Pinnacle: Live & Unreleased from Keystone Korner
| Pinnacle: Live & Unreleased from Keystone Korner | ||||
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| Live album by Freddie Hubbard | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Resonance Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
7th |
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running time |
1:04:20 |
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David Weiss, Zev Feldman, George Klabin, Todd Barkan |
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Studio (s) |
Keystone Korner, San Francisco |
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Pinnacle: Live & Unreleased from Keystone Korner is a jazz album by Freddie Hubbard that was recorded 1979–1980 at the Keystone Korner jazz club in San Francisco . The recordings on which the trumpeter played with sidemen such as Billy Childs , Larry Klein and Phil Ranelin were initially unpublished and were released on June 14, 2011 by Resonance Records .
background
1980 was a very important time for Freddie Hubbard, wrote Will Layman. “That said, he hadn't released any good new music in a long time, but he was still a great artist.” That year, the last of his mostly unfortunate Columbia albums were released (this major label signed him in 1974, to which Time when his jazz trumpet star Miles Davis got into a self-imposed phase of withdrawal). Miles was back with Columbia in 1981, and Hubbard - who had done little to earn Columbia's trust - was no longer in demand. “After 1980, Freddie Hubbard continued to play brilliantly for a while, but his brave, tough play took a toll. He suffered a stroke and infected his lip in 1992, and his art has never been the same. In 2008 he fell ill with heart disease and suffered financially and otherwise in his later years. "
Editor's note
The recording comes from the personal archive of the club owner Todd Barkan . In the liner notes, the album contains reminder texts of some of the musicians involved and pictures by Kathy Sloane, who has photographed for years at Keystone Korner, is also attractively presented,
Track list
- Freddie Hubbard: Pinnacle: Live & Unreleased from Keystone Korner (Resonance Records - HCD-2007)
- The Intrepid Fox 8:02
- First Light 10:13
- One Of Another Kind 12:26
- Happiness Is Now 7:11
- The Summer Knows 8:28
- Blues for Duane 9:18
- Giant Steps (Coltrane) 8:45
reception
The recording from Freddie Hubbard's later years received consistently positive reviews in jazz critics, Marcus A. Woelfle ( Jazzzeitung ) praised the fact that he corrected the crooked picture that his recordings from this period had created; therefore “posthumous recordings from good days would be just right”. When Hubbard appeared in Keystone Korner in 1980, "he played unreservedly with the fire of a young man and the strength of an experienced, virtuoso professional in a state of inspired obsession". Pinnacle is "a seriously produced CD, [...] with which the recording quality also fits". Dave Toropov gave the album 4½ (out of 5) stars in Slant Magazine and said that on Pinnacle: Live & Unreleased by Keystone Korner , Hubbard was ecstatic, “in front of a band that always seems to be hiding in a telepathic funk groove [ ...] ". Even if these tapes had spent thirty years in archives, the performances on Pinnacle were “examples of great, confident jazz in the midst of a community-wide identity crisis: the musicality is bold. The playing is ecstatic, and the life Hubbard blows from his trumpet indicates the timelessness of the art form he carried through the chaotic years of jazz at the turn of the 1970s. ”While his fellow Miles Davis with his groundbreaking "new directions" in which electrically amplified music sparked controversy, "Hubbard found his unmistakable sound by creating a strong and swinging hybrid of soul and funk on the CTI label ."
“From that first exciting moment on, there is no tension hidden under the surface of this airy, effortlessly entertaining record. While Davis tried to struggle to a radical tonal limit with his compositions from the Bitches Brew era, Hubbard's compositions from this period were warm, inviting and melodically rich. The focus here is not on structural or conceptual boldness, but on the bridge between melody and improvisation , based on musicality and hearty doses of the soul, especially on 'First Light', the heart of an album full of star moments. When Hubbard and his quintet dive headlong into the subject of this song, one of six Hubbard originals in the collection, the small but delighted crowd breaks into an audible fit of joy. Larry Klein's resilient bass is the glue of the song, and its presence is the most important piece of the quintet's success outside of Hubbard. From the musician to the audience, the intimate and playful open atmosphere that resonates through this collection proves that there is not a single person on these recordings who does not influence the groove, ”says Toropov.
This groove is impossible to replicate, the author continues; he stands “unique to the brain and heart of Freddie Hubbard. When Pinnacle ends on a flaming rendition of John Coltrane's 'Giant Steps', the only known recording of the title by Hubbard, it appropriately points to the building blocks of modern jazz vocabulary and points to a future of genre cross-fertilization and stylistic reinvention. It's all quintessential Hubbard and it didn't have to be locked away for that long. "
Ken Dryden gave the album in Allmusic 4½ (out of 5) stars and mentees. Freddie Hubbard, who is considered by many to be one of the best jazz trumpeters , had during these live performances, which he performed with two different groups on several evenings in 1980 Keystone Kornert, on a career segment. Hubbard's playing posture is evident in a powerful performance of his "The Intrepid Fox" (which includes trombonist Phil Ranelin and tenor saxophonist David Schnitter ). Pianist Childs switched to Fender Rhodes for Hubbard's driving bossa nova track "First Light," while "Happiness Is Now" was a funky affair. Hubbard would have been underestimated as a ballad interpreter, says Dryden, although his poignant take on Michel Legrand's "The Summer Knows" (from the movie Summer of '42 ) is a brilliant showcase for him on the flugelhorn . "One of the great thrills" is Hubbard's first known recording of 'Giant Steps'. "The band leader tackled it with his sextet at a fast pace."
Andrew J. Sammut wrote in All About Jazz , with his album titles was Pinnacle ( dt. "Peak") category closer than the exaggeration. These seven previously unreleased tracks showed trumpeter and flugelhorn player Freddie Hubbard at the peak of his skills. "Blues for Duane", played at a medium tempo , shows the full range of Hubbard's technical and expressive abilities. “He enters quietly, but authoritarian, and practically steps over the solo of pianist Billy Childs.” The rhythm section of Childs, Larry Klein on bass and Eddie Marshall on drums accompany him every step of the way - and also feel when they leave Hubbard Must go away. With even more blues feeling, he goes back to the original tempo and closes after he has really "told a story" and not just built a solo. Hubbard lends a similar bow to the wistful "The Summer Knows"; at ballad pace he creates a mood and avoids simplistic, annoying effects, says Sammut.
In "One of Another Kind" Hubbard works with trills, fast repetitions and spiral patterns. Hadley Caliman's tenor saxophone also adds hard hits and metallic screams, and Childs' piano pushes and pulls against Klein's metronomic groves. The most indescribable thing about Hubbard's funky “Happiness Is Now” is to take the title of the composition to heart and deal with catchy descending figures. It enters and exits a lush lower register , combining the agility of the flugelhorn with the brassy resonance of a euphonium .
“Hubbard's speed, dynamism and creativity are always enveloped in his beautiful tone,” says the author; in fast or slow tempos, on the trumpet or flugelhorn, even the smallest details come out clearly and distinctly. And when Hubbard leans on a note, for example at the end of an effortless bop lick or the bitter fusion explosion of “First Light”, it is always an integral part and not just an ornament. This plush timbre softens the head start offered by “Childs” Fender Rhodes and Kyle's metallic bass on “First Light,” even when Hubbard uses it to frenzy his rhythm section. Of course, Hubbard also offers driving, uncomplicated bop motifs, for example in "The Intrepid Fox" and "Giant Steps". Hubbard started "Fox" with neat, melodic patterns and immediately changed things up with zig-zag-like angular phrases . From skipping intervals and high-note stuttering, to swapping topics with Childs, to juicy, simmering high-pitched notes, Hubbard drew relentless contrasts into a cohesive narrative.
"Giant Steps" indulge in long, uninterrupted sequences and dissolve John Coltrane's labyrinthine chord changes in a blazing tempo. As Klein explained in a documentary about the making of Pinnacle , Hubbard showed with "Giant Steps" what he could play on the trumpet and what many others could not play on the saxophone. Sammut summarizes that Hubbard is an intense soloist whose technical firepower is always aimed at greater musical goals. As Pinnacle demonstrates, “He couldn't show himself without saying something sincere. Freddie Hubbard's story was expression and impression. "
Will Layman wrote in Pop Matters that Pinnacle was a previously unreleased series of recordings from 1980 that “showcase Hubbard in his most athletic and exciting scene. […] He didn't play that way for himself, but more because his art was designed to push the horn to its expressive limits. ”And so Pinnacle is a great pleasure, a great artist who is himself in a wonderful way .
The repertoire played has a decent range; In Hubbard's “Blues for Duane” there is “an amazing trumpet solo” that begins with “expressive smears, plays out in sharp double-time runs and then leads to the rhythm section also developing towards double-time play. “It also includes the only recording we have in which Hubbard plays John Coltrane's “ Giant Steps ”. "The band goes at a classic pace and Hubbard is a waterfall full of ideas for five full, burning minutes." With "The Intrepid Fox" by Red Clay and "One of Another Kind" from Hubbard's time in the VSOP All-Star Quintet would be "two of the best hardbop titles of the band leader" on the album; it is nice to hear “Another Kind” again, which has a great, dancing quality over the introductory bass line and then breaks up into a complex melodic statement. Only the Solo sections (and not all of them) use straight-line stability to create tasteful contrasts.
As with all of Hubbard's appearances, there is a beautiful ballad, in this case Michel Legrand's “The Summer Knows”. “Hubbard was always great despite his virtuosity on slower sounds,” Will Layman wrote. “Its opening cadence is full of fantastic, cracked runs, but it lavishly settles into the melancholy melody. Childs frames him with great interest in the piano, and Klein's acoustic playing is excellent. When the band swings this ballad in the middle of Hubbard's solo, they sound as confident and strong as a jazz quartet could. "
Pinnacle is "a snippet of what made him great at a time when everything was still possible and when he could catch up with all of his best things," sums up Will Layman. “ Michael Jordan in the mid-1990s and easily dropped the Knicks by 50 points. Away, but don't forget. "
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Will Layman means the Columbia productions The Love Connection and Skagly , also with Phil Ranelin, Hadley Caliman, Billy Childs, Larry Klein and with George Duke , Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Carl Burnett and Paulinho da Costa .
- ↑ a b c d e Will Layman: Freddie Hubbard: Pinnacle Live and Unreleased from Keystone Korner. October 9, 2011, accessed March 21, 2019 .
- ↑ Marcus A. Woelfle : news from yesterday In: JazzZeitung , May 2011.
- ↑ a b c Dave Toropov: Review: Freddie Hubbard, Pinnacle: Live & Unreleased from Keystone Korner. Slant, June 12, 2011, accessed March 24, 2019 .
- ↑ Review of Ken Dryden's Pinnacle album at Allmusic . Retrieved March 21, 2019.
- ↑ a b c Andrew J. Sammut: Freddie Hubbard: Pinnacle - Live and Unreleased from Keystone Korner. In: All About Jazz. August 11, 2011, accessed March 21, 2019 .