Freddie Hubbard - The Hub of Hubbard (MPS AAA Series)

Ten years after trumpeter Freddie Hubbard’s debut album Open Sesame hit the record stores, his career reached a crossroad. He had already achieved a great deal, including his participation in the groundbreaking free-jazz movement. From this crossroads, he launched his popular phase with CTI Records. Hubbard recorded this album at the MPS studios in Germany while he was on break from his European Tour, which created an opportunity to see this musician alongside his all-star quintet in a non-performance setting. The cornerstone of this album is the jazz standard “Without a Song,” which Hubbard and his gang turn into a 13-minute escapade which exploits the band’s unrestrained talent, energy, and enthusiasm.

A defining figure in jazz as a trumpet virtuoso and one of the leading trumpeters of all time, Freddie Hubbard recorded The Hub of Hubbard in Germany in 1969, right before the apex of his career and the success of his album First Light, which would eventually earn him a Grammy. It features his bandmates Eddie Daniels (tenor saxophone), Roland Hanna (piano), Richard Davis (bass) and Louis Hayes (drums).

Toeing across vibrancy, the album’s first two titles highlight the band’s technical proficiency and high-speed, stylistic playing; while the final two offerings compound into a low-tempo, almost pensive gaze at the instrumentalists. The Hub of Hubbard broadcasts Hubbard’s dynamic trumpet-playing, his evocative hard-bop style and glissandos, at a critical point of his career.

Heavyweight audiophile vinyl produced by MPS Records in 2021 for their 'Reforest The Legend MPS AAA Series'. Remastered from the original analog tapes by Christoph Stickel and Dirk Sommer. Pressed at Optimal Media in Germany. Includes photo insert of the original master tape box.

MPS Records was a German jazz record company founded in 1968 by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer. MPS stands for "Musik Produktion Schwarzwald".