Jazz

If Resonance Records did not exist, it would have to be invented, for it fills the hearts of jazz lovers with such joy that they eagerly anticipate each new release; especially one as extraordinary as this. On Fire: Live from the Blue Morocco is a previously unreleased recording of the legendary jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, captured in 1967 at the Blue Morocco jazz club in the Bronx, New York. Featuring an all-star lineup; Bennie Maupin, Kenny Barron, Herbie Lewis, and Freddie Waits’ the album has been meticulously transferred from the original tapes, recorded by renowned sound engineer Bernard Drayton. Available as a digital download and a deluxe 2-CD set, it comes with an extensive 32-page booklet, including liner notes by producer John Koenig and interviews with Kenny Barron and Bennie Maupin, along with testimonials from fellow musicians who knew or were influenced by Hubbard, such as Eddie Henderson, Charles Tolliver, Jeremy Pelt, Steven Bernstein, and many others.

The year was 1967’a time of cultural and sexual liberation. In 1968, my friend, the poet Léo Ferré, sang Paris-Marseille, a revolutionary anthem that, among other things, recounted how paving stones flew through the streets of Paris. I was seven years old then, living in strange times. By the end of 1967, money had all but disappeared, replaced by ration vouchers. A year without school, both amusing and interminable; punctuated by the turmoil of 1968, when I witnessed policemen chasing demonstrators, bludgeoning them with savage brutality, leaving them to bleed out in the streets. Such sights change the way you see the world. And at night, on the radio, there was jazz, Mingus, Miles, Hubbard; the very same Freddie Hubbard whose album I now hold in my hands. This music, from the other side of the world, felt inexplicably familiar. It was the soundtrack of a society in flux, searching for itself. Hubbard’s jazz embodied that search; a quest for renewal that came after the joyous, almost carefree energy of early jazz, now tinged with a deeper, more contemplative gravity. This album takes me back to those days, to my childhood memories.

We sometimes forget that, as a young musician, Hubbard worked and recorded with the Montgomery brothers; Wes, Monk, and Buddy. His very first session was for The Montgomery Brothers and Five Others. Around the same time, he formed his first band, the Jazz Contemporaries, alongside bassist and manager Larry Ridley, saxophonist and flutist James Spaulding, pianist Walt Miller, and drummer Paul Parker. The quintet became a fixture at George’s Bar, a legendary club on Indiana Avenue. Hubbard passed away in 2008, making this album all the more timely; especially as it represents, in my view, one of the most compelling periods of his career. A few minutes of his improvisations here reveal just how far he could go; just as far as Miles, though in a style all his own.

In the early 1990s, he formed a new group with young rising stars; Christian McBride, Javon Jackson, Carl Allen, and Benny Green. Throughout the decade, he continued scouting for new talent, collaborating with the New Jazz Composers Octet, led by trumpeter David Weiss. He recorded with them for the last ten years of his career, culminating in his final album, On The Real Side, released in 2008.

A testament to his visionary genius, nearly all of these musicians have since forged dazzling careers. This album is not merely a jazz gem or a showcase of Hubbard’s extraordinary artistry; it is a cultural artifact, a chapter in the story of our world. And, as you may have already guessed, it earns its rightful place among our “Indispensable” albums.

Thierry De Clemensat
USA correspondent – Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News

PARIS-MOVE, March 22nd 2025

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To buy the 2CDs set

To buy the LP’s

Musicians:
Freddie Hubbard – trumpet
Bennie Maupin – tenor saxophone
Kenny Barron – piano
Herbie Lewis – bass
Freddie Waits – drums