Frederick Dewayne Hubbard was born on April 7, 1938, and passed away on December 29, 2008. He was an American jazz trumpeter who played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles. He began performing these styles in the early 1960s. His unique and important sound helped create new ideas for modern jazz and bebop.

Career beginnings

Hubbard began playing the mellophone and trumpet in his school band at Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. Lee Katzman, a trumpeter who once played with Stan Kenton, suggested he take trumpet lessons at the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music (now known as the Jordan College of the Arts at Butler University) with Max Woodbury, the principal trumpeter of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. During his teenage years, Hubbard performed locally with musicians Wes and Monk Montgomery, and also worked with bassist Larry Ridley and saxophonist James Spaulding.

In 1958, at the age of 20, Hubbard moved to New York and began playing with some of the most respected jazz musicians of that time, including Philly Joe Jones, Sonny Rollins, Slide Hampton, Eric Dolphy, J. J. Johnson, and Quincy Jones. On June 19, 1960, Hubbard recorded his first album as a leader, Open Sesame, at the start of his contract with Blue Note Records. The recording featured saxophonist Tina Brooks, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Clifford Jarvis. Six days later, Hubbard returned the favor by recording with Brooks on True Blue.

1960s

In December 1960, Hubbard was invited to play on Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz after Coleman heard him perform with Don Cherry. In May 1961, Hubbard played on Olé Coltrane, John Coltrane's final recording session for Atlantic Records. Coltrane also hired Hubbard, Eric Dolphy, and Art Davis, who all appeared on Olé, to record Africa/Brass, Coltrane's first album with Impulse! This recording began shortly after Olé was completed.

In August 1961, Hubbard recorded Ready for Freddie (Blue Note), which marked his first collaboration with saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Hubbard joined Shorter's band later in 1961 when he replaced Lee Morgan in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. During one of the most celebrated periods of the Jazz Messengers, Hubbard played on more than 10 live and studio recordings, including Caravan, Ugetsu, Mosaic, and Free for All. Throughout the 1960s, he released eight studio albums as a bandleader for Blue Note and appeared on more than two dozen recordings as a sideman.

Hubbard remained with Blakey until 1966, when he left to form his own small groups. These groups included musicians such as James Spaulding, a Blue Note associate, pianist Kenny Barron, and drummer Louis Hayes. This group recorded for Atlantic Records. During this time, Hubbard began developing his own musical style, moving away from the early influences of Clifford Brown and Lee Morgan. He also won the DownBeat jazz magazine "New Star" award for trumpet.

Throughout the 1960s, Hubbard played on several important albums, including The Blues and the Abstract Truth by Oliver Nelson, Out to Lunch! by Eric Dolphy, Maiden Voyage by Herbie Hancock, and Speak No Evil by Wayne Shorter. He was described as "the most brilliant trumpeter of a generation of musicians who stand with one foot in 'tonal' jazz and the other in the atonal camp." Although he did not fully embrace free jazz, he appeared on two landmark free jazz albums: Coleman's Free Jazz and Coltrane's Ascension. He also played on Sonny Rollins' "new thing" track, "East Broadway Run Down," from the 1966 album of the same name, alongside Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison.

1970s

Hubbard had his most popular success in the 1970s when he recorded albums for Creed Taylor and his record label, CTI Records. His work during this time became more famous than that of other musicians like Stanley Turrentine, Hubert Laws, and George Benson. His early 1970s jazz albums, Red Clay, First Light, Straight Life, and Sky Dive, were highly praised and considered some of his best work. However, the albums he recorded later in the decade were criticized by some for focusing more on popularity than artistic quality. First Light won a Grammy Award in 1972. It included musicians such as pianists Herbie Hancock and Richard Wyands, guitarists Eric Gale and George Benson, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Jack DeJohnette, and percussionist Airto Moreira. In 1994, Hubbard worked with Chicago jazz vocalist and co-writer Catherine Whitney to create lyrics for the music of First Light.

In 1977, Hubbard joined the all-star group V.S.O.P., which also included Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, and Wayne Shorter. All members of the group except Hubbard had previously been part of the mid-1960s Miles Davis Quintet. Live recordings of the group were released as V.S.O.P., V.S.O.P. The Quintet, V.S.O.P. Tempest in the Colosseum (all from 1977), and V.S.O.P. Live Under the Sky (1979).

Hubbard’s trumpet playing was featured on the track "Zanzibar" from Billy Joel’s 1978 album 52nd Street, which won a Grammy Award for Best Album in 1979. The track ended with a fade during Hubbard’s performance. An unfaded version of the track was later included in the 2004 Billy Joel boxed set My Lives.

Later life

In the 1980s, Hubbard led his own jazz group again, with musicians such as Billy Childs and Larry Klein. His performances received positive reviews, and he played at concerts and festivals in the United States and Europe. He often performed with Joe Henderson, playing songs from hard bop and modal jazz styles. Hubbard performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1980 and 1989, the latter with Bobby Hutcherson. He and Woody Shaw recorded two albums together for Blue Note and performed live concerts from 1985 to 1987. In 1987, Hubbard co-led an album called Stardust with Benny Golson.

In 1988, Hubbard joined forces with Blakey for a performance in the Netherlands, which resulted in the album Feel the Wind. That same year, he played with Elton John, adding trumpet and flugelhorn solos to the track "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters (Part Two)" on John's album Reg Strikes Back. In 1990, Hubbard headlined a concert in Japan that included musicians such as Elvin Jones, Sonny Fortune, George Duke, Benny Green, Ron Carter, Rufus Reid, and Salena Jones. He also performed at the Warsaw Jazz Festival, where the live recording Live at the Warsaw Jazz Festival (Jazzmen 1992) was made.

After facing health challenges and a serious lip injury in 1992, which led to an infection, Hubbard continued to play and record music, though not as frequently or at the same level as earlier in his career. His best recordings remained among the highest quality in his field.

Death

On December 29, 2008, Hubbard passed away in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, due to complications from a heart attack he experienced on November 26. His body was cremated, and his ashes were given to his family.

Legacy and honors

In 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts gave Hubbard its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award.

Hubbard was closely connected to the Jazz Foundation of America during his later years. The Jazz Foundation of America's Musicians' Emergency Fund helped him when he was sick. He is quoted as saying: "When I had a serious heart condition and could not work, the Jazz Foundation helped pay my mortgage for several months and saved my home! Thank God for those people." After his death, Hubbard's estate asked that tax-deductible donations be made in his name to the Jazz Foundation.

Discography

• Polar AC (CTI, 1975) – recorded between 1971 and 1973. A table that can be sorted, with the main artist's name as the first sorting order in alphabetical order.

Filmography

• 1981: Studiolive (Sony)
• 1985: One Night with Blue Note
• 2004: Live at the Village Vanguard (Immortal)
• 2005: All Blues (FS World Jazz)
• 2009: Freddie Hubbard: One of a Kind