The jazz world is mourning the passing of the legendary and influential jazz trumpeter FREDDIE HUBBARD, aged 70, who died on Monday December 29th from complications following a heart attack in November.
A native of Indianapolis, Hubbard burst on the Big Apple jazz scene in 1960 as a hard bop horn man with a dazzling technique. As a sideman, Hubbard played for several years with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and also appeared on classic albums by Ornette Coleman (‘Free Jazz’), John Coltrane (‘Africa/Brass’ and ‘Ascension’), Herbie Hancock (‘Maiden Voyage’), Eric Dolphy (‘Out To Lunch’) and Oliver Nelson (‘Blues & The Abstract Truth’). After recording albums in the ’60s under his own name for Blue Note, Black Lion and Impulse!, Hubbard joined producer Creed Taylor’s CTI label in 1970 and cut classic fusion albums like ‘First Light’ and ‘Red Clay.’
Health problems dogged Hubbard’s twilight years – a lip problem restricted his playing from the ’90s onwards – but just recently, in the summer of 2008, he released a well-received new album, ‘On The Real Side’ for Times Square records.
