Freddie Hubbard – Hub Cap (Blue Note Tone Poet)

Freddie Hubbard's Hub Cap arrived in 1961, during the astonishing first stretch of his Blue Note career, and it catches the trumpeter turning early momentum into something more personal. Recorded in April that year, it was the first of Hubbard's Blue Note sessions to put his development as a composer clearly alongside his already forceful trumpet playing, with four of the album's six pieces written by Hubbard himself.

The music is rooted firmly in hard bop, but this is not just a blowing date. The title track drives hard, while Luana opens up a richer, more textured side of the session, and Osie Mae swings with a relaxed swagger. Just as important is the band: Julian Priester and Jimmy Heath give Hubbard a strong front line, while Cedar Walton, Larry Ridley, and Philly Joe Jones supply the kind of rhythmic lift that keeps the whole record moving with snap and purpose.

This Tone Poet edition makes sense for an album with that kind of fire and detail. Part of Blue Note's audiophile Tone Poet series, it brings Hub Cap back in a form aimed squarely at listeners who care about the texture of the original session as much as Hubbard's place in early-1960s jazz.

Features

• LP, 180g, Stereo, Blue Note Tone Poet Series, Black Vinyl, Special Edition
• Mastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
• Produced by Joe Harley
• Pressed at RTI
• Deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket