Post-bop/jazz-funk: «First Light» y «Moment to Moment» [ESP/ENG]

This album is part of a trilogy by Freddie Hubbard that includes his two previous works, Red Clay (1970) and Straight Life (1971), and in which you can listen to string arrangements by Don Sebesky. The orchestral ensemble consists of a vibraphone, an English horn, an oboe, a harp, two clarinets, two French horns, two bassoons, two cellos, two violas, four flutes and ten violins. By the time Freddie Hubbard recorded this album he had already become a trumpeter whom all wanted to imitate. His ability to impress with an amazing readiness and quick phrasing was unparalleled, and had a rich tone and innate sense of melody. But this time he wanted to produce something different from what he had done before. The result is a masterpiece of textured sound, sweet and tight rhythms, a subtle mystical feel and one of Hubbard’s most fascinating performances.

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George Benson’s restless guitar superimposed on Hubbard’s warm tone and Herbie Hancock’s beautifully modal lines with the Fender Rhodes are made more elegant with Sebesky’s strings. With First Light, his third and final album for CTI Records, Hubbard decided to expand his project and musical perspective by adding strings while continuing the jazz/funk/soul approach. For years, purists and jazz critics have complained about his decision to introduce these arrangements. Although mixing jazz with strings has always been a source of discussion among jazz fans, Sebeski has set a much more subtle direction here than usual. His lightweight introduction with flute, vibraphone, harp and strings offers a warm and attractive contrast to the solid and fierce funkiness of Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette. Hubbard controls his most energetic tendencies, showing that he can also play lyrical lines and pleasant tones.

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This is the only composition of the album written by Hubbard. The group performs a long and slow introduction, and afterwards they expose the theme at medium tempo. At some point a flute intervenes, then the orchestral ensemble joins in and Hubbard finishes exposing the theme. He soon begins his solo in a calm way, but not long after he shows his robust and powerful side using diverse and amazing phrases. Then the flutes sound to give way to Benson, who displays a heated speech using sometimes chords and other times sentences at high speed. He also introduces guitar tricks while the orchestral ensemble accompanies him below. The flutes play again and then the group re-exposes the theme, but Hubbard keeps playing for a while fading out.

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Translated with the help of DeepL

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In this musical piece the orchestral ensemble makes the introduction and then Hubbard joins in to expose the theme. It’s very slow and Hubbard interprets the melody spraying gold on each note he plays accompanied only by the ensemble. This is then replaced by the rhythm section of the group at medium tempo and Hubbard makes an agile and creative solo. In the meantime the ensemble also comes in while Hubbard continues with a balanced and well elaborated discourse. After that, the group leaves and the orchestral ensemble outlines a concise passage before Hubbard keeps playing some optimistic phrases. To close, the atmosphere descends as it was at the beginning, Hubbard becomes poetic again and everything ends with a flute fading out.

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℗ CTI Records