Tom Erdmann An Interview with Freddie Hubbard (Jan 02/15)

Transcription

1 Reprints from the International Trumpet Guild Journal to promote communications among trumpet players around the world and to improve the artistic level of performance, teaching, and literature associated with the trumpet Tom Erdmann An Interview with Freddie Hubbard (Jan 02/15) The International Trumpet Guild (ITG) is the copyright owner of all data contained in this file. ITG gives the individual end-user the right to: Download and retain an electronic copy of this file on a single workstation that you own Transmit an unaltered copy of this file to any single individual end-user, so long as no fee, whether direct or indirect is charged Print a single copy of pages of this file Quote fair use passages of this file in not-for-profit research papers as long as the ITGJ, date, and page number are cited as the source. The International Trumpet Guild prohibits the following without prior written permission: Duplication or distribution of this file, the data contained herein, or printed copies made from this file for profit or for a charge, whether direct or indirect Transmission of this file or the data contained herein to more than one individual end-user Distribution of this file or the data contained herein in any form to more than one end user (as in the form of a chain letter) Printing or distribution of more than a single copy of the pages of this file Alteration of this file or the data contained herein Placement of this file on any web site, server, or any other database or device that allows for the accessing or copying of this file or the data contained herein by any third party, including such a device intended to be used wholly within an institution. Please retain this cover sheet with printed document.

2 An Interview with Freddie Hubbard BY TOM ERDMANN There is no superlative regarding the musicianship and playing ability of trumpeter Freddie Hubbard that has not already been written. The usual jazz adjectives of monster, innovator, superlative artist, etc., don t really seem to tell the story. His music, however, speaks for itself. Simply put, Hubbard single-handedly fused an original trumpet style that incorporated concepts previously presented in the music of artists such as Louis Armstrong, Clifford Brown, Booker Little, Lee Morgan, Sonny Rollins, and John Coltrane. He mixed them with his own personal musical intellect to create a totally new and freshly exciting musical approach that transcends the concepts of bop, hardbop, and swing music. Hubbard s playing has always been so forwardthinking that major jazz artists, as evidenced by Hubbard s considerable discography, have always wanted to record with him. Hubbard s sound and ideas are immediately distinguishing, vivid, intense, and unique. One can never lose sight of how fun it is to listen to Hubbard, and of how influential he is and has been, not just to jazz trumpeters, but to all jazz musicians. Born on April 7, 1938 in Indianapolis, Indiana, Hubbard started his musical studies on a tonette. Later he tried a number of brass instruments before finally settling on the trumpet. Just as Albert Einstein failed sixth grade math because he was too bored with the limited concepts presented, Hubbard was expelled from Jordan Conservatory, a part of Butler University, for playing too much jazz. In 1958 Hubbard moved to New York, roomed with Eric Dolphey, among others, and played in bands led by Philly Jo Jones and Sonny Rollins. Hubbard spent time in the early 60s as a member of Art Blakey s Jazz Messengers, along with saxophonist Wayne Shorter and trombonist Curtis Fuller. This was after he had already made what many consider some of the most influential jazz recordings of all time in 1959 and 1960 with Ornette Coleman. Miles Davis saw the talent and ability in Hubbard, and helped him secure his first recording contract in At the start of the 70s, Hubbard joined the stable of musicians Creed Taylor put together to form the CTI label, and made a number of successful recordings there as both leader and sideman. In the late 70s, Hubbard signed with Columbia records and toured with the V.S.O.P. amalgamation of Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams. In the 80s, Hubbard made recordings for Blue Note, among other labels. These efforts were quickly heralded for their artistic creativity and blazing excitement. Hubbard s recorded output can easily be argued as perhaps the single most varied collection of historically important and influential recordings ever made by a single jazz musician. These efforts included the following recordings: Out to Lunch with Eric Dolphey, and Speak No Evil with Wayne Shorter, both in 1964; Ascension with John Coltrane and Maiden Voyage with Herbie Hancock, both in 1965; Lush Life with Lou Donaldson in 1967; Walking In Space with Quincy Jones in 1969; and Sugar with Stanley Turrentine in As a studio musician, he worked with artists such as Billy Joel in the 70s. In addition to his work with V.S.O.P., he worked with Art Farmer, Dizzy Gillespie, and Woody Shaw in the 80s. In the 90s, he has worked with a new generation of young musicians, including pianist Benny Green and bassist Christian McBride International Trumpet Guild January 2002 / ITG Journal 15

3 In addition to his work as a jazz musician, Hubbard has had a profound influence as a composer. Many of his tunes have become standards including Red Clay, Keep Your Soul Together, Straight Life, and Little Sunflower. Hubbard s musical influence continues today. His Red Clay recording was lifted and sampled by A Tribe Called Quest for use in their music, and rapper and producer Guru s bop/hip-hop Jazzmatazz Volume II: The New Reality includes Hubbard s trumpet playing. Today, Hubbard is fighting his way back from embouchure problems he first experienced in the early 90s. As you ll hear in his latest recording New Colors, with trumpeter David Weiss New Jazz Composers Octet, the ideas, imagination, and harmonic/melodic conception are still unrivaled. Freddie Hubbard converses as he plays, with insight, joy, and excitement. To interview an artist of Hubbard s stature and limit him solely to a discussion of his history takes away from all he has achieved. It s better to go with the flow and let him take the lead as to what is personally relevant in his life today. This was my second conversation with Hubbard, and because I knew this interview would be transcribed, I wanted to investigate Hubbard s early years, a time in his life that has not been well documented. In the end, however, what this interview shows is just how alive, exciting, and vibrant Hubbard is and continues to be. TE: In the beginning, why did you choose the trumpet? FH: My older sister played the trumpet and studied it seriously. My older brother also messed around with one when he was young. I used to wonder how they could pucker up as required to play the trumpet. I wanted to play to satisfy that sense of curiosity. When I was in junior high school, I told the band director, Mr. James Compton at John Hope Junior High School in Indianapolis, that I wanted to play the drums. No drum positions were available, so he gave me a bugle. Next, he moved me to E-flat mellophone, then the sousaphone/tuba. I wasn t able to get a trumpet until my last year of junior high school. After that, it was the trumpet for me. Mr. Compton really encouraged me and told me I had a nice feeling for the trumpet. TE: How did it feel when you finally were able to play a trumpet? FH: At first, it hurt, but I was able to get some private lessons. My first teacher, Mr. Compton, was able to help me get my breathing together and to use my air correctly. I didn t really get serious about music until I was 11 or 12 years old. At that point, I fell in love with the trumpet. I stopped playing basketball and baseball and spent all my time in the house practicing. The buzz feeling you get when you play the trumpet and the notes that come out of the bell totally captivated me. That buzz feeling is a wonderful and weird feeling. You can feel it all around your lips and nose. I just loved it (laughing). I don t know how to describe it, but it made me want to play. I felt like Gabriel giving out a clarion call! Playing the trumpet gave me a sense of power. I just fell in love with the trumpet. TE: In what other ways was Mr. Compton influential to your development? FH: He used to tell me that it was important for me to stay off of the streets, to just stay home and practice. The trumpet really helped me that way. You know I was just a kid back in the 50s in Indiana. I could have gotten involved in all of the wrong things. Another thing that helped back then was that there were parks and youth centers where I could go and play my instrument. Each of the centers had little bands where you could play. That s something they need to bring back, especially in New York; youth centers and places for the kids to go and do good things, instead of hanging in the streets. TE: You worked to try to effect change in that manner during the 70s as one of the original organizers of the Jazz Mobile, which was essentially a traveling youth center for young people. You even received a Smithsonian Award for your work with that project. How did the idea for the Jazz Mobile come about? FH: A group of us (including pianist Billy Taylor and bassist Paul Wess) got involved in that. We had to go before the Smithsonian and give a speech in order to get it started. I ll never forget the first program we gave in Alexandria, Virginia. The kids were throwing Coca-Cola bottles at us. I was scared. All I could think about was how Al Hirt was hit in the mouth during Mardi Gras. Someone threw a brick at him. You can imagine how it feels to have someone throw a pop bottle at you. We were able to get some funds in order to get musicians to go out to the neighborhoods to play and talk about jazz. Overall, once things settled down, it was a great experience. TE: If I can backtrack for a second, how did you arrive at the Jordan Conservatory? FH: During high school I still liked to play other brass instruments in addition to the trumpet, and because of that I received a scholarship to Jordan on French horn. At that time, I was having trouble reading music. You see all of the other trumpet majors at Jordan had taken private lessons, and I hadn t, but I did receive a scholarship on French horn. I stayed at Butler for a year, until they wore me out. The Dean of the School didn t want any jazz played in the practice rooms, which I was doing. I went to the Dean and told him that after I d finished practicing my classical studies I had to be able to practice music like Donna Lee. After a year, they told me I couldn t practice jazz there anymore, so I left and went to New York. TE: Did you go to New York directly after you left Jordan? FH: I actually stayed in Indianapolis for one more year before I left. I had a band in Indianapolis that included James Spaulding, Larry Ridley, my brother, and Paul Parker on drums. We called ourselves The 16 ITG Journal / January International Trumpet Guild

4 Jazz Contemporaries, and transcribed songs by Horace Silver, Max Roach, and The Jazz Messengers. We played all around town. It was during this time that I had an opportunity to play with (guitar legend) Wes Montgomery. He lived two blocks from me in Indianapolis, on the other side of the railroad tracks (laughter). TE: How did that come about? FH: There were a number of great musicians in Indianapolis. I think part of that was because there were so many instrument companies that made their horns in and around Elkhart, Indiana. Many fine musicians got their start in Indiana, as well as others who came through and stayed. I had a good teacher at the Jordan Conservatory by the name of Max Woodbury. He helped me out a lot. He was the principal trumpet of the Indianapolis Symphony and he took me under his wing. TE: What were some the musical things you learned from Woodbury? FH: He would have me walk a block and hold my breath. He then taught me how to let it out slowly. The breathing concepts he taught me were the best things about my time with him. He also taught me to play pedal tones. Max Woodbury deserves a lot of credit. He was a great player and teacher. You know the trumpet is such a difficult instrument and the difference between playing jazz and classical is significant. I want the kids to know that there are many different ways and approaches to learning the trumpet. I learned a great deal from classical players as well as from the jazz players once I got to New York. Donald Byrd really helped with the phrasing aspect of the music. Lee Morgan, Dizzy, and Miles also helped me. Everybody had a different approach to playing music. I ve also always had a love for Clifford Brown. He s been a major influence throughout my life. His embouchure didn t look perfect (people told me he played out of the side of his mouth) but boy did he sound good. I never heard anybody sound like that. His staccato playing was great. He also had that hard sound. He was fantastic. I m so sorry that I was never able to meet him. TE: How did your first recording session with Wes Montgomery come about? FH: I was only 18 when that happened. I used to go to jam sessions at Speedway City every weekend, usually on Saturdays. A lot of black people weren t allowed in, but somehow Wes was able to play. I told him that if he was able to play I should be able to play as well. I would go out there and play along. The guys Wes played with liked to change keys. For instance, most people play a blues in F or B-flat. Wes and his crew would play in E concert (laughing). If I was going to sit in I had to follow. I remember asking them what key they were in and they didn t even know. They truly didn t care. Everything they played was by ear. By their playing in all of those different keys, I was able to develop my sense of pitch. TE: That must have been a great educational experience. FH: Can you imagine? Those guys rehearsed without music, all of the parts were memorized, and they weren t just head arrangements. They were playing some real involved harmonies. It was hard. I had to memorize right along with them. Wes would teach me by ear and then I would have to figure out the changes on my own. They played in all of these strange keys. Nowadays you d just write it down and read it, but if you can learn it the way I did, through your ear, then you ve really learned it. Playing with Wes was an experience. He was great. He could play with anyone. Everybody who came through town wanted him to go out on the road with them. I don t know how he learned to play guitar, but he sure could play. He used to play all of those great lines with his thumb. I ll never forget, he had a day job working for Polk s Milk Company, which was followed by a steady gig in a nightclub. On weekends, he would add to that by working at an afterhours place. How can you have a day job, a night job, and then an after-hours job at a club? Then he had to get up early the next day and go back to work. He had six kids and a nice home. All he ever did was smoke cigarettes, never any drinking or anything else. He was a hard working dude. He gave me the opportunity to play on one of his records. He told me, Freddie, you better get out of here. You aren t going to go but so far staying here in Indianapolis. I left and went to New York. TE: I ve read that you moved in with Eric Dolphey when you first went to New York. FH: Actually the first person I stayed with was Lenny Benjamin. He played alto saxophone and offered me the opportunity to stay with him until I got on my feet. After Lenny I moved in with Slide Hampton. Hampton had an apartment behind the Apollo Theater. Boy, that was different. In that neighborhood, I saw junkies lined up against the walls. They d see me with my trumpet and want to know what I had. They d say, What is that? What you got? Let me see that. I told them, You can t see this. I ve got to make a living playing this thing. Hampton helped me out a lot and was really my savior. I didn t have any money or anything. He taught me how to read music better and got me into his band. Later I moved in with Dolphey in Brooklyn. It was by practicing with him that I learned how to change my embouchure in order to match style with saxophonists. We used to practice together out of clarinet books. TE: How did you develop a trumpet style that has produced trademark licks, such as the high note falsefingering things you do as well as some of those wonderful lip slur combinations? FH: I found that in order to play some of the passages I wanted or needed to play, I had to use auxiliary fingerings. Dizzy showed me some of the fingerings he played in order to do some of the things he did. He 2002 International Trumpet Guild January 2002 / ITG Journal 17

5 used a lot of third valve instead of playing some notes open. For me, it was playing with tenor (saxophone) players that made me change my embouchure. I had to in order to stay with the ideas they presented. For instance, if you play a line like (Freddie sings a hot jazz phrase), you can t, as a trumpet player, tongue that in a way to make it sound hip. So I would do some legato tonguing mixed with specific embouchure movements that sound and work well with saxophonists so that I could match their specific style and sound. Today, when I do clinics, I try to tell kids that the tonguing and phrasing they ve been doing isn t going to work. They have to learn a different way to make the phrasing match the musical line. Kids have a real hard time with that. If you listen carefully to (Clifford) Brown or Chet (Baker), they were playing a legato style mixed with staccato. That gave the phrase a tu-da-ou-da-ou-da sound. That kind of playing gives the music a different feeling and flavor. It s hard to develop that. It took me three or four years to get that. TE: It seems that there have been a lot of jazz musicians who studied out of a variety of musical materials not directly related to their instrument. John Coltrane, for example, practiced out of piano books. FH: Yes, he practiced out of Nicholas Slonimsky s book as well as harp technique books. Trane was really advanced and liked to practice all day. He and I used to listen to a lot of Indian music together. I told him, This is too much. (Laughing) By the time we got through listening to all of those different kinds of music from all over the world my ears felt bugged. Coltrane never stopped practicing. Saxophonists can just keep going all day, but us trumpeters have to stop and rest. I also used to practice with (trumpeter) Booker Little. He was one of those Chicago-style conservative guys. When he came to New York, we worked together in Slide Hampton s band. Little was another one of those musicians who used to practice all the time. He was so good he sounded like a machine. He used to make me mad because he was so good. I had to ask him how he could tongue so fast. That brings me back to today s young cats that only know how to tongue one way. Classical music is different from jazz. All the young guys play jazz, but it sounds stiff. It s hard to break away from that so-called perfect 18 ITG Journal / January International Trumpet Guild

6 embouchure. To get that jazz looseness you have to do things differently. I really like (trumpeter) Tom Harrell. He can play without using that overly clean attack. You see there s a difference between classical and jazz, and it s hard to get away from the classical. If you want to be an individual with your own sound and feeling you have to loosen up the embouchure and do things you wouldn t ordinarily do. I asked Dizzy how he could play by puffing out his jaw. He said it just happens. The way that he used his cheeks gave him tremendous power. He could play long phrases because he could store air in his jaw. He had the weirdest looking jaw I ve ever seen. I used to play gigs standing beside him, and I d be scared to death because his jaw was so big. TE: Dizzy was a powerful player with a great intuitive melodic sense. FH: Absolutely, but at times he would play sharp. Miles and I would listen to him a lot, and Miles would say, Listen to that mother, he s great but he s playing sharp. Well he had all of that air back there ready to gush out. How could he play everything in tune? (Laughing) Dizzy was great. I ll never forget, we were in Europe playing a jazz festival, and one day Dizzy, (trumpeter) Woody Shaw, and I went to tape a television show. All three of us were sitting there waiting to go. Woody and I were all fired up, but Dizzy made us play All the Things You Are as a ballad. It just messed us up (laughing). Can you imagine? (Freddie starts to sing the All the Things You Are in a dirge-like way.) Can you imagine that? Woody and I both wanted to be hot, but playing that tune that way made us both slow down and just play the melody, and play it pretty. That was a great lesson Dizzy taught us. The kids have to learn that. The maturity Dizzy had was astounding. Then there s Clark Terry. He doesn t get the credit he deserves. I was in Sacramento two weeks ago and Clark was telling me how to fix my embouchure. He reminded me how the buzz should be, and told me what to do. What a great and incredible man. I don t think many people are hip to him. Clark could do anything on the trumpet. He could play with a symphony orchestra, play jazz, and play ballads. Heck, he could play two horns at one time. People just don t seem to mention him when they talk about great jazz trumpet. That s weird. TE: It is a shame, because so many great trumpeters talk about how influential Terry was in their development. FH: He helped introduce Nicholas Payton to the jazz world when Payton was just 16. Terry did a recording with a number of other trumpeters on it; he had people like Payton, Marsalis, and others. I played on it as well. TE: Payton seems to understand the tradition. He even played a number of club dates with Doc Cheatham before Doc died. FH: Doc scared me to death. I was playing a festival with him and the whole night I thought he was going to fall down, yet Doc was up there hitting all of these high notes. TE: Doc really understood that it was all about air and correct air usage. FH: That s what I need to emphasize in my own playing. After I split my lip, I took six months off and when I went back to the trumpet, I started using too much pressure. I have to learn to back off. TE: I was wondering if you could describe for the readers exactly what happened to you? FH: I was in Philadelphia, had to fly to California for a rehearsal, and then had to play that evening. It was just too much. Then right after that I went straight back to New York and played six nights at the Blue Note. From there, I went to Finland to play with a big band. I developed a blister on my lip in the same spot Louis Armstrong had his. I should have stopped playing, but I didn t. Wynton Marsalis came to see me during my engagement at the Blue Note. He looked at my lip and told me I better stop and take some time off in order for the blister to heal properly. I ll never forget, Betty Carter, George Benson, and a number of others all came to see me there, but when Wynton looked at my lip he told me I d better take some time off and let it heal. While I was in Finland, the blister popped. There was a lot of blood. It was a silly mistake and it all came about because I didn t warm up. I was working all of the time. I would just pick up the trumpet and go, hitting it hard. My advice to anyone is to take your time and warm up. After you ve played the trumpet hard all night, your lips are going to get puffy. You have to warm down by playing softly and slowly in order for the puffiness to go away. I never thought about that. I d just get up the next day and play an 8 a.m. commercial or another studio gig. I was just doing too much. You know at that time I was making two or three records per week. TE: Last time we talked you mentioned how Terry gave you some specific advice to help you. FH: Yes, Clark talked to me about the corners of my mouth. Clark said my corners weren t tight and I was losing air. They re getting tighter. I m working on them. TE: Are there some specific exercises you re doing right now to improve? FH: Long tones. They are the most boring things in the world (laughing). TE: Are there other things you re practicing? FH: I ve been practicing the piano quite a bit. That s how I like to write. When I hear an idea I like to play it on the piano. That s how I wrote The Intrepid Fox. I composed it on the piano first, and then learned how to play it on the trumpet. For me, that s an important way of playing, using the piano. The piano helps me practice. TE: After your arrival in New York you very quickly got into the scene. An example of this is your playing 2002 International Trumpet Guild January 2002 / ITG Journal 19

7 with Ornette Coleman on two of his most famous recordings, Free Jazz and Beauty Is A Rare Thing. FH: I was playing bebop with Art Blakey at that time. After Lee Morgan quit Blakey s band, I took his place. I was really concentrating on what I had to do to play correctly with Blakey. Then I had the opportunity to play with Coltrane. I started hanging in the Village with Archie Shepp and those guys. They got me into the new style of thinking and playing. I met some musicians who didn t play the trumpet the way it was supposed to be played. (laughing) Those guys would say, The correct way? Screw that. I m going to play the trumpet the way I want to play it. I told them, Okay, we ll see. Don Cherry was one of those guys who I was never able to figure out how he was able to play the trumpet the way he did. TE: What was it like to play with Ornette Coleman, especially right at the beginning of the Free Jazz movement? FH: Oddly enough, I met Ornette in California, before he came to New York. I was playing in Sonny Rollins band. Can you imagine that I was working with Sonny Rollins when I was just 20 or so? Rollins took me to meet Coleman, who was playing music with no bar lines. Coleman s band, however, did have music written out. I was sitting there trying to read it in the hotel room. I told him it sounded cool, but that I d like to see a bar line. He told me the music didn t need any bar lines, all I had to do was play what was on the paper. Coleman would play it, but it wasn t in the same time as what was on the paper. It was another way of playing. You have to be really close to somebody and play together a lot in order to play like that successfully. After Free Jazz was released, I would take that record and play it where I was living in Brooklyn, and people would knock on the walls saying, Take that crap off. Nobody understood Coleman s take on the blues, but about 10 years later everyone started to say how great that recording was. I used to go see him play. He had people like Leonard Bernstein and others interested in his music. All sorts of famous people would go down and listen to Coleman, because he was different. Coleman is a strong individual. He could play like Bird (Charlie Parker) if he wanted to. He told me he just didn t want to play that way. TE: I hear the blues in Coleman s playing. FH: Right. He s from Texas and he has a strong Texas blues background. TE: I think one of my favorite quotes from you refers to playing free. Playing in or out doesn t matter, but what is important is how you resolve. FH: Coltrane would go outside of the chord by perhaps playing an E-flat seventh chord over an A minor flat-5 chord. He would superimpose chords in that manner. How you come back to the root chord is something I learned from him. The trick to playing out is resolving, because if you don t, you ll just end up staying out there, and never playing the chords. That is unless you want to play free and have the piano player try to catch up to you. In my experience playing with free jazz musicians, doing such things as hollering and screaming and playing anything else they felt, the rhythm section and the piano player had to really open their ears and try to join in. That is unless you re Coleman, because he didn t use a piano. In that situation, it s between you and the bass. The good free groups who can play together in that style well, have been playing together for a long time and have built up their own feeling and sound. You can t just put anybody together and have free jazz work successfully. You have to sleep and eat together in order to think alike on the bandstand. TE: Are there any other young trumpeters, besides Nicholas Payton, who you like? FH: I like Roy Hargrove. He s going to be good. There are still a lot of young guys that I m waiting to hear develop their own sound. It takes a long time. It took me about 10 years after I arrived in New York. I just kept trying new things. I listened to Donald Byrd, Kenny Dorham, Miles Davis, and Dizzy Gillespie, who were the leaders at the time. In the beginning, when I was finding my own sound, people would tell me they wanted me to play things in a certain style, like Dizzy or Miles. I just had to tell them that I wasn t going to play that way; I was going to do things my way. Finally, my way was accepted. Unfortunately, the kids today come out of college and think they re ready. It takes a long time to develop your own sound so that people know which specific trumpeter is playing when they hear them. Right now, all of the young trumpeters sound the same. TE: You ve played on many important and historic sessions. FH: I had to change my style for every one of them. Doing that used to give me headaches. I d be playing with Coleman and play free stuff, and then play with Blakey and do the straight style, and then I d do gigs where I had to play semi-classical! Then I would switch to the flugelhorn and again play in another style. I didn t realize what I was doing. It was too much. I was in Japan recently and a magazine there published a discography that listed more than 300 records I had played on. TE: Talking about your discography brings me to another topic I wanted to discuss. I haven t read too many interviews with musicians who were involved in the famous CTI (Creed Taylor Incorporated) recordings from the 1970s where they discussed that time. I was wondering if you could talk about the CTI years? FH: I was listening to the radio just a few days ago and they played one of my records from that time. It was the Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey recording from First Light arranged by Don Sebesky. We recorded some beautiful music. The way we recorded that music was to lay the tracks down with my own group, and then Sebesky would take the tapes home and orches- 20 ITG Journal / January International Trumpet Guild

8 trate on top of our tracks. He took six months on some of them, getting everything just right. He really made the records sound good. TE: Another topic I wanted to broach was your work with tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine. FH: Stanley and I used to hang out together in New York. We used to play together at the Blue Note and all over. He had that great soul groove. Stanley could play anything. I ll never forget one tour I did with V.S.O.P. On this tour Wayne (Shorter) couldn t make it so Herbie (Hancock) got Stanley. One night Tony (Williams) said to me, Wow! I didn t know Stanley could play like that! He would make people stand up and cheer while he was playing. I d never seen anybody make people do that. He was just so full of the spirit of the moment, and was able to get the audience to come along with him. He had that church background, and his phrasing came right out of gospel. You just couldn t help feeling his spirit. I played with him at his last gig at Yoshi s in Oakland. He called me up and said, Freddie, I want you to come up here to Oakland and play with me. Every time I was around him, he would inspire me. At this last gig with him, my chops weren t in the best of shape. It didn t matter; he inspired me to play well. We played Sugar together, and that was it! It just came out wonderful for both of us. He went back to New York and passed away. It was very sad. I d never seen him play such a great show in my life as that one in Oakland. Stanley had such a beautiful sound and feeling. It came through in his music. I still haven t gotten over his death. I heard about his stroke while waiting for him in the New York airport. Grady Tate, Hubert Laws, Miles Cunningham, and I were waiting for him to come join us for a gig in Bermuda. We got a telephone call, and had to leave and play without him. When we returned we learned he had died. I loved Stanley, and I miss him greatly. TE: I know you have a close relationship with the people at Calicchio musical instruments. Can you tell me about that? FH: I met Dominic Calicchio back in the 1970s, when I was trying to find a trumpet that was more responsive and flexible. He let me try out some of his trumpets, but he wouldn t let me play them in the shop. He told me to take a few and use his horns during practice and on the bandstand. He wanted me to give them a good workout. I have to tell you I fell in love with them. Since then, he s made me a number of trumpets and flugelhorns. They just feel so comfortable. I truly believe the reason for some of my better work, beginning in the late 70s, is because of him and his instruments. Both Dominic and Erma Calicchio have been wonderfully supportive. They just made me a new flugelhorn that I took to Europe on tour. It played wonderfully. I owe a lot to them, not only for their instruments but also for their friendship. TE: Do you have any advice for young musicians? FH: Spend your time practicing. Don t stay up all night partying. Take care of your chops and learn your instrument. It s hard to play this music. Listen carefully and learn all you can. People think you can just pick up your horn and play jazz. That s wrong. Work hard, warm up before you play and warm down when you re done. I m very blessed. The Creator gave me this gift and I want to pass my learning on to others. When I was a kid, all I did was music. I gave up basketball for music, and you have to remember that Indiana loves basketball, so that was a hard decision. Once I got into the music, that was it. I got every book I could. I listened to, transcribed, and played every solo I could. I transcribed not only trumpeters like Chet Baker and Louis Armstrong, but also saxophonists like Gerry Mulligan and many others. I had tons of books that had transcriptions in them. I had so many my mother said, What are you going to do with all of those books and records? I told her I was going to get something out of all of them! Then I went to New York and learned from the masters. Kenny Dorham and Max Roach used to take me to their homes and teach me how to play. Now I want to give some of that back to young people. I want them to know how I did it, and why. TE: Tell me about your newest recording, New Colors, with David Weiss and the New Jazz Composers Octet. FH: I first met David Weiss a few years ago when he was at The University of North Texas. He s a great trumpeter who I used to work with when I did clinics down there. Several years ago he and I became reacquainted when I was in New York. We were talking and he said he d like to help me get it back together. He thought it would be good for me, for starters, to play with an eight-piece group. This way I could get my chops back together on a more even pace. He offered to write some arrangements of my tunes. He also asked me to write a few new tunes. I have to say the guys in the band have been very nice to me, not only in rehearsals, but also on gigs around New York. We really got it all together last summer when we toured. Playing with this group has helped me pace myself. I really didn t want to go back to work playing hard right away, the way that you have to in a small group. This became part of my rebuilding process. We intend to stay together for a couple of years, and then I ll be strong enough to go back out with my small group. I just got a call from the Montreal Jazz Festival. They want this group to come up there. Later, we ll be off to Berlin and Europe. It s been very encouraging for me to get back into the mix. It s a great band and all of the guys can solo. We ve included some material I wrote but haven t played since my Blue Note days. Weiss would call me every night and we d trade ideas. The reviews are good and that s nice. If you see us live, you ll see us do a number of tunes by other artists as well. I just want people to know, Fred ain t dead (laughter) International Trumpet Guild January 2002 / ITG Journal 21

9 Equipment Mr. Hubbard plays Calicchio trumpets and flugelhorns exclusively. He plays a Monette 4B mouthpiece with his trumpet and a Monette 6 with his flugelhorn. Freddie Hubbard has performed with others on more than 170 recordings. Included in this output is work with the following: Count Basie, David Benoit, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Kenny Burell, Ray Charles, Stanley Clarke, Jimmy Cobb, Cy Coleman, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphey, Bill Evans, Art Farmer, Joe Farrell, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Golson, Dexter Gordon, Slide Hampton, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Milt Jackson, Billy Joel, Elton John, J.J. Johnson, Quincy Jones, Chaka Khan, John Lewis, Mel Lewis, Carmen McRae, Hank Mobley, The Modern Jazz Quartet, Wes Montgomery, Sam Rivers, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Don Sebesky, Wayne Shorter, Stanley Turrentine, McCoy Tyner, V.S.O.P., Sarah Vaughn, Sadao Watanabe, and many others. About the Author: Thomas Erdmann is currently the director of bands and associate professor of music at Elon University, North Carolina. He has earned degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign (DMA), Illinois State University (MM), and the State University of New York at Fredonia (BMP, BME.). Erdmann is a trumpeter and pianist who has performed throughout the east and midwest regions of the United States. Selected Discography as a Leader New Colors (Hip Bop, 2001) Fastball: Live at the Left Bank (Label M, 2001) Jam Gems: Live at the Left Bank (Label M, 2001) Live At Warsaw Jazz Jamboree (Starburst, 2000) Above and Beyond (Metropolitan, 1999) Back to Birdland (Real Time Records, 1998) God Bless The Child (Music Master, 1998) Live At the Douglas Beach House, 1983 (Culture Press, 1998) Keystone Bop: Friday and Saturday Night (Prestige, 1996) Hub Art: A Celebration of the Music of Freddie Hubbard (Hip Bop, 1996) Monk, Miles, Trane and Cannon (Music Masters, 1994) Blues for Miles (Evidence, 1992) Live at Fat Tuesday (Music Masters, 1991) Temptation (Timeless, 1991) Riding High, Solo Brothers and Professor Jive (DRG, 1991) Bolivia (Music Masters, 1990) Times are Changin (Blue Note, 1989) Topsy: Standard Book (Triloka, 1989) Feel the Wind (Timeless, 1988) Salute to Pops, Volume 2 (Soul Note, 1987) Eternal Triangle with Woody Shaw (Blue Note, 1987) Life Flight (Blue Note, 1987) Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw Sessions (Blue Note, 1985) Double Take (Blue Note, 1985) Sweet Return (Atlantic, 1983) Back to Birdland (Real Time, 1982) Ride Like the Wind (En Pointe, 1982) Face to Face (Pablo, 1982) Splash (Fantasy, 1981) Born To Be Blue (Original Jazz, 1981) Keystone Boy: Sunday Night (Prestige, 1981) A Little Night Music (Fantasy, 1981) Keystone Bop (Fantasy, 1981) Rollin (MPS, 1981) Outpost (Enja, 1981) Live at the Hague (Pablo, 1980) Mistral (Tec, 1980) Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival (Pablo, 1980) Skagly (Columbia, 1979) The Love Connection (Columbia, 1979) Super Blue (Columbia, 1978) Bundle of Joy (Columbia, 1977) Echoes of Blue (Atlantic, 1976) Windjammer (Columbia, 1976) Liquid Love (Columbia, 1975) Gleam (Sony, 1975) Polar AC (CTI, 1974) High Energy (Blue Note, 1974) Keep Your Soul Together (CTI, 1973) In Concert, Volume 1 (CTI, 1973) In Concert, Volume 2 (CTI, 1973) Sky Dive (CTI, 1972) First Light (CTI, 1971) Straight Life (CTI, 1970) Red Clay (CTI, 1970) The Black Angel (Atlantic, 1969) A Soul Experiment (Atlantic, 1969) The Soul of Hubbard (Polydor, 1969) High Blues Pressure (Atlantic, 1967) Backlash (Atlantic, 1966) The Night of the Cookers: Live at the Club La Marchal, Volume 1 (Blue Note, 1965) The Night of the Cookers: Live at the Club La Marchal, Volume 2 (Blue Note, 1965) Blue Spirits (Blue Note, 1965) Breaking Point (Blue Note, 1964) The Body and Soul (Impulse!, 1963) Hub Tones (Blue Note, 1962) The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard (Impulse!, 1962) Ready for Freddie (Blue Note, 1961) Minor Mishap (Black Lion, 1961) Hub Cap (Blue Note, 1961) Here To Stay (Blue Note, 1961) Open Sesame (Blue Note, 1960) Goin Up (Blue Note, 1960) 22 ITG Journal / January International Trumpet Guild

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