Players - Downbeat

When Hubbard moved to New York in 1958,
he immediately turned heads. Spaulding met up
with him in Brooklyn, in Slide Hampton’s building
and upstairs from Dolphy’s apartment. “I
remember going with Freddie to Birdland once
and Lee Morgan was playing,” Spaulding said.
“He told me to go ahead and play with him. My
knees were shaking. I was shy, but Freddie was
outspoken. I was nervous, but Freddie’s talent
was so huge that he would join right in.”
One of Hubbard’s first major stops after gigs
Last Goodbyes
California Funeral
Even though hearts were heavy,
the music-filled Jan. 6 Freddie
Hubbard funeral at the Faithful
Central Bible Church in Inglewood,
Calif., was filled with joy, love and
respect for the trumpeter’s accomplishments.
George Duke, who knew Hubbard
since his days with Cannonball
Adderley, said at the funeral,
30 DOWNBEAT April 2009
with Rollins, Hampton, J.J. Johnson and Quincy
Jones was with Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in
1961. Even though he had already embarked on
his own Blue Note recording stint (beginning in
1960 and continuing through 1966, with
Impulse! dates scattered in), Hubbard stayed in
Blakey’s employ until 1964. It was here that his
compositional brilliance was showcased.
Cedar Walton joined the Messengers on the
same day Hubbard did, after Morgan and pianist
Bobby Timmons left the group to pursue their
“Freddie was a nut, but could he play that horn. He was the perfect synthesis between
technique and great tone, and the horn was an extension of him.”
Many who knew Hubbard had stories to share. Phil Ranelin grew up in Indianapolis, and
he related stories that dated back to his childhood friendship with Hubbard. Bennie Maupin
and Herbie Hancock shared stories about how playing and creating music with Hubbard
brought peace and equilibrium to the musical equation.
To end the service, an ensemble assembled to shine the last ray of sun on a beautiful
flower: Patrice Rushen, Christian McBride, Carl Allen, Ranelin, David Weiss, Javon Jackson,
Hubert Laws and Stevie Wonder serenaded Hub with “Little Sunflower.” —LeRoy Downs
Phil Ranelin, Bill Saxton,
Eddie Henderson and TC III
EARL GIBSON
Hubert Laws, Stevie Wonder,
Javon Jackson, Phil Ranelin and David Weiss
Harlem Memorial
Not until Eddie Henderson, Jeremy
Pelt and Terell Stafford stood in
front of a driving rhythm section at
Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church
was Freddie Hubbard’s impact
delivered. The three trumpeters personified
the power, melodic imagination,
and clean technique and virtuosity
of the late trumpeter.
The Jan. 10 memorial had a turnout that looked like living pages from the New Grove
Encyclopedia Of Jazz. Randy Weston, Billy Harper, McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman, Buster
Williams, George Cables, Larry Ridley, Jack DeJohnette, Brian Lynch, Mike LeDonne, Louis
Hayes, Larry Willis, Melba Joyce, James Spaulding, Russell Malone, Lenny White, Alex
Blake and Javon Jackson were a few of the notables in attendance. “He was a remarkable
musician and human being,” Tyner said of Hubbard before offering a solo replete with
clusters of brilliant chords. Weston performed a duet with bassist Blake.
The seven ensembles at the memorial performed some of Hubbard’s most popular compositions,
including “Red Clay,” “First Light,” “Up Jumped Spring” and “Little Sunflower.”
When Pelt hit the first notes of “Red Clay,” the church’s pastor, Rev. Dr. Calvin Butts, III,
winced, perhaps worried about the ability of the old church to withstand such a forceful
sound. Pianist Willis was equally thunderous on his solo of “Little Sunflower,” giving
drummer Hayes and bassist Bob Cunningham their marching orders when vocalist TC III
and trombonist Phil Ranelin reprised the lovely melody.
The crowd also absorbed the music and the testimonials about Hubbard from his friends
and associates who grew up with him in Indianapolis. —Herb Boyd
RISASI DIAS
own band-leading goals. “Freddie and I were
Brooklyn residents and we used to play these
bar-and-bandstand gigs like Turbo Village,
which was a lot of fun,” Walton said.
“Somehow, Art Blakey heard us, and we joined
him, which was a great opportunity for us to
write music because Art didn’t write. So it was
me, Freddie and Wayne Shorter coming up with
music that Art encouraged us to compose. It
became like a family band, with everyone contributing.
Freddie was a great artist and a hell of
a composer.”
Walton recorded with Hubbard on his early
Blue Note albums (including Hub Cap and Here
To Stay, both recorded in 1961) and later
returned to the studio with him in 1991 for the
MusicMasters album Bolivia, which was to the
pianist “just a record session. It was hardly anything
else because by then Freddie had been well
into his own curriculum agenda.”
Another early associate of Hubbard’s was
drummer Louis Hayes, who was one of the first
musicians the trumpeter sought out when he
moved to Brooklyn. “We lived in the same
building,” said Hayes, who had come to New
York from Detroit two years earlier to play with
Horace Silver. “Freddie had heard me playing
on an album with trumpeter Wilbur Harden,
whose band included John Coltrane and Doug
Watkins. So when he arrived from Indianapolis,
he knocked on the window of my apartment.”
While they toured a lot, Hayes’ presence on
Hubbard’s recordings was minimal, he said, even
though they remained good friends for several
years. “After Miles, Dizzy and Clifford Brown,
Freddie was the most influential trumpeter,”
Hayes said. “Even up to the last time I saw him
perform at the Iridium in New York recently,
people came to see him. What was so magnificent
and powerful about his playing was his
sense of time. It was always a challenge playing
drums with him, but it was also a joy. I’ve played
with a lot of the jazz giants, but with Freddie’s
facilities I could let myself go and be free.”
How does Shorter see Hubbard in comparison
to Miles Davis? While he praises Hubbard’s
ideas and brands him a virtuoso, he claimed that
Davis was more innovative as an artist. “It was
as if Miles wasn’t even playing a trumpet,”
Shorter said. “His instrument was more like a
spoken dialogue or like he was a painter using a
brush or a sculptor using a hammer and chisel.
Freddie was great, but Miles’ trumpet was a
sword like the Excalibur. His trumpet was a
bridge for carrying the scrolls across.”
Ron Carter also played with Hubbard over
the years, including on the trumpeter’s CTI
albums and with him on the V.S.O.P. tours and
albums (along with Tony Williams, Shorter and
Hancock). “Freddie didn’t understand how good
he was,” the bassist said. “In some ways, he felt
that he was always competing with Miles. Then
Wynton [Marsalis] came along and that felt like
competition. He was also insecure when it came
to the press. He didn’t feel like he got his full
worth. But, onstage, Freddie was one of a kind. I