Open Sesame [US Bonus Tracks] [Remaster]

Performer: Freddie Hubbard
Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel include: Freddie Hubbard (trumpet); Tina Brooks (tenor saxophone); McCoy Tyner (piano); Sam Jones (bass); Clifford Jarvis (drums). Producer: Alfred Lion. Reissue producer: Michael Cuscuna. Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on June 19, 1960. Includes liner notes by Ira Gitler and Bob Blumenthal. All tracks have been digitally remastered. This is part of Blue Note Records "Rudy Van Gelder Editions" series. Personnel: Freddie Hubbard (trumpet); Tina Brooks (tenor saxophone); McCoy Tyner (piano); Clifford Jarvis (drums). Audio Remasterer: Rudy Van Gelder. Recording information: Van Gelder Studio, Englwood Cliffs, NJ (06/19/1960). Photographer: Francis Wolff. This album's title and cover welcome the listener to trumpeter Freddie Hubbard's initial outing as a bandleader, and it's a fine Blue Note debut. (Prior to this release, Hubbard had played with many East Coast jazz luminaries, most notably Sonny Rollins and Eric Dolphy.) Recorded in 1960, OPEN SESAME features a stellar band that includes pianist McCoy Tyner and saxophonist Tina Brooks. The swinging title track, penned by Brooks, showcases the horns, but it also allows the rest of the band to get into a tight groove. The following tune finds the ensemble easing into Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke's classic ballad "But Beautiful," with Hubbard and Tyner taking center stage for much of the song. An outstanding first album, OPEN SESAME stands up to Hubbard's excellent latter-day recordings. Freddie Hubbard's first recording as a leader, Open Sesame features the 22-year-old trumpeter in a quintet with tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks, the up-and-coming pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Sam Jones and drummer Clifford Jarvis. This set shows that even at this early stage, Hubbard had the potential to be one of the greats. On the ballad "But Beautiful" he shows maturity; other highlights include "Open Sesame," a driving "All or Nothing at All" and "One Mint Julep." It's an impressive start to what would be a very interesting career. [The 2002 Blue Note re-release includes two bonus tracks: alternate takes of "Open Sesame" and "Gypsy Blue."] ~ Scott Yanow

Freddie Hubbard has always been a trumpet player of great facility, suppleness, and polish. Following his breakthrough with the Jazz Messengers in the late '50s, his burnished tone became a focal point of innumerable Blue Note albums of the '60s, both as leader and sideman. After a foray into fusion in the '70s, he returned to the hard bop of his early career.

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