FREDDIE HUBBARD - WITHOUT A SONG: LIVE IN EUROPE 1969

In its continuing series of unearthing previously unissued archival music by the legends of jazz, Blue Note Records has released Without a Song—Live in Europe 1969 by trumpeter icon Freddie Hubbard, who passed away last December at the age of 70. Recorded at shows in England and Germany, the album features seven tracks performed with an all-star quartet, comprising pianist Roland Hanna, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Louis Hayes. The album captures Hubbard at the peak of his career during 1969's Jazz Wave on Tour that was produced by Sonny Lester and recorded by Malcolm Addey. After years of being in the Blue Note vaults, last year producer Michael Cuscuna sent the tapes to Hubbard, who enthusiastically embraced the idea of letting the music finally being released."

Freddie said that this was some of his best playing ever captured on tape," says Cuscuna, who enlisted Addey to remix and master the live recordings in 24 bit. "Freddie was like a schoolboy when he heard these tapes. He was jumping up and down. He was thrilled. He was full-steam ahead with the release and wanted to do publicity surrounding it. He wanted to show who the real Freddie Hubbard was." Trumpeter and bandleader David Weiss, who worked closely with Hubbard from 2000 to his death, listened with him to the tapes Cuscuna delivered. In the liner notes to Without a Song, Weiss writes, "Freddie and I listened to the three concerts the music on this CD is culled from while we were working on what turned out to be his final album, On the Real Side. Every day while driving back and forth from the studio, we would pop this music into the CD player and soak it all in. Freddie really enjoyed this music."

The Jazz Wave tour featured several acts that traveled together and played 25-30-minute sets at each stop throughout Europe. Other performers on the bill included the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, Jeremy Steig, Kenny Burrell and Jimmy McGriff. The tour was documented with a 1970 double-LP Blue Note release, Jazz Wave. On that compilation, only Hubbard's stunning rendition of "Body and Soul" was released. The rest of the material of the tour was shelved. Recorded in Bristol and London, England, and at a date in Germany, Without a Song features Hubbard breathing fire, swinging mightily and musing lyrically throughout, including on the title track, "The Things We Did Last Summer," "A Night in Tunisia" and one of the leader’s hit tunes, "Hub-Tones," in a truncated version that served as the end song of his sets during the tour. The album also includes Red Garland's "Blues By Five" (a rarely played tune that Miles Davis once covered) and the avant-leaning, tempo-shifting original, "Space Track." In regards the latter, Cuscuna says that it wasn't originally slated to be on the album, but Hubbard requested it. “

These performances show the range of these guys and the way they approached hard bop,” says Cuscuna. Weiss adds in the liners, “This recording captures Freddie at one of the creative high points of his career when all his experiences of the past decade—performing with Art Blakey and playing on all those classic Blue Note recordings—seem to have reached an apex. He was still pretty early in his career as a bandleader at this point but except for Louis Hayes, this was not his regular working band at the time which might account for the program being mostly being made up of standards with a couple of originals sprinkled in.” Without a Song captures Hubbard during a period when he was one of jazz’s most important artists whose influence continues to hold sway today. “As these recordings once again attest, Freddie was the complete package,” says Weiss. “[He had a] huge, fat sound, incredible range, as harmonically complex as they come but also quite the lyricist and boasted perhaps the most prodigious technique in the history of jazz trumpet. And as these recordings yet again prove, he gave it his all at all times, night after night, year after year.”