Look out for Jazz Legend Freddie Hubbard’s Release, “Pinnacle, Live & Unreleased From Keystone Korner” on March 8th, 2011

Hubbard’s
explosive and lyrical virtuosity (first noted during a high school band
performance in his hometown of Indianapolis) as well as his flow of
brilliant, spontaneous ideas and determination to play loudest, hardest,
fastest and most imaginatively, will never go out of style. Pinnacle
comprises more than an hour of highest level performances by Hubbard on
trumpet and flugelhorn, with pianist Billy Childs, bassist Larry Klein (better known now as Joni Mitchell’s producer), saxophonists Hadley Caliman and David Schnitter, trombonist Phil Ranelin, and drummers Eddie Marshall and Sinclair Lott.

From the very start of Pinnacle, it’s clear Hubbard and company came to Keystone Korner to play. “The Intrepid Fox,” a memorable tune from Hubbard’s 1970 hit album Red Clay,
contains one of the trumpeter’s signature solo strategies: He rises
within a minute from intimate musings to sustained trills and an
acrobatic upper register push, resolving it all in a post-climactic
chorus replete with perfectly placed lip buzzes. “First Light,” the
title-track from Hubbard’s 1971 album, is a swinging mid-tempo blues in
which the trumpeter quickly shifts to double-time.

“One of
Another Kind” was Hubbard’s contribution to the repertoire of V.S.O.P.,
the mid ’70s hard-bop quintet he co-led with Herbie Hancock, Wayne
Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. “Happiness Is Now,” which Hubbard
introduced on his 1980 studio album Skagly, is one of his unusual
tunes, and pairs languid melody with hip back-beat. “The Summer Knows,”
Michel Legrand’s ballad for the soundtrack of the film Summer of ’42, is
graced with some of Hubbard’s warmest, most relaxed feelings. It’s
followed by “Blues for Duane,” which is inspired by Hubbard’s son and
portrays another dazzling, top octave trumpet solo.

Pinnacle
concludes with Hubbard’s only known recording of “Giant Steps,”
Coltrane’s chord-racing composition, which has become a jazz standard,
with its peculiar set of chord progressions and racing tempo. In eight
choruses of variation stretching over four and a half minutes, Hubbard
demonstrates complete mastery of the difficult line’s fast-paced
changes. Here and on “One of Another Kind” tenor saxophonist Caliman,
who died in September 2010, solos with power to match Hubbard’s own.

Throughout all of Pinnacle,
Hubbard enjoys solid support from his working ensemble, most especially
grand- and electric-pianist Childs, who joined Hubbard’s band shortly
after his graduation from University of Southern California as a
composition major. Childs has earned continued acclaim as an
instrumentalist and music writer, receiving a Guggenheim Foundation
fellowship in 2009. Drummers Eddie Marshall and Sinclair Lott share
responsibilities for unfailing propulsive rhythms.