This CD captures the great trumpeter
Freddie Hubbard at the age of 48 just before he began to decline.
Hubbard is heard in excellent shape on two selections apiece with two separate bands. One group, a sextet with tenor-saxophonist
Stanley Turrentine and guitarist
George Benson, recalls the trumpeter's glory days on CTI although the material ("Battlescar Galorica" and "A Saint's Homecoming Song") was of recent vintage. The other band, a quintet with tenor-saxophonist
Ralph Moore, looks back toward his earlier Blue Note and Atlantic days; they perform two
Hubbard originals ("The Melting Pot" and "Life Flight"). Overall this set (from an era when the veteran trumpeter was being overshadowed by
Wynton Marsalis) gives listeners one of the last opportunities to hear
Freddie Hubbard in peak form. ~ Scott Yanow