Keep Your Soul..

Alle drei Scheiben sind sehr gut. Besonders gefällt mir aber Skagly, weil das so ein eleganter, grooviger Jazz und astrein produziert ist. Das ist aber bei Freddie Hubbard ohnehin immer schon Standard. Das Wort "Soul" im Titel der ersten CD kommt nicht von ungefähr, da Hubbard hier durchaus souligen Jazzklänge produziert. Ich kann diese Produktionen aus den Jahren 1973/75/79 nur wärmstens empfehlen.

I am not a big fan of bundled re-releases but this one really gets it right. I bought it because I had been looking for reasonably priced copy of Keeping Your Soul Together for a long time and I took the chance. I was really impressed by the packaging and quality of the remastering job. I recently acquired an original copy of the CTI release from the early eighties and there really is no comparison. The new remaster job is cleaner and more dynamic than the original one. It is missing the extended version of Keep Your Soul Together that runs a bit over fourteen minutes but if you are going for reasonable price and sound quality this is the one. Polar AC and Skagly are not my favorite Hubbard albums but welcome additions to this set. I wish that Sony Music would release KYST remastered by Mark Wilder like the recent ones in the CTI 40th Anniversary releases. Not sure why this one missed the cut but one remains hopeful for a future release. If you are a fan of seventies fusion and Freddie then hesitate no more and get it.

Finalmente, dopo tanto tempo, sono riuscito ad avere in formato CD questi album che il grande Freddie Hubbard incise per la Columbia negli anni '70.Nonostante i puristi del jazz abbiano sempre considerato queste incisioni (per altro molto belle) come una rovina per la reputazione del musicista, devo invece dire che a me sono sempre piaciute moltissimo. Freddie ha dimostrato, come solo un grande strumentista sa fare, che poteva passare tranquillamente da un genere ad un altro senza sminuire in alcun modo né il suo squisito gusto per l'improvvisazione, né la sua tecnica sfavillante.Tutti gli album incisi per la Columbia sono la dimostrazione lampante che non solo Freddie aveva le idee chiare (al suo fianco musicisti del calibro di Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke, ecc.), ma che era addirittura in anticipo sui tempi: il misto tra funk e fusion che si ascolta in questi dischi, infatti, suona ancora oggi tremendamente attuale, sia come ritmica che come arrangiamenti, stesura dei temi solistici ed orchestrazioni.Veramente un periodo molto notevole del grande artista. Straconsigliato a tutti gli amanti del genere (e non solo)!

フレディ・ハバード(1938-2008)の以下の3アルバムが収録されている。どれもCTIのアルバムであり、心地良い演奏ばかりである。①Keep Your Soul Together (1974)②Polar AC (1975)③Skagly (1980)アルバムジャケットも印象的である。①真っ赤な唇型のソファーに横たわるフレディ②ソルトレイクシティーの大塩湖のような平坦で広大な場所に立つ上半身裸の男③ハットをかぶり、真っ赤な唇で葉巻をくわえている女〈Disc 1〉①Keep Your Soul Together (1974)1. Brigitte2. Keep Your Soul Together3. Spirits Of Trane4. Destiny’s ChildrenFreddie Hubbard: trumpetJunior Cook: tenor saxophoneGeorge Cables: electric pianoAurell Ray: guitarKent Brinkley: bassRon Carter: electric bassRalph Penland: drumsJuno Lewis: percussion②Polar AC (1975)5. Polar AC　シダー・ウォルトン作曲。これまで「Polar AC」という曲名を見かけたことはなかったが、曲そのものはシダー、フレディが在籍していた1963年アート・ブレイキー＆ジャズ・メッセンジャーズのUgetsuにて「Ugetsu」という曲名で知っていた。また、1971年フレディのFirst Lightでは「Fantasy In D」という曲名で演奏されている。こういった3種類もの曲名が存在するのはいわゆる大人の事情によるものか？6. People Make The World Go Round7. Betcha By Golly, Wow8. Naturally9. Son Of Sky DiveFreddie Hubbard: trumpetJunior Cook: tenor saxophoneHubert Laws: fluteGeorge Benson: guitarRon Carter: bassJack DeJohnette: drums (track 5)George Cables: piano (tracks 6 & 9)Billy Cobham: drums (track 8)Lenny White: drums (tracks 6 & 9)Airto Moreira: percussion (tracks 6 & 7)他〈Disc 2〉③Skagly (1980)1. Happiness Is Now　ファンクテイストの心地良い演奏である。スタジオ録音。同じ1980年フレディのLive at Northsea Jazz FestivalやPinnacle: Live & Unreleased from Keystone Kornerではライヴ演奏が聴ける。2. Theme From "Summer Of '42" (The Summer Knows)　あの名作映画おもいでの夏のテーマ曲。初めて知ったが「Summer Of '42」は戦時下の「1942年の夏」の意味とのこと。フレディの奇をてらわない真摯な演奏が心に沁みる。上記のPinnacle: Live & Unreleased from Keystone Kornerではライヴ演奏が聴ける。3. Cascais4. Skagly5. Rustic CelebrationFreddie Hubbard: trumpetHadley Caliman: tenor saxophone, fluteBilly Childs: keyboardsLarry Klein: bassCarl Burnett: drumsPaulinho da Costa: percussionPhil Ranelin: trombone (tracks 1,3,4,& 5 )George Duke: claves (track 4)Jeff "Skunk" Baxter: guitar (track 4)〜私はﾚﾋﾞｭｰ内容をｱｯﾌﾟした後も随時更新して内容を充実させています〜

Mark Barry said pretty much everything I wanted to say .So I'll just add some extra details that some people might be wondering about. First, Keep Your Soul Together does not include the 14 min alternate take from the previous CBS release, just the 4 LP tracks are present. The CD runs 78 min, so theres no place to put it anyway.I've heard multiple releases of the Keep Your Soul... and Polar AC, and this new set sounds greatly improved over all of them, the US and Japanese issues. Polar AC has always sounded a bit muddy on every issue I've heard and to a degree it's true here. But this is still the best sounding release of Polar AC, theres more clarity and space around the instruments, and the sound stage is larger.I do question why they chose Skagly as the third album. The rest of the packaging and notes is primarily in reference to CTI, so it would have made more sense to include Sky Dive instead. Perhaps they tried but couldn't , who know? Anyway a good box set.