Freddie Hubbard “Hub-tones” (1962)

Track Selection: For Spees Sake (Hubbard)

Artists

Freddie Hubbard (tp) James Spaulding (as, fl) Herbie Hancock (p) Reggie Workman (b) Clifford Jarvis (d) recorded Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, October 10, 1962

Music:

Herbie Hancock’s  percussive comping maintains the pace and interest in this Hubbard classic bopper. James Spaulding’s alto adds a different voice too. 1962, jazz still at the crossroads. You can hear Coltrane’s modal approach starting to influence Hubbard, pushing the modern mainstream forward without really entering free or avant-garde. The tempo and direction is more edgy, with staccato percussive components and a degree of restlessness not found in the comfort zone of earlier bop.

Vinyl : Blue Note BLP 4115 mono, US original pressing. Original first press.

(Bit blurry,  depth of field is very shallow this close up, and mirror slap is enough to take the edge off the sharpness. VG minus for photo, LJC!, replace it)

Collectors Corner

Source: eBay

Sellers grading : COVER EX SMALL OLD STICKER ON BACK/LP EX- FEW SCUFFS PLAYS FINE WITH THE ODD CRACKLE+ NAME ON ONE LABEL

It does indeed have the odd crackle, slightly more than I would want, but the seller put his hands up for it. Try defining ‘odd’. Sometimes it’s not even visible, sometimes  a couple of  wash-and-vacuum between plays helps, sometimes it doesn’t.

Writing on the label. But nothing irritates more than people who used red biros. Why red? It is what school teachers used to use marking down your homework. Final Demands. “Going into the red” Red rag to a bull. Seeing red. Nothing good ever follows from writing in red.

The art of listening to vinyl is attention squarely on the music, “tuning out” minor vinyl defects. They are there, so  it’s no different from anything else in life: stay focussed on the 99%, not the 1%. . Interestingly, I know quite a few people who are irresistibly drawn to the 1%. It is common in professions like medicine, who are attuned to spotting what is wrong rather than what is right.  Very grateful for their skill of spotting problems, but it is dysfunctional in some endeavours. Mind you, even I draw the line at VG+.