FREDDIE HUBBARD — Straight Life (review)

FREDDIE HUBBARD — Straight Life album cover Album · 1971 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Sean Trane
As he had done with the previous Red Clay, Hubbard chose to pursue in the JR/F mould, using a very similar formation centred around Herbie, Ron, and Joe Henderson, but replacing Lenny with DeJohnette and two percussion players. And indeed the FH band picks up where it left off in the previous Red Clay album and SL is very much a JR/F affair. SL features another red-looking artwork, that kind of hints at the previous album’s continuity, but the boppy nature of the music of RC is nearly totally absorbed in the funk-rock of the present.

Just three track on this red-hot fusion thing, with the sidelong title track occupying the whole A-side. Indeed, with this 17-mins+ energy-filled monster track, we’re definitely up Bitches Brew (despite the liner notes) or Ethiopian Knight’s alley, if you’ll notice that Benson’s Montgomery influences replaces McL’s fiery pyro-techniques. On the flipside, Mr Clean’s 12 minutes of insane JR/F will surely cleanse your tripe’s inner from stuffy and dusty old bop stuff. Hubbard’s trumpet has the same kind of bite as Donald Byrd in the equivalent album, but none chose to add pedal effects that made Miles’ sound so unique. We’re again closer to BB than we are to Mwandishi or Weather Report’s early albums here. The shorter Rainy Day track is a relatively out-of-context slow sleepy middle-of-the-night jazz piece, which doesn’t do the album a favour.

While SL is typically the kind of fusion-y album I love, I must put a bit of a damper, because of the general short duration, but also some of the aimless soloing around. I can’t help but feeling that albums such as SL or Byrd’s Ethiopian Knights should have at least one more 7 or 8 minutes track aside, not just for the sake of value for money, but in terms of a more complete sonic-capture. Indeed, we’re kind of still hungry after EK or SL, something we’re not after BB, Crossings or Body Electric.

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

Fellow Creatures : We Must Fight 21st Century Modern
JASPER HØIBY
Buy this album from MMA partners
Misha Mengelberg & Sabu Toyozumi : Analects Of Confucius Avant-Garde Jazz
MISHA MENGELBERG
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lost Session, Paris 1979 Avant-Garde Jazz
DAVE BURRELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
Rivbea Live! Series Volume 3 Recorded 1974 Avant-Garde Jazz
JIMMY LYONS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Live at PS1 Avant-Garde Jazz
TRIO VOLTAÏCITY (AYUMI ISHITO - YUKO TOGAMI - STAN ZENKOV)
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

Yene Felagote
UKANDANZ
snobb· 3 days ago
"Ainda Preciso do Sol" Official Music Video - Adrian Younge
ADRIAN YOUNGE
js· 4 days ago
Slawek Jaskulke - The Royal Symphonic Jazz Suite
SŁAWEK JASKUŁKE
snobb· 4 days ago
PEDRITO MARTINEZ ?? ALEXANDER ABREU ?? YOMIL= ILUSIÓN ÓPTICA (Official Video)
PEDRITO MARTINEZ
js· 5 days ago
Christian McBride & Ursa Major - More Is (Official Audio)
CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE
js· 5 days ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed