Customer Reviews

Backlash

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Let's put it this way: I didn't listen to jazz until I heard this album. All of the songs are awesome, but the first 3 especially stand out. "Backlash" and "Return of the Prodigal Son" are more akin to rock songs played with jazz insturments; both are uptempo and funky, with catchy melodies that I can't get out of my head. "Little Sunflower" just unreal, it puts you in a mellow vibe without being boring in the slightest. The other 3 songs are great, too. Musically, "Up on Que-Tee" is absolutely insane, and really proves that the band members are world-class musicians, but without a lot of gratuitous showing-off. Definately check this album out!

Freddie Hubbard is a legendary player and this is a nice effort. Songs like "Backlash" have a funky, laid-back feel to them, laced by nice piano and of course Freddie's amazing trumpet playing. My favorite track on here is definitely "On The Que-Tee", which is a classic uptempo track with a great theme. Also, "Little Sunflower" has a nice, laid-back feel to it, but as the other reviewer mentioned it won't bore you. A great album for a laid-back listener. "Echoes Of Blue" is also a great way to end the album, it's a slower song as well, and has more of a funky feel to it than the rest of the songs. There are also some flutes in this song. It's really a shame that Freddie Hubbard is no longer able to play (he blew out his upper lip from playing too much in 1992) because he was definitely one of the most talented jazz trumpet players. His range is outstanding. This record is worth buying for sure, there are not many trumpet players in jazz with Freddie's technical ability.

Freddie Hubbard's "Backlash" was originally recorded for Atlantic Records, but has been licensed to and reissued by the Koch label. Koch seems to specialize in putting out major label jazz on CD that the big boys don't want to touch because it won't sell well. (For another great Koch release, see my review of Johnny Coles' "The Warm Sound.") Hubbard left Blue Note in 1966 for a stint at Atlantic, before his successful run at CTI in the 70s. "Backlash" gives us a glimpse at the future lighter-side of Hubbard, with its calculated solos, and funky predictable riffs. It's almost as if this session is a conservative "Backlash" after the increasingly liberal, free-form experiments he made at Blue Note. (His last Blue Note album, "Blue Spirits" was a delightful combination of funky Sidewinder-like grooves, cranking Coltrane-esque post bop, and wild experimental avant-garde jazz, but sadly it is now out of print on CD.) Those who like Hubbard's CTI recordings will enjoy this effort, but those who adore his Blue Notes will be disappointed.

This was one of my favorite albums when I was approaching high school. I still remember playing "On The Que-Tee" and enjoying it, and Freddie did some great stuff with the song. He also experiments with some funk on "Backlash" and "Return Of The Prodigal Son", where his solos sound great. Also, the beautiful ballads "Little Sunflower" and "Echoes Of Blue" are great, even though for some reason the former has been run into the ground by high school jazz bands everywhere (which has ruined the song for me sadly). The latter is just laid-back jazz at its finest. Freddie Hubbard was one of the greatest technicians to ever pick up the trumpet, and this album will help prove why. He just tears right through "On The Que-Tee" with a great drum solo from Otis Ray Appleton at the beginning. James Spaulding plays some great saxophone work on here, and also does a great job on flute on a few of the songs, especially on "Echoes Of Blue" and "Up Jumped Spring" (another Hubbard classic that became one of his most played standards). Albert Daily does a great job on piano, playing in the perfect style for each song. Fans of trumpet will definitely enjoy this one. This is one of Freddie's best efforts, in my opinion. It's really a shame what happened to him, but he's coming back! Let's continue to wish FH all the best.

I had not been a huge Freddie Hubbard fan, and only owned Red Clay before this album. As much as I liked that album, I am still a relative newbie to jazz, so had been exploring an array of individuals with their "best" albums rather than piling up on an individual artist (except Miles Davis). This album came about accidentally as I saw it cheaply in MP3 format here. Listening to a few samples, I was pleasantly surprised by just how good this otherwise "forgotten" album sounded in its snippets.

I took a chance and found that this album is even better than the samples, and for me I like it even better than Red Clay.

Now I am not a jazz expert, and I've seen criticism that this album isn't adventurous, conservative, etc, and I won't disagree. However, I think a big part of it is that the album is so good that it has a broad appeal that might be considered "safe". While, that may be true, the songs and album are great to listen to. They have melodies that remind me of the hits one would hear from Brubeck or Monk, and the only criticism in that is that it isn't typical Freddie Hubbard. Then again, there are plenty of other Freddie Hubbard albums, and this one sounds good in its own right and amongst many other great jazz albums.

This CD presents the great Backlash album perfectly. Freddie Hubbard's smooth style is probably best heard on "Little Sunflower". A smooth and haunting piece of music.

While I don't think this is jazz epoch one has to give Hubbard credit for a solid effort during the height of the fusion "craze" (and crazy is what it was").Other than "Sunflower" there aren't that many well known tunes but it was a solid LP with a fine group in era when that was rare.

Cheers

Chazz