Customer Reviews

Hub Cap

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Freddie Hubbard's "Hub Cap" was originally released on CD domestically in the late 80s, and tragically and undeservedly deleted shortly thereafter by bean counters at Blue Note/Capitol. Well intelligent minds have finally prevailed because "Hub Cap" is back in print as part of the RVG series. Recorded in 1961 when Freddie's Jazz Messenger stint was just beginning, "Hub Cap" features a sextet just like Art's band did. On this recording it is Julian Priester on trombone and Jimmy Heath on tenor sax (both in rare Blue Note appearances), backed by the rhythm trio of Cedar Walton on piano, Larry Ridley on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. The standout tunes are the title track, Randy Weston's "Cry Me Not" and fellow-Messenger Walton's "Plexus," which will make an encore appearance on Blakey's "Three Blind Mice, Volume 1" (see my review of that title). With remastered sound, new liner notes, and rare Francis Wolff photos, "Hub Cap" is now more golden than ever.

When I bought this cd, the night before my 13th birthday, in the summer of 2003, I knew practically nothing about Freddie Hubbard's music, and his playing. I only had a couple of tracks with him playing trumpet on the Art Blakey Ken Burns disk. I mainly bought this disk for the appearence of drummer Philly Joe Jones. But now as I listen to this, like this morning on the way to classes, I pay attention to Hubbard's playing and the arrangements on this disk. This is hard bop, with taste, due to Philly Joe on drums. Complimenting Freddie's hard bop style is Jimmy Heath on tenor sax, Julian Priester on trombone, Cedar Walton on piano, Larry Ridley on bass, and of course Philly Joe Jones on drums. The arrangements are courtesy of Melba Liston, (who's trombone playing in Dizzy Gillespie's band was epivitol,) and Randy Weston, who penned the classic, "I Should Care." Note: These two do not play on the album.

The album opens with the haunting, Hub Cap. These arrangements are way ahead of its time. These arrangements sound like arrangements from 1965 at the very least, and here they are, in 1961. This just goes to show how talented the arrangers are. The ballad, Cry Me Not. This is an interesting piece. Not a love ballad, by any means. Very progressive. This album is dark, complex, and revolutionary. The hip groove of "Luana" is up next. Philly Joe's backing behind Larry Ridley's bass solo, should be taken note of. Also, his solo is ever so creative. For a more straight ahead approach, the group grooves on the soulful strut of "Osie Mae." Philly just makes this piece swing! Probaly the top three Blue Note trumpet players of this time were Lee Morgan, Donald Byrd, and Freddie Hubbard. Though I wouldn't call Hubbard the greatest, (Lee Morgan recieves that roll, imo) he sure was talented. His talents are featured on the two remaining tracks, Plexus and Earmon Jr. The RVG edition features an alternate take of Plexus. It's easy to tell why this one was chosen not to be included as the master take. Philly's solo is choppy, and Freddie just goes back to the melody, clearly not letting Jones finish his solo, as it sounds he interupts him in the climax of his solo.

This is a master album! It deserves more credit. It really features some nice playing and great arrangements. As I stare at the liner notes of this disk, I just think to myself, what a great album this is. If you haven't heard this cut, pick it up and give it your full attention.

Freddie Hubbard, Hub Cap.

The theme of this Hubbard album, besides intensity, is minor keys. The first track "Hub Cap" is a fast number which is in a minor key. It is a typical hardbop progression with an intense charged feeling. Phily Joe Jones somewhat takes the role of Art Blakey yet it seems that I have always been able to distinguish the two drummers styles.

"Cry me Not" is a great composition by the pianist/composer Randy Weston. Trombonist Melba Liston does a great job at arranging it, I'd say its one of the best ballad arrangments out there.

Most of tunes are by Hubbard except for "Plexus" which Cedar Walton contributed and "Cry me not".

Most of the material here is typical hardbop stuff. The fact that it is a sextet makes much more interesting than the usual quintet. The sound is bigger and more forceful plus you can harmonize the voices in different ways.

Hubbard, Heath, and Walton solo in top notch form, Julian Priester isn't as much a soloist as he is a just a session player.

"Open Sesame" was an excellent start for Hubbard yet I think he really used his composing and arranging skills more during this session.

If you are into Blakey and the Messengers, Mingus, or Horace Silver, then you will dig this.

Freddie Hubbard's tenure as a leader on Blue Note Records (1960-1965) is his most preferred period for most jazz fans. Such a stretch featured him at the peak of his creative and trumpet-playing powers: the classic burnished tone (thousands have imitated that vibrato; none have succeeded), machine-gun tenacity of multi-note runs, and his amazingly mature harmonic and melodic statements in embellishing a melody or blowing several choruses of his favorite chord changes.

"Hub-Cap," one of a laughably many plays on his last name (you would too, if the word "Hub" was in your name!), is not a legendary album by any means. The AMG remarks that Hubbard sticks to his "tried-and-true hard bop formula," which is a yes and no. This album was recorded in one day and only has one alternate take - but that is a testament more to the group's excellence rather than the property of its music as a blowing session. Julian Priester and Jimmy Heath are brought in to add to Hubbard's already-rich cauldron of sonorities, and the group's size as a sextet is what boosts it from an everyday wall-blower to more of an actual jazz unit with sincerely and heartfelt played music.

Hubbard was still relatively new to the scene in 1961, and it's fortunate that Alfred Lion had the foresight to record him so often. Freddie had a message for the jazz world: "I'm not just another firebrand that's going to mow down standard after standard for you - I'm going to write my own compositions, while featuring another striking original composition by my brilliant pianist, Cedar Walton." Perhaps that wasn't his specific message - but the focus on originality and polish are what make this album such an important stepping stone in Hubbard's journeying career. He didn't start out by merely churning out above-average material after above-average material - he exploded onto the scene with more and more original music. "Plexus," an extremely angular and intense cooker, was also featured in albums by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, which of course, Hubbard and Walton were in at the time.

Only one minor thing detracts from the album's perfection. Hubbard is a step below his normal standard of crispness - which is still what almost every trumpet player in the world would have begged to achieve, but the listener gets so spoiled by his absolutely dazzling solos on albums like "Open Sesame" and "Goin' Up" that the high expectations continue to rise. The problem is that his compositions involve so many notes, giving him few opportunities to rest his lips during the melody statement, that by the time he gets to his improvisations, he has depleted much of his energy. This is a common mistake that many trumpet players make in jazz (myself guilty as well) and it is most noticeable on his solo on "Plexus." The notes just aren't as brash and perfectly executed as you would expect from a Hubbard solo, and all the blowing he did in the melody statements was probably a prime reason. He still lights up the studio, anyway.

Now, here's a note about the playing of Jimmy Heath. For some reason, critics call him the "weak link" or a "junior varsity saxophone player" on reviews of albums he appears on. I'm a personal fan of Jimmy Heath's playing, since his sound is very warm and kindling and his melodic runs continue to climb while maintaining harmonic direction. He's called "Little Bird" by many fans, but his tenor playing barely resembles that of Charlie Parker, leaning more towards a velvety version of Sonny Rollins' virtuosity. Listen to Heath's playing on "Osie Mae," in which he executes impeccable sixteenth note runs, yet always ends the notes with that beautiful vibrato.

The album opens in exciting fashion with a quasi-feature for one of Hubbard's favorite drummers, Philly Joe Jones. This is similar to "Here to Stay," which opens with the aptly titled "Philly Mignon." This song is far from run of the mill, being an up-tempo romp mainly in Bb minor with several bombs dropped by Jones. "Cry Me Not" gives Hubbard the opportunity to find the center of his absolutely gorgeous trumpet tone. This ballad has no improvisations, but rather is a great arrangement exploiting the expanded palette of the sextet. "Luana" is definitely not something jazz fans haven't heard before - a melody that uses a Latin feel before breaking into a swing for solos. "Osie Mae" is one of Hubbard's more revered compositions, embraced for its perfectly addictive shuffle feel and three-part horn arrangement resembling of the Jazz Messengers. "Plexus," written by Walton, also is a classic composition out of the Jazz Messengers songbook, featured on the albums "Three Blind Mice" and "Mosaic." An alternate take is provided, but Hubbard seems to be running into fatigue in his solo. Finally, "Earmon Jr." is a minor blues as in-the-pocket as they come, featuring a straight four swing feel with an alternate turnaround at the end to keep things interesting harmonically.

Freddie Hubbard wandered through many roads during his legendary career, stopping each night at what dwelling of imaginative jazz style he might chance upon, were it an intimate Van Gelder living room or stage of Carnegie Hall, about the hour of eve at the kindling of creative candles. "Hub-Cap" boasts his desires of new sights and heart of an explorer and is not to be missed.

kc

Freddie Hubbard's "Hub Cap" was originally released on CD domestically in the late 80s, and tragically and undeservedly deleted shortly thereafter by bean counters at Blue Note/Capitol. This disc is a prime candidate for reissue in the domestic RVG series, but until that happens (if ever) this import version will have to do. The only thing missing from the import that was on the domestic title is an alternate take of "Plexus." Otherwise, it's the same classic album. Recorded in 1961 when Freddie's Jazz Messenger stint was just beginning, "Hub Cap" features a sextet just like Art's band did. On this recording it is Julian Priester on trombone and Jimmy Heath on tenor sax (both in rare Blue Note appearances), backed by the rhythm trio of Cedar Walton on piano, Larry Ridley on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. The standout tunes are the title track, Randy Weston's "Cry Me Not" and fellow-Messenger Walton's "Plexus," which will make an encore appearance on Blakey's "Three Blind Mice, Volume 1" (see my review of that title). Because of the high price of this import version of "Hub Cap," you may want to wait and see if it comes out in the RVG series stateside. But if you don't want to wait, or don't want to risk it since this import is a limited edition too, you will get your money's worth with the golden "Hub Cap."

This is an enjoyable hard bop CD, with good melodies and good solos. The most interesting solos come from trombonist Julian Priester. When I heard the rhythmic manipulations he places against Philly Joe Jones's drumming, I double checked the date the CD was recorded - 1961. Priester was certainly ahead of his time, as he makes subtle changes to the rhythm and sometimes flips it around entirely. Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard's playing is interesting, too - he plays such inventive bop lines. I always enjoy Philly Joe Jones's drumming - he is my favorite pre-Elvin drummer. I am less satisfied with saxophonist Jimmy Heath's playing - his playing seems so "square" compared to what Priester is doing. Both in the literal sense that he does not really swing very much (which is fine with me - Wayne Shorter was doing excellent non-swinging work at this point) but also that there is no melodic or rhythmic inventiveness. Cedar Walton's piano playing is somewhere in between - it is interesting to listen to, but ultimately not as inventive as that of Hubbard or Priester.

All in all, certainly a CD worth buying.

I'm just starting to appreciate Freddie Hubbard, I guess I came at it through the back door, by starting with Red Clay and some of his more adventerous work.

But once I flipped through my Herbie Hancock box set book to see who was playing on all those records, I knew I needed a few Freddie title of my own.

Hub Cap is nice, but does't seem to offer anything really outside of the hard-bop style. If it wasn't for the drummer you would almost think this is an Art Blakey record. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I just would've liked to heard more variety from Freddie.

Maybe on some of his other releases?