Freddie Hubbard - Straight Life
Our Price: $12.43
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Artist: Freddie HubbardEdition: Music CD
Format: Limited Edition
CD Release Date: 2008-03-01
Music Label: Sbme Special Mkts.
Soundtracks:
- Straight Life - Freddie Hubbard
- Mr. Clean - Freddie Hubbard
- Here's That Rainy Day - Freddie Hubbard
Music reviews of Straight Life
Music Review: Freddie Hubbard - Straight Life - Blazing, Crackling, More Adjectives!
Rating: 5 Stars
Everyone has their own idea of what jazz is. I was 12 when I first heard Straight Life, Red Clay and Herbie Hancock's Crossings and I liked the way Hancock, Hubbard and their contemporaries opened things up harmonically, around 1969 or 1970. The Fender Rhodes was in, rigid chord changes and the straight-four cymbal chop were out. Sure, Miles and Trane (Tony Williams, too) were there first and most hungry jazz fans dug it; some older school folks couldn't stand the apparent lack of structure and minimal chordal blueprints.
But side one kicks the wind out of Miles Smiles or the groundbreaking but droney In A Silent Way. It's more focused and of superior intensity - if you can believe that. Side One is the title track, 18 minutes of dancing, crackling previously unheard jazz. Jack DeJohnette, in one of his best performances of hundreds of recordings, provides the hyperactive, unflagging chatty stimulus throughout. Ron Carter, wisely keeps the montuno ostinato bass line locked in with a delightfully plucky lilt as DeJohnette puts up a maelstrom of lively and challenging constant comment. It seems there's two guys playing inside DeJohnette at the same time. His hi-hat foot seems guided by a calm and measured yogi-like master while his hands are burning with youthful abandon and an almost Jerry Springer-like desire to create conflict - one of the more miraculous drum performances ever recorded.
Is it free jazz? Well, not exactly, it's got happy rhythm and Carter's melodic tonal ostinato that everyone cartwheels about at will. Is it Latin or swing? Not really, but it has elements of both. It's a one-off happening, peculiar to that short span in jazz history that defies categorizing and precedes the enervated horrors that would develop just 3 or 4 years later. Is it exciting? Absolutely, it's on fire and wild as hell. The head to Straight Life is a charming, simple tune that you won't want to get out of your head. Played with Hubbard's happy/sad rhythmic phrasing, it's a jazz hit of a melody. But it's just the start of a real adventure. Rudy Van Gelder's brilliant engineering captures the vivid timbre of Hancock's Fender-Rhodes; you can feel the wood and metal as he digs drivingly into the keys during his searching chromatic explorations and occasional small, bizarre inverted rhythmic compulsions.
There's moments of telepathic magic. The lyrical wind-down of Hancock's electric piano solo seamlessly bleeds into George Benson's clean and warm hollow-body - for a couple of seconds I can't tell if it's piano or guitar. The melody and timbre seem to be from one mind, one unbroken soulful phrase. Like the baton in a relay, Benson picks up his hand in motion and pours forth eminently singable and hard-swinging melodic inventions. Remarkably, throughout the 18 minutes Ron Carter's every single bass pluck is joyous, propulsive and purposeful. Joe Henderson's fat, mahogany tenor tone and soulful phrases you'll want to hear again and again, and you will be singing along after some time with this record. If there's any weak spots it's Hubbard's occasional lapses into his trademarked, time-marking horse-whineys, but fortunately the band more than compensates inventively during those spots.
Side two is slightly downhill from there (it couldn't possibly go up). Mr. Clean is a loping, funky mid-tempo rockish romp with a great, twisty head played masterfully by Henderson and Hubbard. It's satisfying enough, though rock isn't DeJohnette's strong suit. I've always thought his rock playing original enough, but oddly draggy. The song's composer, Weldon Irvine, adds tambourine here and kicks up the verve quotient a notch while the rest of the band keeps it hard enough for digging. Solid. The sparse closer, Here's That Rainy Day, is just a guitar and trumpet ballad, sans band. Pretty enough, but after the unbridled freedom and drive of the other tracks it seems tethered to the chords changes and out of place, almost "square." On the other hand, it's a gentle and forgettable runway landing. And after a wild and dangerous flight, maybe that's the best kind.
Revised 4/7/2011
John "Charles Ives" S.
More Straight Life free music reviews:
1
1
Description of Straight Life
Freddie Hubbard s Straight Life, which hit #5 on the Billboard jazz chart, was released between his signature hits Red Clay and First Light, but All Music Guide hails the album as arguably Hubbard s greatest recording ... frequently astounding ... essential for all serious jazz collections. Joining Hubbard are tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, keyboardist Herbie Hancock, guitarist George Benson, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Jack DeJohnette. The very memorable set is rounded off by the trumpeter's duet with Benson on a lyrical version of the ballad Here's That Rainy Day. Freddie Hubbard was, I believe, the greatest jazz trumpet stylist of my generation,Herbie Hancock has said. His influence is still being felt in the sound of many young trumpeters today. His warm tone and formidable technique will be considered marvels well into the future.
Jazz CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Jazz CDs
Curtis Brothers Quartet - Blood, Spirit, Land, Water, FreedomRelease date: 2009-10-01; Music CD
![Jazz Casual - 3-Pack Vol. 1 (Count Basie, Carmen McRae, John Coltrane) [VHS] Image](/images/Jazz-Casual-3-Pack-Vol-1-Count-Basie-Carmen-McRae-John-Coltrane-VHS-6305320578-X.jpg)
Jazz Casuals: Coltrane Basie & Mcrae - Jazz Casual - 3-Pack Vol. 1 (Count Basie, Carmen McRae, John Coltrane) [VHS]Rhino / Wea; Release date: 1999-05-04; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $43.27
![Jazz Legend: Part 2 1970-1987 [VHS] Image](/images/Jazz-Legend-Part-2-1970-1987-VHS-6303400787-X.jpg){kind=small}
Buddy Rich - Jazz Legend: Part 2 1970-1987 [VHS]Warner Brothers Pub.; Release date: 2000-10-20; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $10.75
Price in other shops:
![Living Legend of the Electric Guitar [VHS] Image](/images/Living-Legend-of-the-Electric-Guitar-VHS-6302658225-X.jpg){kind=small}
Les Paul - Living Legend of the Electric Guitar [VHS]Bmg Video Label; Release date: 1993-02-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $19.95
Price in other shops:
![Hurricane [VHS] Image](/images/Hurricane-VHS-6302251281-X.jpg){kind=small}
Herbie Hancock - Hurricane [VHS]View Video; Release date: 1992-04-07; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $2.50
Cocktails for Twoby band leader Spike Jones
Music CD
Best price: $19.95
![Dave Grusin and the NY/LA Dream Band [VHS] Image](/images/Dave-Grusin-and-the-NY-LA-Dream-Band-VHS-6301724496-X.jpg)
Dave Grusin - Dave Grusin and the NY/ LA Dream Band [VHS]Umgd; Release date: 1990-06-26; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $6.93
Price in other shops:
![Diane Schuur & Count Basie Orchestra [VHS] Image](/images/Diane-Schuur-Count-Basie-Orchestra-VHS-630164770X-X.jpg){kind=small}
Count Basie, Diane Schuur - Diane Schuur & Count Basie Orchestra [VHS]Grp Records; Release date: 1996-01-30; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
Damals in HamburgRelease date: 1999-08-11; Music CD
Best price: $23.54
Ben Webster - Ben WebsterRelease date: 2006-12-20; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Milt Jackson - Sunflower (CTI Records 40th Anniversary Edition)Release date: 2011-01-25; Music CD
Best price: $6.67
Price in other shops:
Joe Farrell - Outback (CTI Records 40th Anniversary Edition)Release date: 2011-08-09; Music CD
Best price: $5.22
Price in other shops:
Stanley Turrentine - Salt Song (CTI Records 40th Anniversary Edition - Original recording remastered)Release date: 2011-04-12; Music CD
Best price: $6.95
Price in other shops:
Stanley Turrentine - Don't Mess With Mr. T (CTI Records 40th Anniversary Edition)Release date: 2011-06-14; Music CD
Best price: $4.96
Price in other shops:
Hubert Laws - In The Beginning (CTI Records 40th Anniversary Edition)Release date: 2011-06-14; Music CD
Best price: $5.12
Price in other shops:
Hubert Laws - Morning Star (CTI Records 40th Anniversary Edition)Release date: 2010-10-05; Music CD
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops:
Freddie Hubbard - First Light (CTI Records 40th Anniversary Edition - Original recording remastered)Release date: 2011-04-12; Music CD
Best price: $7.20
Price in other shops:
Freddie Hubbard - First LightRelease date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $20.86
Stanley Turrentine - Sugar (CTI Records 40th Anniversary Edition)Release date: 2010-10-12; Music CD
Best price: $5.82
Price in other shops:
Freddie Hubbard - Red Clay (CTI Records 40th Anniversary Edition)Release date: 2010-10-05; Music CD
Best price: $5.12
Price in other shops: