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+.
A great album, just listening to the BN80 version right now. Lovely to see the small “Dankers – Coolsingel” sticker. Dankers was a famous record store in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Coolsingel is just the name of the street – or in fact, it’s more like a boulevard. That name certainly has something cool to it.
The cover notes are not straight simply because the back cover is a paste-on slick, and it wasn’t put on straight.
An apple a day helps the music to play. Good news Jim
Now the audio works on my iPad. God bless LJC and Apple.
My pressing too has the odd crackle. Still sounds so beautiful can’t put down words to describe. The blue note pressings of this time are a magical thing. Magical because I’m sure many have tried to reproduce and have been eluded. They sound more lifelike than any mastering job I’ve ever heard. “Rudy, you make my mind flutter.”
Great cover, the notes a few degrees off vertical. Niiiice.
All part of the authentic vinyl experience, crooked liner notes. Did you ever see that on a CD? Got to love it, it’s an analogue cover.
From all Freddie’s Hubbard albums on Blue Note this is my favourite. The beginning of You’re My Everything immediately grabs you by the throat. Superb. CD version contains great bonuses 😉