McCoy Tyner (piano); Freddie Hubbard (trumpet, flugelhorn); Avery Sharpe (bass); Louis Hayes (drums)
The Fabrik or 'Fabrik' is a venue in Hamburg with a track record of presenting jazz, 'big name' jazz concerts at that. In 1986 Freddie Hubbard joined the McCoy Tyner Trio on-stage on a mid-summer evening (June 18 to be precise). This new release on Jazzline is another in an increasingly crowded market place of recently discovered and/or recently issued, albums. Why it has taken the best part of thirty six years for Live at Fabrik to see the light of day isn't clear. It would seem this 'trio plus guest' concert is best marketed as the 'McCoy Tyner-Freddie Hubbard Quartet'.
In his liner notes Michael Laages suggests this two-disc recording shows McCoy Tyner 'at the summit of his fame' playing alongside 'the exceptional charisma of Hubbard's trumpet'. Tyner and Hubbard were in their late thirties at the time of the recording and it's fair to say they were at the the peak of their creative powers: Tyner's percussive piano playing is evident throughout and Hubbard's sustained high-C bravura trumpet playing is, to say the least, impressive. Bassist Avery Sharpe and Louis Hayes (still going strong at the age of eighty four) make telling contributions throughout the two hours plus the quartet is on stage.
Four of the album's eight tracks were penned by Tyner, Hubbard's Neo-Terra, the longest of several long tracks, clocks-in at a mammoth 25:49, alongside three standards - Body and Soul, 'Round Midnight and What is This Thing Called Love? The quartet's take on Johnny Green's Body and Soul suggests the venue wasn't/isn't on the intimate side. Indeed, the album's overall sound balance leaves something to be desired. That said, from the opener, Tyner's Inner Glimpse, it's a fast and furious ride, the principals to the fore. Neo-Terra is Hubbard venturing into jazz-funk mode (Hayes soloing, crashing cymbals et al), the hard bop years a distant memory.
Disc two opens with Tyner's uplifting gospel-to-calypso Island Birdie, perhaps the album's atypical cut. 'Round Midnight features Hubbard playing trumpet and flugelhorn. Monk's timeless number doesn't escape Hubbard's piercing high-C treatment. Seventeen minutes' worth of Tyner's Blues for Basie finds the quartet in swinging form, Sharpe soloing. Live at Fabrik closes with What is This Called Love?, Tyner digging into some stride, the quartet going out all guns blazing. Russell
Live at Fabrik by the McCoy Tyner/Freddie Hubbard Quartet is available on the Jazzline label.
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