Scribal's on a Quest

Today is Tuesday, January 06, 2009.

Today I begin my quest to find MY favorite Jazz Recording of the year.

I’m beginning today, of course, because Tuesday is new release day and this is the first Tuesday of 2009.

No, I’m searching for a classic. No, I’m not suggesting I will hear all the jazz music that is released this year. And no, I’m not suggesting that my choice or list will be the “be all that ends all”.

I realize that I have spent the last few years involved in revisionist history of the jazz. Spending most of my time collecting and recollecting the recordings of the giants of the genre – Miles, Mingus and Monk and so on;

So this year I’m on a quest - more of the young lions and older cubs.

Frederick Dewayne Hubbard – April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008

Because of the holidays, I found myself a bit busy and not having enough time to write. On December 29, 2008 we lost a legendary Jazz Trumpeter, Freddie Hubbard. He was seventy years old. And the Innovation Era of jazz has a lost another one of its stewards.

Though Hubbard’s music didn’t catch my ear as much as some others, I always respected his virtuosity. It’s impossible not to. I mean, who hasn’t listened to Red Clay until the needle wore down or the tape popped? I will admit that my interest piqued in this tune but the album included one of two of my favorite tenor players, Joe Henderson.

Of all the offspring that Jazz has spawn, the Hard Bop/Free Form movement is one that is the most difficult for most enthusiasts to grasp. I consider myself more a patron who’s enthusiastic about jazz than a true enthusiast, so over the years I have cherry picked music I liked from the era. And Freddie Hubbard tended to be involved in a couple of those tunes that I liked. As I sit here listening to Branford Marsalis’ The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, I’m reminded of Hubbard’s trumpet playing idealism where he would play long phrases like saxophone players. He changed the way trumpet players approached improvisation.

Rest In Peace Freddie Hubbard…Your contribution makes Jazz what it is!!!