Freddie Hubbard
Reissues
Reviewed by Jay Trachtenberg, Fri., Dec. 18, 2009
Freddie Hubbard
Without a Song: Live in Europe 1969 (Blue Note)As Louis Armstrong was to the 1920s, Roy Eldridge to the 1930s, Dizzy Gillespie to the 1940s, and Miles Davis and Clifford Brown to the 1950s, so Freddie Hubbard was the thrilling young trumpet star of the 1960s. He's captured here in peak form from three different European dates with an all-star quartet, including the hugely underrated pianist Roland Hanna, former Miles bassist Ron Carter, and superlative drummer Louis Hayes (seen recently in Austin with Javon Jackson). With his rich, fat tone and blazing technique, Hubbard smokes through previously unreleased performances of Dizzy's bebop cooker "A Night in Tunisia"; the lovely, evergreen ballad "Body and Soul"; and Dallasite Red Garland's obscure "Blues by Five." "Space Track," with its nod to the avant-garde, recalls Hubbard's work on Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz and John Coltrane's Ascension, two landmark "free" sessions from earlier in the decade. Without a Song is 40 years in coming, but well worth the wait.
