FREDDIE HUBBARD - BODY & SOUL (180g IMPORT LP)

Freddie Hubbard was 25 when he entered the studio with this fantastic band in 1963. The boss of the Jazzmessengers, Art Blakey (in whose quintet Hubbard followed in the footsteps of such brilliant trumpeters as Clifford Brown and Lee Morgan), had given him a few days off, and Bob Thiele, producer with Impulse, got hold of the very best soloists and wind instrumentalists he could find for him to record with. In particular their performance of such standards as Body And Soul, Skylark and I Got It Bad reveals not only a sensitivity and respect for the melody, but also avantgard phrasing (and still considered so even today!) which is lent emphasis by the restrained accompaniment of the strings. Freddie Hubbard’s colleague Wayne Shorter is not only leader of the formation but also the arranger. Particularly pleasing is that other soloists such as Eric Dolphy and Cedar Walton are given ample opportunity to display their talents.

The re-release of this album, an album which easily deserves to be called a “milestone in jazz history”, is long overdue, especially when one recalls that Rudy van Gelder, one of the very best sound engineers, was hired specially for this Impulse recording, thus guaranteeing an absolutely first-class sound quality for the nine titles on this album – even after almost 40 years.

  1.    Body And Soul 
  2.    Carnival (Manha De Carnaval) 
  3.    Chocolate Shake 
  4.    Dedicated To You 
  5.    Clatence's Place 
  6.    Aries 
  7.    Skylark 
  8.    I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) 
  9.    Thermo