A lot of jazz folks I meet when discussing the music of Freddie Hubbard tend to focus on his early works on Blue Note, or they jump to his fusion works on Creed Taylor’s iconic CTI Records label in the late 1960s and early ’70s. Betwixt and between all that, he cut some albums for Impulse Records, which are now hard to find.
Fortunately, new reissues from Universal Music and its acclaimed Acoustic Sounds series of reissues — pressed at the respected Quality Record Pressing (QRP) plant on 180-gram vinyl — are bringing back overlooked and equally rare Impulse titles such as The Artistry Of Freddie Hubbard.
As we have come to expect, the underlying quality control on reissues like this is top-notch. Verve’s Acoustic Sounds Series features fresh lacquers mastered from the original tapes by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab within QR. The high-quality Stoughton Printing gatefold “tip-on” jacket is reminiscent of the original laminated packaging found on early Impulse releases back in the day. The series is supervised by Acoustic Sounds’ Chad Kassem.
Featuring a great band that includes Louis Hayes on drums, piano legend Tommy Flanagan, plus Art Davis on bass, The Artistry Of Freddie Hubbard is a solid session. Containing some tasty workouts on Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” and Gershwin’s “Summertime,” the rest of the session features Hubbard originals that I’ve been digging, especially “The 7th Day” and “Happy Times.”
This new Acoustic Sounds reissue is a solid value at only $38.98 at Amazon. If you were to try to buy an original stereo pressing online, you’d likely be facing prices at least twice that amount for a copy in just VG/VG+ condition. Using online vinyl marketplace Discogs as a rough barometer, even a 1967 second pressing on the red-ringed Impulse label was asking around $170 for the one near-mint copy available at the time of this writing. So, for the price, and with production values as high as they are on this new edition of The Artistry Of Freddie Hubbard, you can’t go wrong.
Our Ratings
★★★★★★★★★★ Music
★★★★★★★★★★ Sound
★★★★★★★★★★ Packaging
Where to Buy
Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc. You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.
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