Freddie Hubbard - Life Flight (1987/2014) Hi-Res

This CD captures the great trumpeter Freddie Hubbard at the age of 48 just before he began to decline. Hubbard is heard in excellent shape on two selections apiece with two separate bands. One group, a sextet with tenor-saxophonist Stanley Turrentine and guitarist George Benson, recalls the trumpeter's glory days on CTI although the material ("Battlescar Galorica" and "A Saint's Homecoming Song") was of recent vintage. The other band, a quintet with tenor-saxophonist Ralph Moore, looks back toward his earlier Blue Note and Atlantic days; they perform two Hubbard originals ("The Melting Pot" and "Life Flight"). Overall this set (from an era when the veteran trumpeter was being overshadowed by Wynton Marsalis) gives listeners one of the last opportunities to hear Freddie Hubbard in peak form.


Tracks:

01. Battlescar Galorica (8:11)
02. A Saint's Homecoming Song (11:17)
03. The Melting Pot (9:12)
04. Life Flight (13:08)

Personnel:

Freddie Hubbard - tp
Ralph Moore (2-4) - ts
Stanley Turrentine (1, 2) - ts
Larry Willis (1, 2) - el-p, syn
George Benson (1, 2) - g
Wayne Braithwaite (1, 2) - b
Idris Muhammad (1, 2) - d, tam
Larry Willis (3, 4) - p
Rufus Reid (3, 4) - b
Carl Allen (3, 4) - d

Rec.: M&I Studios, New York City, NY, January 23 & 24, 1987.