FREDDIE HUBBARD – On The Real Side (Times Square)
Freddie Hubbard kehrt nach langer musikalischer Abwesenheit mit einem neuen Album zurück. Nach seinem gesundheitsbedingten Umstieg aufs Flügelhorn kehrt er wieder zu alten Qualitäten zurück.
all about Jazz
Freddie Hubbard Returns to the Scene with „On the Real Side“
The Hub is back. To herald Freddie Hubbard’s triumphant return to the scene, at age 70, Times Square Records will nationally release on June 24 On The Real Side, his first outing as a leader in seven years. Again backed by The New Jazz Composers Octet, which accompanied the iconic trumpeter on his 2001 release New Colors, Hubbard revisits some of his own classic tunes from yesteryear, ambitiously re-arranged by trumpeter David Weiss, trombonist Steve Davis and bassist Dwayne Burno of the NJCO. And while Hubbard finds himself unable to play for long stretches these days – the result of a split lip that became infected when he refused to curtail a series of engagements during the ’90s – he exudes plenty of soul on “SkyDive, “ “Gibraltar, “ the hard boppish “Life Flight, “ the uptempo blues “Theme For Kareem, “ the rhythmically intricate “Take It To The Ozone“ and his most frequently covered number, the lyrical waltz-time vehicle “Up Jumped Spring.“ Hubbard also contributes one new original, the loping soul-jazz number “On The Real Side, “ which features guest guitarist Russell Malone.Freddie again plays flugelhorn exclusively throughout On The Real Side, as he did on New Colors. And while the dazzling speed, stunning high note facility and uncanny endurance may be diminished, the phrasing is still quintessentially Hubbard. “I can’t expect myself to play like I was when I was 30, “ he says. “Sometimes I want to bash it, play hard, but you can’t do it. I have come to the realization as to what I can do now…play a couple of choruses and get out.“
At the peak of his powers, no trumpeter on the planet played longer, higher, and faster than Freddie Hubbard, and no one exuded as much confidence and swagger on the bandstand as he did on a nightly basis. The list of sessions that he played on during a golden period of jazz from 1960 to 1965 contains several classic recordings: Art Blakey & The Jazz Messenger’s Free For All, Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz, Eric Dolphy’s Out To Lunch, Oliver Nelson’s Blues and the Abstract Truth, John Coltrane’s Ascension, Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage and Empyrean Isles, Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil, Max Roach’s Drums Unlimited. Add to this prodigious output Hubbard’s playing on a string of important Blue Note recordings by the likes of Hank Mobley, Lou Donaldson, Jackie McLean, Dexter Gordon, Tina Brooks, Duke Pearson, Sam Rivers, Bobby Hutcherson and Andrew Hill, along with his own impressive dates as a leader for Blue Note and Atlantic in the ’60s and CTI in the ’70s, and it’s easy to see why Hubbard is regarded today as part of trumpet royalty.
Decades of Herculean trumpet work have taken their toll on Freddie’s chops. In late 1992 his top lip popped and later became infected. A biopsy was taken and cancer was ruled out, but Hubbard was left with upper lip tissue so sore he was unable to play with the same slashing attack and killer abandon he was famous for. “It’s really something when you lose your chops like that, “ says Hubbard. “You feel like a motherless child. You can’t do it like you used to. But now I’m at that age when I have to think more about what I’m going play instead of just running all over the horn. You gotta play with your soul instead of your chops.“
Hubbard admits there was a time period during the ’90s when he was so frustrated that he was ready to give it all up, content to never play trumpet again and just live off his royalties. But he was coaxed back onto the scene by The New Jazz Composer Octet’s trumpeter and arranger David Weiss, who gave the jazz elder a new lease on life. “David saved me, man, “ says Hubbard. “He really encouraged me to play again. I wanted to give up but David told me, ‚There ain’t nobody left from your era except you. So you must be here for some reason.‘ So the cat inspires me to go ahead and do something. He’s arranging my music, keeping me alive out here. And he also got me to warm up the horn with long tones before playing it. Back in the day, I used to just pick up it up and start blowing like crazy. But I’ve learned that the trumpet is like a car in the winter. You can’t just jump in it and drive off. You gotta warm it up first.“
Hubbard adds that he’s been very encouraged by the response from audiences at his recent gigs with The New Jazz Composers Octet. “People have been showing me a lot of love since I’ve been back. That makes you want to keep going.“ Along with hip and ongoing lip problems, Hubbard has also suffered a series of physical setbacks over the years. He’s recently had surgery for a pinched nerve in his neck, had a non-cancerous growth taken out of his lung and a few years back suffered congestive heart failure. But he’s a survivor. And with The New Jazz Composers Octet in his corner, he’s determined to carry on playing. On The Real Side represents another step on the comeback trail for the jazz trumpet great.
The Telegraph
Freddie Hubbard: back to brillianceInjury-hit trumpeter Freddie Hubbard returns with a new sound, finds Martin Gayford
‚I’ve experienced a lot,“ reflects Freddie Hubbard, „and I’m very happy still to be alive and to appreciate this music.“
Indeed, he’s been through the most extreme highs and lows a trumpeter can experience. No brass virtuoso in jazz has played with such swagger and dash, and it’s hard to think of another performer who has appeared on as many celebrated recordings.
But in 1992, the worst thing possible, musically, happened to Hubbard: he lost his ability to play. One night in Philadelphia, he split his lip while warming up. Ignoring the problem, he carried on to play a week at a New York jazz club, then flew to Europe to perform with a big band. At that stage, he realised his lip was badly infected; the problem got so serious he ended up having a biopsy for cancer (at which point he started thinking maybe it was time to get a day job).
There was no malignancy, but he was left virtually unable to blow his horn. „I couldn’t hit a note for a while back then,“ he recalls, „but now notes are starting to come.“ On a new recording with the New Jazz Composers Octet, On the Real Side, Hubbard makes a reappearance, but sounding very different: older (he is now 70), slower, deeper, more reflective, and playing flugelhorn, not trumpet.
Hubbard’s glory and his downfall were closely interlinked. Fifty years ago, when he had just arrived in New York, he met John Coltrane, who suggested they practise together. He then conceived the audacious idea of playing like Coltrane – with the same jet stream of notes and amazing stamina – but on his own instrument.
advertisementHe succeeded, and as a result became the most in demand of all the young trumpeters on the New York scene. Hubbard was right at the centre of what was happening. At one point, he roomed in the same house as Eric Dolphy in Brooklyn.
„That guy would be up early in the morning practising on all his instruments – flute, alto saxophone and bass clarinet. I mean, all day, starting at 8am. So I thought, somebody who loves music that much, he must be good.“
During the first half of the 1960s, at times it seemed there was scarcely an innovative new recording on which he did not appear. He recorded with Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman, Bill Evans, Eric Dolphy, Wayne Shorter, Art Blakey and Herbie Hancock. Sometimes he was making two albums a week.
He remains proud of what he played then. Of Hancock’s Maiden Voyage and Empyrean Isles – two jazz masterpieces from 1964 – Hubbard says: „Those were some of the records I played my best on.“
He feels the same about his appearances with Shorter from the same period. But he adds: „Some of that music was hard – I’d take it home and practise on it. For example, some of Wayne’s music didn’t mean that much to me at the time. You have to listen to it later to get the full significance. That record The All Seeing Eye I did with Wayne, I’ve just started listening to recently. I’d forgotten about it.“
There was so much radical musical thinking going on in those years, it seems, that Hubbard is still musing on it four decades later. He was one of the performers on Coleman’s ground-breaking Free Jazz from 1960 (which was exactly what the title claimed). But he is still puzzling over what they played that day: „When I next go to New York I’m going to stop by at Ornette Coleman’s house; he invited me over. Maybe I can really get into Ornette’s music then, because I’ll swear that all the time I played with him I didn’t really know what I was doing. Ornette is heavy.“
The way he blew the trumpet in those days was physically demanding. „I was taking a lot of chances when I was trying that stuff,“ says Hubbard. „It was taxing on the body.“
Now he’s grateful to the New Jazz Composers Octet, with whom this is his second recording. „Those guys helped me out a lot. I’m getting stronger as I go along, but those guys took up a lot of the slack for me.“
On the other hand, he also emphasises the value of tradition and experience. He recalls once appearing at the Albert Hall with a band of musicians – including the tenor saxophonist Ben Webster and pianist Earl Hines – decades older than he was then. „They were just floating along – it was the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life. I felt like a baby, playing with these guys. It brought tears to my eyes.
„When you’re young, you think you’re hot and your music is it. But I advise the younger cats to play with some older guys if they can because music has been around a long time.“
--
Hey man, why don't we make a tune... just playin' the melody, not play the solos...