Blue Spirits

Updated on Dec 03, 2024

Edit

Comment

Released Mid February 1967 Release date 1965 Label Blue Note Records		Artist Freddie Hubbard Producer Alfred Lion Genre Jazz

Recorded February 19 & 26, 1965March 5, 1966Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs Length 44:35 original LP62:04 CD reissue Blue Spirits(1965) The Night of the Cookers(1965) Similar Freddie Hubbard albums, Jazz albums

Blue Spirits is the tenth album by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard released on the Blue Note label. It would be his last studio album for Blue Note, only followed up by the live album the next year; The Night of the Cookers. It features performances by Hubbard, James Spaulding, Joe Henderson, Harold Mabern, Jr., Larry Ridley, Clifford Jarvis, Big Black, Kiane Zawadi, Hank Mobley, McCoy Tyner, Bob Cranshaw, Pete LaRoca. The CD release added tracks from a 1966 session featuring Hosea Taylor, Herbie Hancock, Reggie Workman, and Elvin Jones.

The pieces

Hubbard say in the albums original liner notes: "I tried to get that dark sound... which characterizes much of the rest of the music in the album". All of the compositions featured in the set are Hubbard's originals. Hubbard intended for the album to be a spiritual one, but not in the religious sense. "In a sense that I consider music to be spiritual experience because you can get at your deepest feeling... ". "Soul Surge" and "Cunga Black" have a distinct Latin feel, accentuated by Big Black's congas. "Blue Spirits" and "Jodo" have a kind of dark intensity about them, something which Hubbard was trying to capture. "Outer Forces" has the most standard hard bop feel to it. "Melting Pot" is "tropical and lyrical, with hints of a Horace Silver in the writing. "True Colours" is completely free with Herbie Hancock sounding like Cecil Taylor and Hosea Taylor making animal-like noises, much like the late Eric Dolphy.

Reception

Allmusic's Scott Yanow awarded the album four stars, saying: "The set is comprised of seven diverse Hubbard originals and, even though none of the songs caught on to become standards, the music is quite challenging and fairly memorable." As stated in the liner notes, "The use of a fourth horn for this album, coupled with an exclusive focus on Hubbard's compositions, really threw light on the trumpeter's command of harmony, which is such a critical part of both his improvising and writing personality". Hubbard's playing here is among his best, and this album "is arguably the best recorded example of the Hubbard/James Spaulding partnership" which had been ongoing for the previous two years.