by Don Berryman
On Fire: Live From The Blue Morocco is a never before released recording of jazz trumpet legend Freddie Hubbard, captured live in 1967 at the Blue Morocco jazz club in The Bronx, with his quintet featuring Bennie Maupin on tenor saxophone, Kenny Barron on piano, Herbie Lewis on bass, and Freddie Waits on drums.
When I first heard of the upcoming release of a live recording of Freddie Hubbard with his quintet in his prime I was excited. Adding to my delight was the accompaniment by two longtime favorites of mine, bassist Herbie Lewis, and pianist and NEA Jazz Master Kenny Barron. Upon hearing, this album exceeded my high expectations with both the quality of the recording and the outstanding performance. The On Fire title is fitting.
Trumpeter Steven Bernstein shares my enthusiasm, in the album booklet he says, “Freddie played night after night with the guys in this band. What you’re hearing here, when I heard it, I could not believe I was hearing. […] it’s almost like this was right when it was all coming together for him and the band is so great. It’s idea, after idea, after idea.”
On Fire: Live From The Blue Morocco was recorded live at the Blue Morocco in the Bronx on April 10, 1967. Transferred from the original tape reels that were recorded by engineer Bernard Drayton, the limited edition 3 LP set was mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Le Vinylist. The package includes new interviews with Maupin and Barron, notes by jazz authority John Koenig, appreciations and Interviews with Charles Tolliver, Eddie Henderson, Steven Bernstein, Jeremy Pelt and more. The LP set will be released on Record Store Day, April 12th, at record stores nationwide. A 2 CD set and digital download in 24-bit/96kHz will follow at Bandcamp on April 18, 2025
Blue Morocco
The Blue Morocco was founded by Sylvia Vanderpool, who opened the club using royalty earnings from her hit song “Love is Strange,” and the club booked jazz legends like Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. The Blue Morocco was located in the Bronx on Boston Road and 167th, the building no longer exists but the memories of the club remain. The 2020 film Sylvie’s Love recreated the Blue Morocco dressing up the Cafe Club Fais Do-Do in Los Angeles as a stand-in for the Bronx club for several scenes.
Nat White and Bernard Drayton were the men responsible for producing a series of jazz concerts at the Blue Morocco in the 1960’s. The two men worked with Del Shields who was a DJ for WLIB FM, playing all jazz for 12 hours after midnight. Del knew Sylvia and Joe Robinson who owned the Blue Morocco. Bernard Drayton began recording these jazz concerts on Monday nights for WLIB FM radio around 1964 and continued until 1967. Bernard Drayton kept this archive of tapes and that is why we have this album today.
The Music
Freddie Hubard had departed from the Blue Note label after having released Blue Spirits in early 1967, by that time he had recorded nine Blue Note albums as a leader and dozens more as a sideman. He had a contract with Atlantic records and had already recorded Backlash when he played the Blue Morocco gig. He was in a transitional time and this live set captures that exciting time. As Kenny Barron said in the booklet interview: “And what was great about that band on this record is that with Freddie, we could play all kinds of music. By that, I mean, in one piece, we would go from straight ahead to avant-garde and switch on a dime, change on a dime. Freddie was always the instigator. If you listened to him, you could tell where he wanted to go and we would just go there with him. It was a great band. I loved playing with them.”
On Fire: Live From The Blue Morocco opens with “Crisis”. Hubbard is on fire from the get go with soaring solos. The “Crisis” is averted in the joyful “Up Jumped Spring”, a waltz that debuted on Hubbard’s first Atlantic album Backlash which was recorded the year before .
“Echos of Blue”, written by bassist Bob Cunningham features a haunting, ethereal bass solo by Herbie Lewis followed by Hubbards brilliant bluesy trumpet in conversation with Kenny Barron on piano.
This is the first recording of “True Colors” which would be recorded in studio for High Blues Pressure with this same band later that year. In On Fire it has a spirited drum solo.
“Bye Bye Blackbird” starts Miles Davis-esc, maybe an homage? But soon takes a spirited lyrical turn displaying Hubbards prowess on his instrument as the pulse grows more intense. Then it slows and Bennie Maupin on tenor plays against Herbie Lewis pedal point and again Freddie Waits increases the pulse with peppery accents pushing the beat.
“Summertime” swings with a latin beat. Again we have soaring solos with space to stretch, the highlight for me was hearing Maupin on tenor and Hubbard on trumpet playing an extended counterpoint duet. The closing, “Breaking Point”, has a swinging calypso beat.
Track Listing:
SIDE A
- Crisis 18:40 F. Hubbard/EMI Unart Catalog, Inc. (BMI)
SIDE B
- Up Jumped Spring 17:23 F. Hubbard / Hubtones Music Co. (BMI)
SIDE C
- Echoes of Blue 15:42 R. Cunningham/Cunning Music Company (BMI)
SIDE D
- True Colors / Breaking Point 13:32 F. Hubbard / Hubtones Music Co., EMI Unart Catalog, Inc. (BMI)
SIDE E
- Bye Bye Blackbird 23:54 M. Dixon, R. Henderson/Tun Kel Publishing Co. (BMI)
SIDE F
- Summertime 16:54 George and Ira Gershwin, Dorothy Heywawrd, DuBose Heyward/ DuBose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund Pub, Frankie G. Songs, Nokawi Music (ASCAP)
- Breaking Point 7:01 F. Hubbard/EMI Unart Catalog, Inc. (BMI)
Also for Record Store Day – Kenny Dorham‘s Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco on Resonance
I wanted to mention another great album also recorded the same year at the same club featuring a trumpet legend: Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco, a never before heard live performance from master hard bop trumpeter Kenny Dorham, will be released as a two-LP set by Resonance Records for Record Store Day (April 12, 2025). The collection has been transferred from the original tape reels, mastered by Fran Gala at Resonance Records Studio, and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at 33-1/3 rpm at Le Vinylist as a limited-edition package.
The storming all-star club date will be issued as a deluxe CD on April 18. See it on Bandcamp.
Link fot original Jazz Police Article: http://www.jazzpolice.com/archives/17412
