Pois é: lendo o comentário do amigo Roberto Scardua, que conheci durante um show no clube Iridium, em New York, resolvi dar um pulo no site e verificar o que está rolando por lá. Nada mais, nada menos, que Freddie Hubbard! Com ele só gente fraquinha: James Spalding (as), Christian McBride (b), Ronnie Matthews (p), Louis Hayes (d), Javon Jackson (ts), Slide Hampton (tb), Curtis Fuller (tb), George Cables (p), Dwayne Brune (b), Joe Chambers (d), Craig Handy (ts) e Steve Davis (tb). É... Para os amigos navegantes, deixo a faixa The Intrepid Fox, gravada ao vivo em 1981 no Keystone Korner, em San Francisco. Abaixo, resenha do Iridium sobre a coisa toda. A senha para acesso à faixa é a de sempre: jazzseen.
One of the great jazz trumpeters of all time, Freddie Hubbard formed his sound out of the Clifford Brown/Lee Morgan tradition, and by the early '70s was immediately distinctive and the pacesetter in jazz. Born and raised in Indianapolis, Hubbard played early on with Wes and Monk Montgomery. He moved to New York in 1958, roomed with Eric Dolphy (with whom he recorded in 1960), and was in the groups of Philly Joe Jones (1958-1959), Sonny Rollins, Slide Hampton, and J.J. Johnson, before touring Europe with Quincy Jones (1960-1961). He recorded with John Coltrane, participated in Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz (1960), was on Oliver Nelson's classic Blues and the Abstract Truth album (highlighted by "Stolen Moments"), and started recording as a leader for Blue Note that same year. Hubbard gained fame playing with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (1961-1964) next to Wayne Shorter and Curtis Fuller. He recorded Ascension with Coltrane (1965), Out to Lunch (1964) with Eric Dolphy, and Maiden Voyage with Herbie Hancock, and, after a period with Max Roach (1965-1966), he led his own quintet, which at the time usually featured altoist James Spaulding. A blazing trumpeter with a beautiful tone on flügelhorn, Hubbard fared well in freer settings but was always essentially a hard bop stylist. In 1970, Freddie Hubbard recorded two of his finest albums (Red Clay and Straight Life) for CTI. The follow-up, First Light (1971), was actually his most popular date, featuring Don Sebesky arrangements. In 1977, he toured with Herbie Hancock's acoustic V.S.O.P. Quintet and, in the 1980s, on recordings for Pablo, Blue Note, and Atlantic, he showed why he is clearly one of jazz’s living legends.This week he is joined by a steller cast of musicians who will make this week very special!