Jazz just lost an all-world trumpeter. Indianapolis’ Frederick Dewayne Hubbard — who died Monday morning from complications following a heart attack a month earlier at age 70 — may not have shaped jazz as the great trumpet men before him like Armstrong, Gillespie and Davis did, but his mastery ofRead More

NOTE: The New Jazz Composers Octet was the last backing band of jazz trumpet legend Freddie Hubbard, who passed away this morning at age 70 due to complications from a heart attack suffered on November 26. A truly major figure in jazz and one of the best trumpet players ofRead More

NICK DERISO: Art Blakey demanded bravado from his bands, and this one was perhaps his most intense and adventurous. Debuting here on Riverside, “Caravan” opens with Blakey’s audacious drum solo — then moves quickly into an assertive and simply awe-inspiring take on a track once defined by Duke Ellington. ARead More

by Pico A while back we looked at some of jazz’s most notable swan songs, a short, but certainly not complete list of the best last recordings of some jazz greats. So, what about some of the best beginnings? Here I will list five of what I’d consider some ofRead More

Some people think ‘Straight Life’ is the gem of Freddie Hubbard’s epic early-’70s run with the CTI label. I gotta go with ‘Red Clay.’

by S. Victor Aaron I was trying to get mentally prepared to actually describe a Charlie Hunter record when on a whim I decided to cue up GB’s The Other Side Of Abbey Road. That got me to thinking about Nick’s piece on the best Beatle remakes (hey Nick, IRead More