Sunday, July 8, 2012

Instrumental CD Reissue of the Month - "Freddie Hubbard: Gleam"

Instrumental CD Reissue of the Month
Freddie Hubbard: "Gleam" (Sony/Wounded Bird) 1975

Rating:
***** (musical performance)
***** (recording quality)
**** (mixing & digital remastering)

Featuring: Freddie Hubbard (trumpet & flugelhorn), George Cables (Fender Rhodes), Henry Franklin (electric bass), Carl Burnett (drums), Buck Clark (congas & percussion) and Carl Randall, Jr. (flute & tenor sax)

Recorded live on March 17, 1975 @ Yubin Chokin Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Directed by Keiichi Nakamura
Engineer: Tomoo Suzuki
Cover Photo: Kenji Wakasugi
Liner Photo: Aiko Ninbari
Art Direction: Masaru Kawahara

The first CD reissue ever of Freddie Hubbard's rarest album, "Gleam," previously released only once, in 1975, and only in Japan as a 2-LP set. Includes a dreamy flugel-Rhodes duo on The Stylistics' "Betcha By Golly Wow" (previously recorded for the CTI album "Polar AC"), a ferocious take on "Spirits of Trane" (a tribute to John Coltrane originally available on "Keep Your Soul Together," another CTI session), plus 5 inspired renditions of songs from his Columbia days: the funkyfied "Put It In The Pocket" (without the vocals heard on the studio version), the spaced-out "Ebony Moondreams," the Afro-tinged "Kuntu," David Nichtern's "Midnight at The Oasis" turned into a hit by Maria Muldaur, and Stevie Wonder's glorious "Too High."

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