Freddie Hubbard on CTI

[Big Al]

Red Clay is the archetype/icon/conventional-wisdom-favorite, and probably hangs together better as a "presentation", but in all honesty, I think that everybody involved plays better (i.e. - looser & more inventive) on Straight Life.

In total agreement. That "In Concert" album is killer as well.

Which one? Seems like there are a lot of CTI "In Concert" albums on which Freddie appears.

This one. Turrentine is friggin' ON during this concert, he stretches out much farther than you'd expect.

Wow! I hope I can find both volumes! The lineups look smokin'!

[JSngry]

Vol 2 has moments of "filler" & vol 1 is definitely the more solid of the two, but if you find 'em both, buy'em both. If you cheat just a little, they'll both fit on one CD.

And yeah, Turrentine on these will surprise some people.

[Guest donald petersen]

i liked number two better i though. two is the one with hornets, right?

i guess it depends what you are looking for. and i guess i see the filler comment.

[JSngry]

two is the one with hornets, right?

Yep.

[John L]

it got to a certain point where he actually had to stop using the bathroom he said-- i have thus been sacred to spin my copy of straight life!!!

Is that the Straight Life LP with the yellow cover?

Edited May 25, 2007 by John L

[CJ Shearn]

oh yeah, Stanley goes a little out on "Povo". That's definitely surprising if you haven't heard this album before. I think he was a much more agile player than people give him credit for. Also DeJohnette pushes really hard on vol. 1.

Edited May 28, 2007 by CJ Shearn

[felser]

I also like all of Hubbard's CTI albums. For what they were, the early CTI stuff holds up incredibly well - I appreciate it much more now than I did in the day. Wonderfully listenable. The later stuff (David Matthews arranged, etc., attempting to be funky) got pretty shakey at times. The title cut from Hubbard's 'First Light' is about my favorite 'with strings/overproduced' jazz cut of all time, truly beautiful. One error on my part in an earlier post - no greatest CTI list should be without George Benson's 'Beyond the Blue Horizon'.

[CJ Shearn]

right on felser. Benson's playing is torrid on that album, despite Ron Carter's cello playing. Shame the '97 remaster is OOP, I had to get the UK import, which is jewelcased and is otherwise the same as the '97 US edition.

[Guy Berger]

right on felser. Benson's playing is torrid on that album, despite Ron Carter's cello playing.

Is Ron Carter's cello playing torture, or just a "coercive interrogation technique"?

Guy

[Big Al]

right on felser. Benson's playing is torrid on that album, despite Ron Carter's cello playing.

Is Ron Carter's cello playing torture, or just a "coercive interrogation technique"?

Guy

All of the above? It sounds like one of those cheap-o synths you could get at KMart, that had the chord buttons on the left that, when you pressed them, sounded like a chorus of car horns.

But other than that, as Felser said earlier, this album is NOT to be missed. According to CDUniverse, it's available on the Mosaic Contemporary label.

(Could someone please change that link so that Organissimo gets the credit? I don't know how to do it! Thanks!)