JAZZ REVIEW: FREDDIE HUBBARD BIOGRAPHY

Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (born April 7, 1938 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 60's up until today. In 2006, The National Endowment for the Arts honored Hubbard with its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award, along with a $25,000 fellowship award.

Biography

Hubbard started playing the mellophone and trumpet in his school band, studying at the Jordan Conservatory with the principal trumpeter of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. In his teens Hubbard worked locally with brothers Wes and Monk Montgomery and worked with bassist Larry Ridley and saxophonist James Spaulding. In 1958, at the age of 20, he moved to New York , and began playing with some of the best jazz players of the day, including Philly Joe Jones, Sonny Rollins, Slide Hampton, Eric Dolphy , J. J. Johnson, and Quincy Jones. In June 1960 Hubbard made his first record as a leader, Open Sesame, with saxophonist Tina Brooks, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Clifford Jarvis. Hubbard recorded his second album, Goin' Up, with saxophonist Hank Mobley and a rhythm section consisting of Tyner, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones. His third album, Hub Cap, featured trombonist Julian Priester and saxophonist Jimmy Heath. Then in May of 1961, Hubbard played on Ole Coltrane, John Coltrane's final recording session with Atlantic Records. Together with Eric Dolphy, Hubbard was the only "session" musician who appeared on both Ole and Africa Brass, Coltrane's first album with ABC/Impulse! Later, in August 1961, Hubbard made one of his most famous records, Ready For Freddie, which was also his first collaboration with saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Hubbard would join Shorter later in 1961 when he replaced Lee Morgan in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Hubbard remained with Blakey until 1966, leaving to form the first of several small groups of his own, which featured, among others, pianist Kenny Barron and drummer Louis Hayes.

It was during this time that he began to develop his own sound, distancing himself from the early influences of Clifford Brown and Morgan, and won the Downbeat jazz magazine "New Star" award on trumpet.

Throughout the 1960s Hubbard played as a sideman on some of the most important albums from that era, including, Oliver Nelson's The Blues and the Abstract Truth, Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage, and Wayne Shorter's Speak No Evil. He recorded extensively for Blue Note Records in the late 1950s and 1960s: eight albums as a bandleader, and twenty-eight as a sideman. free jazz of the '60s, he appeared on several landmark albums in the genre: Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz, Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch, and John Coltrane's Ascension. Though Hubbard never fully embraced the free jazz of the '60s, he appeared on several landmark albums in the genre: Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz, Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch, and John Coltrane's Ascension.

Hubbard achieved his greatest popular success in the 1970s with a series of albums for Creed Taylor and his record label CTI Records. Although his early 1970s jazz albums Red Clay, First Light, Straight Life, and Sky Dive were particularly well received and considered among his best work, the albums he recorded later in the decade were bashed by critics for their commercialism. First Light won a 1972 Grammy Award and included pianists Herbie Hancock and Richard Wyands, guitarists Eric Gale and George Benson, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Jack DeJohnette, and percussionist Airto Moreira. In 1994, Freddie, collaborating with Chicago jazz vocalist/co-writer Catherine Whitney, had lyrics set to the music of First Light.

During 1970-1974 Hubbard was the biggest star of the CTI label, overshadowing Stanley Turrentine, Hubert Laws, and George Benson. Columbia's VSOP: The Quintet, album was recorded from two live performances, one at the Hearst Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, on July 16, 1977, the other at the San Diego Civic Theatre, July 18, 1977. Musicians joining the trumpeter for this landmark performance were the members of the mid-sixties line-up of the Miles Davis Quintet (except the leader): Herbie Hancock on keyboards, Tony Williams on drums, Ron Carter on bass, and Wayne Shorter on tenor and soprano saxophones.

In the 1980s Hubbard was again leading his own jazz group, attracting very favorable notices for his playing at concerts and festivals in the USA and Europe, often in the company of Joe Henderson, playing a repertory of hard-bop and modal-jazz pieces. Hubbard played at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival in 1980 and in 1989 (with Bobby Hutcherson). He played with Woody Shaw, recording with him in 1985, and two years later recorded Stardust with Benny Golson. In 1988 he teamed up once more with Blakey at an engagement in Holland, from which came Feel The Wind. In 1990 he appeared in Japan headlining an American-Japanese concert package which also featured Elvin Jones, Sonny Fortune, pianists George Duke and Benny Green, bass players Ron Carter, and Rufus Reid, with jazz and popular music singer Salena Jones. He also performed at the Warsaw Jazz Festival at which Live At The Warsaw Jazz Festival (Jazzmen 1992) was recorded.

Following a long setback of health problems and a serious lip injury in 1992 where he ruptured his upper lip and subsequently developed an infection, Hubbard is again playing and recording occasionally, even if not at the high level that he set for himself during his earlier career. His best records rank with the finest in his field.

Discography

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Year	Title	Notes	Label	Billboard
1992	Live at Fat Tuesday	Jazz	Music Masters	# -
1991	Bolivia	Jazz	Music Masters	# -
1989	Times Are Changin'	Jazz	Blue Note	# -
1982	Ride Like the Wind	Jazz	Elektra/Asylum Records	# -
1981	Outpost	Kenny Barron, Al Foster, Buster Williams	Enja Records	# -
1980	Skagly	Jazz	Columbia	# -
1979	The Love Connection	Jazz	Columbia	# -
1978	Super Blue	Jazz	Columbia	#131
1977	Bundle of Joy	Jazz	Columbia	#149
1976	Windjammer	Jazz	CTI	#85
1975	Polar AC	Jazz	CTI	#167
1975	Liquid Love	Jazz	Columbia	#149
1974	Keep Your Soul Together	Jazz	Columbia	#186
1974	High Energy	Jazz	Columbia	#153
1974	Freddie Hubbard/Stanley Turrentine in Concert	Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette	CTI	-
1973	Sky Dive	Jazz	CTI	#165
1971	First Light	Jazz	CTI	-
1971	Sing Me a Song of Songmy	Experimental	Atlantic	-
1970	Straight Life	Hard bop, Fusion	CTI	-
1970	Red Clay	Hard bop, Fusion	CTI	-
1970	The Black Angel	Hard bop	Atlantic	-
1969	The Hub of Hubbard	Jazz	MPS/BASF	-
1969	A Soul Experiment	Soul Jazz	Atlanic	-
1968	High Blues Pressure	Hard bop	Atlantic	-
1966	Backlash	Hard bop, Avant-garde	Atlantic	-
1965	Speak No Evil	Hard bop, with Wayne Shorter	Blue Note	-
1965	Blue Spirits	Post-bop, Hard bop	Blue Note	-
1964	Breaking Point	Post-bop, Hard bop	Blue Note	-
1963	The Body & the Soul	Post-bop, Hard bop	Impulse!	-
1962	Hub-Tones	Post-bop, Hard bop	Blue Note	-
1962	The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard	Post-bop, Hard bop	Impulse!	-
1962	Caravan	Hard bop	Impulse!	-
1961	Ready for Freddie	Hard bop	Blue Note	-
1961	Minor Mishap	Hard bop	Black Lion	-
1961	Here to Stay	Hard bop	Blue Note	-
1961	Hub Cap	Hard bop	Blue Note	-
1960	Ballads	Bop	Blue Note	-
1960	Goin' Up	Hard bop	Blue Note	-
1960	Open Sesame	Hard bop	Blue Note	-