Track Listing

1. Open Sesame
2. But Beautiful
3. Gypsy Blue
4. All or Nothing at All
5. One Mint Julep
6. Hub's Nub
7. Open Sesame [Alternate Take][*]
8. Gypsy Blue [Alternate Take][*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7710 in Music
• Released on: 2002-01-29
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Album Description
Freddie Hubbard's recording debut announced the arrival of an extraordinary trumpeter, both technically and artistically. This album teamed him with tenor saxophonist/composer Tina Brooks (they would reconvene a week later to record Brooks' "True Blue") and pianist McCoy Tyner a few months before he joined John Coltrane's quintet.

This is one of those stunning Blue Note records where the musicians mesh and the tunes, arrangements and solo get as close to perfection as one can. Alternate takes of both Tina Brooks tunes are added to the original album.

Produced by Alfred Lion. Recording engineer: Rudy Van Gelder. Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on June 19, 1960. Remastered in 2001 by Rudy Van Gelder. All transfers from the analog tapes to digital were made at 24-bit resolution.

The Players:
Freddie Hubbard: Trumpet
Tina Brooks: Tenor Sax
McCoy Tyner: Piano
Sam Jones: Bass
Clifford Jarvis: Drums

Amazon.com
Recorded in 1960, Freddie Hubbard's Open Sesame is not only a very good CD: it dramatizes history in the making. The trumpeter was not unknown then, but he was still in his early years; so was pianist McCoy Tyner, for whom a momentous association with John Coltrane was just around the corner. Indeed, the best-known musician at the time of this recording was bassist Sam Jones, and while he went on to bigger things with Cannonball Adderley and then Oscar Peterson, it was Hubbard and Tyner who would emerge as unambiguously major figures. That by rights should also have characterized tenorist Tina Brooks, but this superb player (his work on "But Beautiful" here is exquisite) never got the recognition he deserved, dying almost forgotten in 1974 at the age of 42. Further highlights include the leader's "Hub's Nub" and the two takes apiece of the title track and "Gypsy Blue," both excellent compositions by Brooks. Mention should also be made of drummer Clifford Jarvis, a young lion steeped in Blakey, and Rudy Van Gelder's predictably flawless engineering. The music both invigorates and enchants, and its reappearance, handsomely packaged, is most welcome. --Richard Palmer

Customer Reviews

Sparkling Masterpeice
It's 1960. Freddy Hubbard still looks like a teen-ager. It's his first feature recording. His sidemen? An unknown pianist named McCoy Tyner (who would become Coltrane's accompanist, one of the great keyboard stylists). For tenor, try the new kid from North Carolina, Tina Brooks, who sounds like a reborn Lester Young. Delighted with their invitation to record for Blue Note, they blow fresh and clear with no pretension, and probably have no idea they're making a classic.

This set is deftly re-mastered by the great Rudy Van Gelder. Buy it NOW if you care about modern jazz or even about history. The blowing is tight, passionate yet cool. It shimmers with an innocence all too fragile, since Tina Brooks would self-destruct after only a handful of recordings and Hubbard would never find such clarity and lightness again. Brooks' compositions ('Open Sesame' and 'Gypsy Blue') are eloquent bop structures based in the blues with a Horace Silver tinge. They're destined to enter the canon of great bop recordings. Of no less merit is the funky Rudolph Toombs composition, 'One Mint Julip'. Hubbard's own 'Hub & Nub' gets a sharp treatment, as good as any later version. And the two ballads ('But Beautiful', 'All Or Nothing At All') are treated with maturity and lyricism. This CD has alternate takes of Brooks' compositions, as finely crafted as the other two versions.

We have an important addition to the canon of classic bebop here, no less beautiful for its youth and innocence. Right up there with Lee Morgan's 'Sidewinder' and Hancock's 'Takin' Off.' Rarely does such rediscovery come to us! And if you're a tenor sax player like me, here's a precious footnote to the short tragic history of Tina Brooks, who would have been a titan had he stayed this fresh and avoided the addictions that ruined so many of his troubled generation.

Knotted
You like tight? Listen to this exceptional session led by a trumpet player who receives nowhere near the recogition he richly deserves. This is absolutely a gem of release. Thank you Kenny Mathieson for turning me onto it in your "Hard Bop..." book.

There is not one filler on this CD. The overall work is brilliant: Hubbard is supurb; young McCoy Tyner shows why he would rise to the hights he has, Tina Brooks is as great here, if not better, than he is on the excellent Blue Note sessions he led; and Sam Jones and Clifford Jarvis are a perfect fit.

Listen to "One Mint Julep," you'll want another right away.

The best Freddie Hubbard!
"Open Sesame" is, without a doubt, Hubbards best work for bluenote. His tone is clear and he gets the fullest sound out of his instrument. If there ever was a straight ahead Hardbop album recorded, this is it. The way Hubbard picked his sidemen, you can tell that he knew what he was doing, for example there is Tina Brooks with the sharp puncturing sound, McCoy Tyner with the swift technical fluidity, Sam Jones with the big beautiful sound, and Clifford jarvis with hard penetrating drive. Sometimes it seems that the sidemen are overshadowed by their brilliant leader yet they get their fair share too. The title track, which alternates between latin-samba and swing, has a catchy melody and has incredible solos from Freddie an Brooks. The real cooker, though, is the fiery version of the standard "All or nothing at all". Harold "Tina" Brooks was another unsung bluenote genius who lived much to short to gain any real recognition. Though this session belongs to Hubbard, without Brooks, Tyner, Jones, and Jarvis, it wouldn't be half as good as it is. "Open Sesame" is a killer session. Any fan of jazz should have this one.