Meet The Cookers: Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard, and then get down with the Princess of Dancehall Soul music Cherine Anderson, and close out your week with 18 superb covers of four Stevie Wonder compositions.
Both of these trumpeters made bold, brassy statements full of bravura and intensity, and nowhere is the fire encouraged to burn more brightly than on a Freddie Hubbard album, Night of the Cookers, on which Lee Morgan sat in on the Claire Fischer composition “Pensativa.” Even though it was a lilting bossa nova, by the end of the duel, both trumpeters are throwing down in a take-no-prisoners sonic duel. Morgan solos first in a muted passage that pays tribute to Morgan’s former boss Dizzy Gillespie, but once past the opening solos and they begin trading fours, both men play open horn with no restraint.
This is a famous session, renown in jazz circles. Indeed we have featured it before on BoL. This time however, we foreground the two trumpeters so that many of our younger fans can fully appreciate the magnificence of their trumpet battle royale. To paraphrase what I wrote back on January 28, 2008, if asked to select who is the better of the two, I would have to say they both are!
We are fortunate to be able to hear them together at the height of their powers. Isn’t it truly a blessing to be able to listen to and be invigorated by music of this caliber?
Give thanks for the twin titans of jazz trumpet who graced us with sterling and often startling music, music that makes your arm hairs rise up and your big toe go rigid following the twists, turns, elaborations, and sonic arabesques. Man, this is jazz.
—Kalamu ya Salaam