chooses from the list. Fantasy In D quotes the melody of Ugetsu of Art Blakey though it is a bytalk. The melody is fantastic. In addition, Mark Murphy knew Red Clay that Hubbard had done though it was a bytalk. And, it went to the house of Hubbard and it questioned on Mark Murphy ardently. The purpose of it is to hear the reason why Hubbard chose Red Clay. Please refer to Red Clay that Murk Murphy did if it is interested.

Abraxas wrote: I've only heard 4 of his records, and my favourite is probably Straight Life. Blue Spirits is very good though.

js wrote: dreadpirateroberts wrote: Hi everyone. I tried this poll at PA and not sure enough of the Jazz fans there saw it (or it sucked) and wanted to try here. I'm interested to hear what everyone thinks is Freddie's greatest album as a leader. (as a sideman might be a future poll ie: his great work on Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage) And any 'other' albums you might care to add would be fine too. I've stuck mostly to his early work (and most of his CTI output too) though one of his 80s albums, Outpost is supposed to be great so I threw that in there though I've never heard it. The challenge can be, when you justify your vote (if you've got time) try and limit yourself to less than 3 reasons. I'll kick off with First Light (I know, obvious choice) for the following reasons: 1. A mix of relaxed and more energetic soloing from Hubbard 2. A fine cast of backing musicians 3. Highly influential (on the 'smooth jazz' genre for instance (sadly perhaps) but this album is in no way bland for me) One of the more interesting things about his later 70s LPs is how he would make albums that you would think were sort of commercial, but then he'd always throw in a couple high energy, almost free post bop workouts. Many of those albums are very eclectic in a good way, ranging from funk to post bop to pop jazz and whatever else he felt like. Very original artist. On further reflection though, I think my favorite with him is the first two VSOP albums with Herbie, his playing is so powerful and intense on those records. To some jazz fans, the ensemble playing on those records is a bit bombastic, but I likes it.

Yes! They had wonderful appeal and accessibility and yet, he always turned it on its head at some point. I was once listening to First Light at work and a colleuge asked me if it was Kenny G (during a trumpet solo by the way ) and  I had to explain who Hubbard was, and showed them one of the more harder, funk/hard bop tracks. Not sure they got it, but it was nice to talk about Jazz at work.

Ah! The VSOP albums! I really, REALLY want to get them - especially the live one, but it's still around 40 something dollars (before shipping) on Amazon, and unavailable at my local retailers. Hoping it will come down a tiny bit soon.  Bombastic sounds good to me too, js!

Abraxas wrote: I've only heard 4 of his records, and my favourite is probably Straight Life. Blue Spirits is very good though.

Another superb album. 'Mr Clean' is so good on that one!  I must look into 'Blue Spirits' haven't got it. What do you like about it? I see McCoy Tyner is on it with some tracks. It sounds like I'll be adding it to my collection soon!

Sean Trane wrote: Heard a few albums (from the library, quite a few years ago), but he's on my list in the coming monthsfor a revisit of his stuff!!   Obviously can't vote now!

Looking forward to seeing what you choose - hopefully someone can challenge the lead First  Light seems to have!

dreadpirateroberts wrote:   Sean Trane wrote: Heard a few albums (from the library, quite a few years ago), but he's on my list in the coming monthsfor a revisit of his stuff!!   Obviously can't vote now!   Looking forward to seeing what you choose - hopefully someone can challenge the lead First  Light seems to have!

Sean Trane wrote: dreadpirateroberts wrote:   Sean Trane wrote: Heard a few albums (from the library, quite a few years ago), but he's on my list in the coming monthsfor a revisit of his stuff!!   Obviously can't vote now!   Looking forward to seeing what you choose - hopefully someone can challenge the lead First  Light seems to have!   As you probably can figure out, I'll go for the 67-73 albums first (hey, boys will be boys)   Soooo at first glance, I'd say Straight Life, Red Clay, Black angel, Soul Together or First Light     But i'll be sure to investigate Ready For Freddie, Open Sesame & Breaking Point as well.

All quality albums, there (though I've only read reviews of Black Angel to judge from)

Breaking Point is probably more 'moving forward' I guess, and albums like Ready & Open are solid hard bop records. 'Open Sesame' is a killer title track too

"Open Sesame" of course its Hard bop and its on Blue Note. I have not heard every album listed but the majority of his Blue Note stuff yes.I have "Red Clay" and "The Artistry Of Freddie Hubbard".  "Goin Up" and "Ready For Freddie" I like as well but all his Blue Note albums are good.

js wrote: dreadpirateroberts wrote: js wrote: Re VSOP albums, around here they might show up in a used record store for under $10. I still have the original LPs I bought way back when. Damn, $10 is pretty damn good. I'm a few hours away from a large music shop with a broad selection of genres stocked, my local store would import things like VSOP from amazon, which I can always do myself.  Wow, the vinyls must be rare? The VSOP vinyls aren't that rare yet, I'm going to make a total guess and say possibly under $20 a piece on ebay.

That isn't too bad at all, I wonder if I shouldn't invest in vinyl and CD for those, though I haven't had vinyl shipped to me before, as I usually pick it up from stores etc, but assume most senders have the skills to package it properly. Vinyl just seems to much less suited to our rough-hands postal service

Matt wrote: "Open Sesame" of course its Hard bop and its on Blue Note. I have not heard every album listed but the majority of his Blue Note stuff yes.I have "Red Clay" and "The Artistry Of Freddie Hubbard".  "Goin Up" and "Ready For Freddie" I like as well but all his Blue Note albums are good.

Hey Matt, yeah! I love 'Open Sesame' & 'Ready' too, that era of his is pretty darn solid. And he has even got Tyner McCoy on one of those sessions from memory, which is impressive for a young player. He had the moves.

darkshade wrote: Ive heard most of these. I voted Straight Life However, I recently discovered an album from 1972 or 73 called Liquid Love, and it's a very solid jazz-funk album; and I never knew it existed. I was considering voting "other" for it.

'Straight Life' has some punch, huh? Will check out Liquid Love, it must be after 'Sky Dive' which is where I've stalled on Hubbard's discography, as I can't find a copy. Thanks for the tip!