Freddie Hubbard - Super Blue

CBS 82866 (UK), (from Columbia JC 35386 USA), released in 1978

Freddie Hubbard is heard here, playing four of his own compositions ("To Her Ladyship", "Take It To The Ozone", "The Gospel Truth", and "Theme For Kareem" (dedicated to Kareem Al Jabbar, the world famous basketball player), as well as "Superblue", the title track composed by B. Ighner, and Gino Vanelli's "The Surest Things Can Change". Critics have tended to dismiss Hubbard's Columbia recorded output as light-weight "fusion", but this is a solid effort, and the material is first-rate. He is joined on this wonderful album by Hubert Laws, flute, Joe Henderson, tenor saxophone, Ron Carter, bass, Kenny Barron, piano, and Jack DeJohnette, drums. Producer Dale Oehler plays additional keyboards on "Super Blue", and the great George Benson guests on and plays the guitar solo on "To Her Ladyship". (I had the pleasure of hearing the Hubbard band at the 1978 Middlesborough Jazz Festival, when many of these tracks were played live, and Larry Klein, later Joni Mitchell's husband, played bass.)