Freddie Hubbard - Ready for Freddie

Ready for Freddie catches a 23-year-old trumpet prodigy in full flight, cut for Blue Note in 1961 and released the following year. It is hard bop with its sleeves rolled up and its eyes on the horizon.

By the time of this session, Freddie Hubbard was already the hottest young horn player in New York, and Alfred Lion gave him a band to match. Wayne Shorter brings his cryptic tenor, McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones arrive mid-way through their legendary run with John Coltrane, Art Davis anchors the bass, and Bernard McKinney adds a mellow euphonium that gives the front line an unusual, burnished warmth.

Arietis opens with a bright, bouncing theme and solos that tumble over one another with youthful glee. Weaver of Dreams slows things to a ballad, Hubbard's tone round and glowing. Marie Antoinette, a Shorter composition, glides on a cool modal current, and Birdlike tears off at a blistering tempo that nods to Charlie Parker without ever sounding like a copy.

Rudy Van Gelder's engineering keeps every instrument vivid, from the snap of Jones's ride cymbal to the woody depth of Davis's bass.

This is one of the essential Blue Note sessions of the early sixties, and a thrilling snapshot of a star taking off.