Freddie Hubbard (April 7, 1938 - December 29, 2008) lived his first 20 years in Indianapolis Indiana before moving to New York City in 1958. In 1959 he started a Blue Note record recording career that made him the most influential trumpet player since Clifford Brown. He is still the most imitated trumpet player in jazz (Miles Davis would be the most influential trumpet player to modern jazz music while Freddie is the most imitated trumpet player by trumpet players.) Freddie himself was primarily influenced by Clifford Brown and one of Clifford's first disciples Donald Byrd. Donald phrased his eight notes by tonguing the up beat and slurring into the down beat. Clifford brown tongued almost every note, at fast tempos he used "doodle tonguing" a modified form of classical style double tonguing that allowed him to swing his eight notes (Clark Terry is the only other master of this on trumpet -- many use it on trombone.) Freddie Hubbard uses Donald Byrd's style of articulation at an extremely high level of clarity and technical virtuosity. He is able to phrase eight notes as a triplet at faster tempos than anyone else has been able to execute on trumpet. This clean and articulation and ability to really swing at fast tempos along with beautiful tone, huge range, and unmatched virtuosity has made Freddie the person trumpet players want to learn from. In addition Freddie had a huge vocabulary of harmonic ideas, Freddie Hubbard solos written on paper have very much in common with John Coltrane solos from his Atlantic recording period (1959 - 1961).
     Freddie Hubbard was a hard bop trumpet player during the 1960s. He was a member of Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers from 1960 - 1964, and he appears on over 50 classic Blue Note recordings with Hank Mobley, Dexter Gordon, Herbie Hancock, Jackie McLean and many others. By the mid 1960s Freddie was a leader in modern jazz, expanded forms, free improvisation, suspended time, and music with complex and "non-functional" harmony is the norm on his recordings from 1965 - 1969. Mr. Hubbard during the 1970s was one of the leading practitioners of Fusion - or Jazz Rock/Funk. This music was more simple harmonically and was part of many jazz musicians vision of what they had to do to survive. The music had gotten so advanced in the late 1960s that not many people understood the music or showed up at modern jazz musicians like Freddie gigs. Inspired by the Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, Freddie along with Wayne Shorter (Weather Report), Herbie Hancock (Head Hunters), Chick Corea (Return to Forever) and many others, reached large audiences by making the music more "accessible." Freddie and others recorded Fusion for CTI records that were very well produced and distributed, Freddie's recordings "Red Clay," "Sky Dive," and others reached his largest audience. During these years Hubbard's trumpet technique expanded playing higher, faster and more angular. His trademark in these years was his lip slur/trills done at a speed and range only he could do. To me Freddie was a victim to his own virtuosity in this era sometimes thinking about the trumpet more than the music. Freddie with Art Blakey and on records like Ready for Freddie, Hub Tones, Maiden Voyage, Empyrean Isles (both by Herbie Hancock,) and many others from 1961 - 1966 show Freddie virtuosic yet vulnerable and his music has great emotional impact.
     By the 1980s there was much less demand for jazz fusion tours and Freddie played gigs and tours in many settings -- notably with V.S.O.P. (featuring Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams.) He made many excellent recording in the 1980s including ones with other trumpet players including Woody Shaw and Clark Terry. In the early 1990s Freddie suffered sever lip damage that reduced his technique to a small percent of his past. Freddie continued to travel and was a mentor, advocate, and inspiration for the next generation of jazz trumpet players.
     The solo on "Byrdlike" below is likely his most imitated and learned from, still very few subdivide their eight notes as triples as well as Freddie does and generate Freddie's swing and urgency. Trumpet players can do no greater favor for themselves than to try imitate Freddie Hubbard's technique, feel and harmonic language.