The first album released posthumously after jazz legend
Freddie Hubbard's passing in 2008, the recordings that make up
Without a Song: Live in Europe 1969 actually sat in the Blue Note archives for 40 years. Recorded while
Hubbard was touring Europe with producer
Sonny Lester's The Jazz Wave on Tour revue, the album features performances culled from three separate nights -- two in England and one in Germany. While
Hubbard had already released many of his most famous Blue Note solo albums by 1969, in truth the trumpeter had only started leading his own full-time touring band around 1966 after leaving
Max Roach's ensemble. In that sense,
Without a Song showcases
Hubbard in his technical and creative prime as one of the premiere virtuoso jazz trumpeters of his generation. Backing
Hubbard here are pianist
Roland Hanna, bassist
Ron Carter, and drummer
Louis Hayes, all of whom except for
Carter would appear on the trumpeter's 1971 studio effort
Hub of Hubbard, which was also recorded while on this tour. Tackling a handful of standards and two originals in "Space Track" and "Hub-Tones,"
Hubbard and his band balance the music deftly on the cusp of swinging hard bop and the adventurous modal free-bop
Hubbard would delve into by the early '70s. While there are many fine live
Hubbard recordings available, few are from this apex of his career. While that alone could put
Without a Song near the top of the list of live
Hubbard albums, ultimately it is the sheer brilliance of
Hubbard's playing that makes this essential listening for any
Hubbard fan. This is the
Hubbard of jazz lore -- a golden god of the horn with an unceasingly inventive knack for both melodic simplicity and bold harmonic swagger. ~ Matt Collar