CLARKE / COREA / HENDERSON / HUBBARD / WHITE – The Griffith Park Collection 2 In Concert (2LP-1983)

Label: Elektra Musician – 96-0262-1

Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Germany / Released: 1983

Style: Hard Bop, Post Bop, Contemporary Jazz

Recorded Live April 3, 1982 at the Circle Star Theater, San Francisco

(US release: Elektra Musician ‎– 60262-1-I )

Cover [Painting] – Edward Hopper

Photography By [Back Cover] – Andrew Su

Photography By [Freddie Hubbard] – Ron Slenzak

Executive-Producer – John Smith

Produced by – Lenny White

Producer [Production Consultant] – Jeffrey Weber

Mastered By – Bruce Leek

Other [Administration] – Norva Smith

Liner Notes – Lenny White

Art Direction – Norm Ung/Design

Edited [Digital] by – Jeffrey Weber, Jim Wolvington, Tom MacClusky

Matrix / Runout (Side A Etching): EM-96-0262-1 A-2 -ST

Matrix / Runout (Side B Etching): EM-96-0262-2 B-1 -ST

Matrix / Runout (Side C Etching): EM-96-0262-3 C-1 -ST

Matrix / Runout (Side D Etching): EM-96-0262-4 D-1 -ST

A  -  Why Wait  (Stanley Clarke) .............................................................................. 18:53

B  -  Guernica  (Lenny White) .................................................................................. 19:35

C1 - Happy Times  (Freddie Hubbard) .................................................................... 12:30

C2 - October Ballad  (Chick Corea) ......................................................................... 14:36

D1 - I Mean You  (Coleman Hawkins, Thelonious Monk) ........................................ 11:51

D2 - Here's That Rainy Day  (Johnny Burke, Jimmy VanHeusen) .......................... 12:22

Personnel:

Freddie Hubbard – trumpet, flugelhorn

Joe Henderson – tenor saxophone

Chick Corea – piano

Stanley Clarke – bass

Lenny White – drums, percussion

Manufactured in Germany by Record Service GmbH. ELEKTRA MUSICIAN 96-0262-1, Stereo. Phonographic Copyright (p) – Elektra/Asylum Records.

Realizing the wealth of talent that had assembled, Bruce Lundvall at Elektra/Musician asked for an album featuring just the instrumentalists. The Griffith Park Collection opens with White's "L's Bop," a 60's Blue Note paean showcasing some vintage Hubbard hornwork that evokes those sunny days when Blue Note producer Alfred Lion was repeatedly capturing the blinding brilliance of an era. Clarke's "Why Wait" is a blues that sneaks up barefooted as the bassist strums a slow amble of a walking rhythm, White riding a cymbal step-for-step, Hubbard and Henderson blowing sweet unison notes and somehow managing to create the additional harmonic of a trombone between them, when Corea's aggressive comping style finally gives the meter a push and Henderson punches a full-throated solo with his thick, unmistakable copper-and-zinc tone. A little over a minute into it when White bounces a snare roll that introduces the chorus' arrival like the low roar of an incoming tide, the boys are swinging so hard that you can feel it in your body...

... This is a stunning live recording. Magically resurrected from a soundboard cassette of one of the shows during the group's five day California tour, Griffith Park Collection 2: In Concert starts with "Why Wait," this time at a slightly slower tempo that seems to open up the arrangement and allow the soloists room to swing even harder. Like wanderers returning to their home hearth, they play with a mounting sense of urgency and passion as the night wears on, pursuing the music like it was the source of life itself.

Stalwart rhythm aces White and Clarke could both have turned in longer and more frequent solos, but this particular night they were largely content to lay down strong-shouldered support for the incendiary energies of Hubbard, Henderson and Corea—three players bursting with energy and clearly in a mood to solo on some unrestrained bop. Especially Hubbard.

These guys were certainly ready for something. Without preamble Hubbard starts by blowing a series of runs that sound like cascades of sparks sprayed from an arc welder's torch (it's tempting to imagine the other players wearing protective goggles as they watch him intently.) No question, Hubbard's unbridled, over-the-ramparts approach might have had a daunting effect on another stage, but on this spring evening it leads the charge and sets a standard. Each player's solo invites the next until it is clear that each is ready to take full advantage of this rare opportunity. White's "Guernica" is an unforgettable, hair-raising blowing session that evokes the passionate emotional landscape of that war-torn Spanish city. Hubbard's flashy, headlong bopper "Happy Times" is followed by Corea's tone poem "October Ballade," and then it's back to the races with a hard-driving "I Mean You," and finally a gently swaying "Here's That Rainy Day" with a handful of lyrical flourishes from Hubbard to close things out.

(Review By CARL L. HAGER)

The world's greatest musicians? Who knows... What is certain is that the kind of mastery and dynamic synergism on display in these performances comes from musicians who possess that exceedingly rare ability to listen as well as they blow. As Lenny White said when asked about his composition "Guernica": "When you write for musicians like this, all you need to do is give them a few notes and let them play."

If you find it, buy this album!

FREDDIE HUBBARD – Here To Stay (1962, LP-1985)

Label: Blue Note – BST 84135

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: US / Released: 1985

Style: Hard Bop, Improvisation

Recorded on December 27, 1962 at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Design [Cover] – Reid Miles

Liner Notes – Peter Keepnews

Producer – Alfred Lion

Recorded By [Recording By] – Rudy Van Gelder

This album was scheduled for release as BST 84135 in 1963 but was never issued.

It first appeared as part of a Hubbard double album (BNLA 496-2) in 1976.

It is issued here for the first time with the original Reid Miles cover from 1963.

A1 - Philly Mignon . . . . . . . . . . 5:28

         (by – Freddie Hubbard)

A2 - Father And Son . . . . . . . . . . 6:34

         (by – Cal Massey)

A3 - Body And Soul . . . . . . . . . . 6:25

         (by – Heyman, Eyton, Green, Sour)

B1 - Nostrand And Fulton . . . . . . . . . . 7:07

         (by – Freddie Hubbard)

B2 - Full Moon And Empty Arms . . . . . . . . . . 5:25

         (by – Kaye, Mossman)

B3 - Assunta . . . . . . . . . . 7:05

        (by – Cal Massey)

Freddie Hubbard – trumpet

Wayne Shorter – tenor saxophone

Cedar Walton – piano

Reggie Workman – bass

Philly Joe Jones – drums, percussion

Scheduled for release in 1962 and then effectively shelved until 1986, “Here To Stay” is another of the seminal Blue Note albums that failed to see the light of day at the time of recording. Perhaps this reflects the difficult choices that Albert Lion had to make too often in order to keep a small independent record label afloat.

“Here To Stay” is a fine and early example of Freddie Hubbard, then aged only 24, as a fully formed imaginative voice in jazz. The band - Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone); Cedar Walton (piano); Reggie Workman (bass); Philly Joe Jones (drums) – offers an ideal platform; all these musicians except Philly Joe Jones were working together at the time with Freddie Hubbard in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and the understanding they had developed shows. But it is Freddie Hubbard’s trumpet playing that really impresses; no wonder that his inventiveness on the instrument is still so admired today.

“Philly Mignon”, the opening track and a Freddie Hubbard composition is all about virtuoso trumpet licks, played fast, perhaps too fast. The other Freddie Hubbard composition on the album, “Nostrand And Fulton”, however is waltzy and fluid. “Father And Son”, the first of two Cal Massey compositions starts out as lightweight samba based bluesy ballad but then goes through interesting transitions, finally emerging as a loose-limbed good time feel blues. The second Cal Massey composition, “Assunta” has Wayne Shorter sounding very Coltrane-like and seems to be mainly a vehicle for him until Freddie Hubbard interjects with a characteristically fluent solo that changes the pace and direction. “Full Moon And Empty Arms” dates from 1946 and is based on a melody from the third movement of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor with words and arrangement by Buddy Kaye and Ted Mossman. It was recorded by Frank Sinatra and is not highly regarded. Freddie Hubbard and the band here go some way to rescuing it but without complete success.

The stand out track is a fine version of the standard “Body And Soul”. Comparison with Coleman Hawkins’ classic 1939 tenor sax version of the Johnny Green song or even with John Coltrane’s 1960 version on “Coltrane’s Sound” shows just how far Freddie Hubbard had come with a truly modern appreciation of the song and how to interpret it for trumpet.

“Here To Stay” is a very welcome addition to the Freddie Hubbard catalogue and is highly recommended.

If you find it, buy this album!

ORNETTE COLEMAN – Twins (recorded between 1959 and 1961, LP-1971)

LP cover originally released in 1971

Label: Atlantic – SD 1588
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo, 180 Gram; Country: US - Released: 1971
Style: Free Jazz, Hard Bop
"First Take" recorded on December 21, 1960, at A&R Studios, New York City.
"Little Symphony" recorded on July 19, 1960, at Atlantic Recording Studios, New York City.
"Monk And The Nun" recorded on May 22, 1959, at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California.
"Check Up" recorded on January 31, 1961, at Atlantic Recording Studios, New York City.
"Joy Of A Toy" recorded on July 26, 1960, at Atlantic Recording Studios, New York City.
Design [Cover Design] – Haig Adishian
Photography [Cover Photo] – Omar Kharem Producer – Nesuhi Ertegun
Design [Cover Design] – Haig Adishian
Liner Notes – Martin Williams
Mastered By – George Piros
Mixed By [Re-mix Engineer] – Geoffrey Haslam

"Ornette Coleman's music has always shown an expressive feel for the playful, the joyful, the whimsical side of human nature. And I'd say it's often there, deep down, in things he plays or writes in quite different moods." _ Martin Williams

A1 - First Take ........................................................................ 17:00
A2 - Little Symphony ................................................................ 5:15
B1 - Monk And The Nun .......................................................... 5:56
B2 - Check Up ........................................................................ 10:11
B3 - Joy Of A Toy ..................................................................... 4:40

Artists on Check Up : DON CHERRY (cor), ORNETTE COLEMAN (as), SCOTT LaFARO (b), ED BLACKWELL (d), recorded NYC, January 31, 1961. Recording Engineer Tom Dowd.

Other tracks: DON CHERRY (pocket tp), FREDDIE HUBBARD (tp), ERIC DOLPHY (bcl), ORNETTE COLEMAN (as), CHARLIE HADEN, SCOTT LaFARO (b) ED BLACKWELL, BILLY HIGGINS (d), sessions May 22, 1959, July 19, July 26, December 21, 1960.

Ornette Coleman

Freddie Hubbard

Ornette Coleman's Twins (first issued on LP in 1971) has been looked at as an afterthought in many respects. A collection of sessions from 1959, 1960, and 1961 with different bands, they are allegedly takes from vinyl LP sessions commercially limited at that time to 40 minutes on vinyl, and not initially released until many years later. Connoisseurs consider this one of his better recordings in that it offers an overview of what Coleman was thinking in those pivotal years of the free bop movement rather than the concentrated efforts of The Art of the Improvisers, Change of the Century, The Shape of Jazz to Come, This Is Our Music, and of course the pivotal Free Jazz. There are three most definitive selections that define Coleman's sound and concept. "Monk & the Nun" is angular like Thelonious Monk, soulful as spiritualism, and golden with the rhythm team of bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins driving the sweet and sour alto sax of Coleman and piquant trumpeting of Don Cherry. "Check Up" is a wild roller coaster ride, mixing meters, tempos, and dynamics in a blender in an unforgettable display of sheer virtuosity, and featuring bassist Scott LaFaro. "Joy of a Toy" displays the playful Ornette Coleman in interval leaps, complicated bungee jumps, in many ways whimsical but not undecipherable. It is one of the most intriguing of all of Coleman's compositions. Less essential, "First Take" showcases his double quartet in a churning composition left off the original release This Is Our Music, loaded with interplay as a showcase for a precocious young trumpeter named Freddie Hubbard, the ribald bass clarinet of Eric Dolphy, and the first appearance with Coleman's groups for New Orleans drummer Ed Blackwell. "Little Symphony" has a great written line with room for solos in a joyful hard bop center with the quartet of Coleman, Cherry, Haden, and Blackwell. All in all an excellent outing for Coleman from a hodgepodge of recordings that gives a broader view of his vision and the music that would come later in the '60s.

Review by MICHAEL G. NASTOS



If you find it, buy this album!