FREDDIE HUBBARD — Polar AC (review)

FREDDIE HUBBARD — Polar AC album cover Album · 1975 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
FunkFreak75
The veteran trumpeter was getting on board the jazz-rock fusion train, here using a virtual who's who of proven J-R Fuse musicians in his recording sessions: Ron Carter, Bob James, Hubert Laws, George Benson, Airto.

I originally purchased this album because of the lineup of collaborating artists (I was hugely into Bob James, the Laws brothers, and Ron Carter during this period) but also cuz Freddy was covering two of my all-time favorite soul/R&B songs--both made famous by The Stylistics: "People Make the World Go Round" and "Bethca By Golly, Wow." The former of which Freddie made the best version of the song I've ever heard: here, on Polar AC.

Freddy had been notably trying some of the new rock-infusions on his previous albums from the early 1970s, but had been using his own or the studio's musicians to do so, and they just were't getting it. So, for Polar AC he called in some of the heavy hitters--musicians who had served time on the front lines: with Miles and Tony--including the three drummers here, Jack DeJohnette, Lenny White, and Billy Cobham and percussionist/drummer Airto Moreira.

1. "Polar AC" (6:57) a Cedar Walton tune covered with the help of Jack DeJohnette on drums. (13.125/15)

2. "People Make the World Go Round" (5:50) Lenny White is the drummer on this one. A personal favorite. (10/10)

3. "Betcha By Golly, Wow" (8:09) a good song that actually gets better when Freddie starts to take liberties with the melody lines. (13.5/15)

4. "Naturally" (5:52) a Cannonball Adderly song helped out by Billy Cobham. The song even sounds like a nostalgic look back into the post-My Favorite Things 1960s. Even Hubert Laws' flute feels so Sixties. Pleasant and melodic with very solid traditional jazz play (and sounds) from Freddie's supporting musicians. (8.875/10)

5. "Son of Sky Dive" (13:20) a reconditioning of the title song from one of Freddie's first attempts to foray into the Jazz-Rock Fusion idiom--a more latin rhythm form released in 1972 on which he used a lineup that included Billy Cobham, Airto Moreira, Ray Barretto, Ron Carter, Keith Jarrett, Hubert Laws, and George Benson. This one's better. Lenny White was pretty good, too. Sounds and plays out like "Love Connection Version 1." I absolutely LOVE Lenny White's drum play as well as Ron Carter's bass and keyboard support from George Gables. This is great modern-day jazz without collapsing into the quagmire of an abyss of "Smooth Jazz." (27.5/30)

A-/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of jazz-rock fusion.
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